Thursday, April 26, 2018
Reading: Acts 13:13-25
Gospel: John 13:16-20
When Jesus had washed the disciples’ feet, he said to them: ‘‘Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master, nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.’ From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Faith in Jesus is equated with faith in the Father in today’s Gospel reading. Jesus says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” In so saying, Jesus once again affirms the unity existing between him and his heavenly Father.
“I and the Father are one,” he says in John 10:30. The obvious implication of this unity is unity of purpose. In John 10:37 Jesus declares that the works he was doing was the work of the Father, and he also says that in seeing him, one already sees the Father.
Jesus’ affirmation in today’s Gospel reading about his unity with the Father is said in the context of the impending betrayal by Judas to whom Jesus gives the bread he dipped in the dish at the Last Supper (John 13:26). Hence the quote from the Scriptures, “The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me” (Lamentations 1:2). This circumstance makes the betrayal more glaring, for what greater betrayal is there than to bite the hand that feeds you. By betraying Jesus, Judas betrays the Father. This loss of faith leads later dramatically to Judas ending his own life. This is no sign of remorse at all. By taking his own life he insults the Author of life.
We may not be the kind of traitor that Judas is, but surely we have been into activities that insult the giver of our life. The squander of this precious gift by Adam and Eve was an affront to the one who gave this gift of life generously. Notwithstanding, God offered the second chance to sinful humanity and sent the Son so that we may regain the gift we have squandered. Now we enjoy living a redeemed life, thanks to the formidable oneness of heart of the Father and the Son united in love for useless creatures like us. The least we can do is live it as it should be lived. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com
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