Doing God’s Will

Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
John 10:31-42
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032726.cfm

If it points or leads you to God, it must be doing something right. There is an issue with false prophets and ones who use the divine spark as a means to a selfish or a power-gaining end. Jesus, though, is always referential to the Father, not his own means and his accord. Jesus keeps saying, let the actions and the words stand for themselves. You don’t have to like him to know and observe that he is doing God’s work.

With this challenging audience, Jesus addresses that the what and the how are more important than the who. The who becomes significant by the what and how. You know the “who” by what they express and show. We are all created in the image and likeness of God, but what we do with that image determines if it is made known. We are created uniquely and loved by God and we can choose to let God’s presence be known through what we do and how we act. Jesus was saying you know his connection to the Father through what he does.

Jesus always let that image and presence be known, thus he was an extension of the source. We too have such a capacity. It’s not a means to an end. It’s not a vehicle to gain more power, respect, accolades, recognition, material wealth. It is the value in and of itself. If it’s used as a means to another end, it loses its actual value; it’s putting something else above God. We can accidentally stumble upon it, but more often than not it takes a lot of work and reflection. I can be loving as a means for acceptance, but then I lost the truth behind being loving. Love is the means and the end. It starts with love, ends with love, and is love along the way. To do the will of God is to be with God.