John 5:17-30 He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not!Jesus answered the Jews, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” And what is Christ’s work but to love beyond all imagining; to gather all that has been scattered; to bring to harvest an abundant crop. To tend the Father’s vineyard, garden so that not a single flower is lost.
Even today, April 6, 2011, the Father is at work and so is his Son. Doing what? Touching the lives of all who call upon Him, come to Him. He is also at work in the lives of those who do not know Him. We may not know Him, but He knows us. We might forget Him, but He never forgets us. “Even if a Mother could forget her child, I, the Lord, will never forget you.” There may only be a few verses in the Bible in which God refers to himself as a mother, but the Lord makes it count! How comforting! How relieving! How essential it is to know that we have someone who loves us so.
I read in yesterday’s comments that someone had been struggling with self-worth for many years. When she was seven years old, her mother told her that she hated her and wished she had never been born. The burden was heavy, the pain immense. It had prevented her from believing in a loving God, or specifically, a God that could love her. “If my mother didn’t love me why would anyone else?” Praying with the Gospel’s helped to heal the wound. “This was a giant step on my journey of healing. It gave me the courage to allow Christ to do his will in my life, to make me well.” AMEN!
Who is this Lord? “The Lord is gracious and merciful” (Ps 145:8). “The Lord is good to all; compassionate toward all his works…The Lord is faithful in all his words…The Lord lifts all who fall…The Lord is just in all his ways…The Lord is near to all who call upon Him.” May we never forget! It is the Lord who called me into existence, called me to life and calls me by name! Who is this Lord? He is our Father, our Mother and our Brother! Who is he? He is Jesus Christ!
The Father forgets not his people, nor his children. Christ forgets not what the Father has taught Him. It doesn’t matter who you are. My love for you remains. Our love is very limited. We love our own. The Lord loves all, especially the broken hearted! What then must we do? Fertilize your love! Believe and love all things. Hold no bitterness towards another. Believe in the one who opens the tombs. Believe in the one whose judgment is final: “Those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.” Those who imitate the traitors of the Lord, who sow calumnies, division, revenge and bitterness, will not taste nor see the goodness of the Lord.
Sacrifice, prayer and fasting are the Lord’s fertilizer. They help love to grow stronger and wider each day. We love our own, so our love needs to grow! Today, look at the cross and allow your heart to melt. Christ’s love, his beauty, breaks our ribs to bear our hearts. Look at the cross knowing whose face is there, why he is there, what kind of love moved him to go there, and whose sins sent him there.
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are constantly at work renewing the face of the earth and the faces of all his children, from tears to laughter, from death to life.
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