The Gospel Story
Reflections of John and the Evangelist.
A Summary of the Lord's Life.
It was the occasion of the Gospel Reading for the Mass this morning.
The brightness of the Paschal Candle and the reading gave new illumination to mind and heart.
The Amplified Bible adds savoury of translation:
Joh 12:49 This is because I have never spoken on My own authority or of My own accord or as self-appointed, but the Father Who sent Me has Himself given Me orders [concerning] what to say and what to tell. [Deut. 18:18, 19.]
Joh 12:50 And I know that His commandment is (means) eternal life. So whatever I speak, I am saying [exactly] what My Father has told Me to say and in accordance with His instructions.
The Commentary for Navarre Bible, John 12:44-50 brings the theological presence to the text. not withstanding contoversy of 'The Unbelief of the Jews'.
44-50. With
these verses St. John brings to an end his account of our Lord's public
ministry. He brings together certain fundamental themes developed in previous
chapters--the need for faith in Christ (verse Joh_12:44 ); the
Father and the Son are one yet distinct (cf. Joh_12:45 ); Jesus
is Light and Life of the world (verses Joh_12:46 , Joh_12:50 ); men
will be judged in accordance with whether they accept or reject the Son of God
(verses Joh_12:47-49 ). The chapters which follow contain Jesus'
teaching to His Apostles at the Last Supper, and the accounts of the Passion
and Resurrection.
45. Christ,
the Word Incarnate, is one with the Father (cf. Joh_10:30 );
"He reflects the glory of God" ( Heb_1:3 );
"He is the image of the invisible God" ( Col_1:15 ).
In Joh_14:9 Jesus expresses Himself in almost the same
words: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father". At the same time as
He speaks of His oneness with the Father, we are clearly shown the distinction
of persons--the Father who sends, and the Son who is sent.
In Christ's holy human nature His divinity
is, as it were, hidden, that divinity which He possesses with the Father in the
unity of the Holy Spirit (cf. Joh_14:7-11 ). In
theology "circumincession" is the word usually used for the fact
that, by virtue of the unity among the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity,
"the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son
wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit wholly in
the Father and wholly in the Son" (Council of Florence, "Decree Pro
Jacobitis, Dz-Sch", 1331).
47. Christ
has come to save the world by offering Himself in sacrifice for our sins and
bringing us supernatural life (cf. Joh_3:17 ). But He
has also been made Judge of the living and the dead (cf. Act_10:42 ): He
passes sentence at the Particular Judgment which happens immediately after
death, and at the end of the world, at His Second Coming or Parousia, at the
universal judgment (cf. Joh_5:22 ; Joh_8:15-16 ).
| << John 12:49 >> |
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