How often do we feel that God is a distant judge, watching from a distance? Today’s readings shatter that image with a God who is intimately...
How often do we feel that God is a distant judge, watching from a distance? Today’s readings shatter that image with a God who is intimately "at work."
Mercy. Isaiah gives us one of the most beautiful images in all of Scripture: even if a mother could forget her child, God will never forget us. This is the foundation of Divine Mercy. It is a love that is "tender," a love that answers us in a "time of favor." When we are in the "darkness" of our own failures, God does not wait for us to be perfect. He reaches out with mercy to lead us beside springs of water.
Mirror. Jesus tells us, "the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing." Jesus is the perfect Mirror of the Father’s heart. When we see Jesus healing, forgiving, and raising the dead, we are seeing exactly what the Father is doing. There is no "angry God" in the Old Testament and "kind God" in the New—there is only one Father whose love is mirrored perfectly in the Son. To know Jesus is to know that you are loved by the Creator of the Universe.
Mission. Because the Father is "at work until now," we are called to join that mission. Jesus says He seeks not His own will, but the will of the one who sent Him. Our Lent is a time to recalibrate our mission. Are we working for our own glory, or are we trying to do what we see the Father doing? When we feed the hungry, comfort the grieving, or forgive an enemy, we are participating in the ongoing work of God. We become the hands that prove God has not forgotten His people.
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