Whoever sees me sees the one who sent me

At 12,24- 13,5a; Ps 66; Jn 12,44-50
15 MAY

Jesus closes his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount by solemnly declaring that He will recognize as His disciples and accept in the eternal Kingdom of the Father only those who will have listened to His Words and will have observed them, putting them into practice with perfect and uninterrupted obedience. Eternal salvation is from obedience to his Word. There are no other words of eternal life on earth.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’ Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.’ “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined” (Mt 7,21-27).

Today, since we say that eternal life is given to all by the Father and that we will all be welcomed in his Paradise, having also declared the non-existence of hell or eternal perdition, we must necessarily conclude that the Words of Jesus do not serve for the eternal life. But if they do not serve for eternal life, what are they for? If the wicked and the just will have the same gift, if the Crucifix and the crucifiers, without any conversion and repentance on the part of the latter, will be seated at the same table of heaven, the Words of Christ reveal themselves to be lying and deceiving. What is the use of obliging and oneself and others to obedience, if it serves nothing concerning eternal life?

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus concludes his public life by affirming a solemn truth that explains why it is necessary to be obliged to all his Word. What He says is not His Word, but of the Father. What he has taught is the teaching of the Father. He put nothing of his own, not even a single comma or a single dash. Now it is right for each of us to ask himself: since I am a disciple of the Lord, in my teaching, what comes from my heart and what from the heart of Christ Jesus? Can I with infallible certainty repeat, testify and confess the very truth of Christ the Lord: “Nothing has come from me, everything is referred in the name of my Master”?

Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not only in me but also in the one who sent me, and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them, I do not condemn him, for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world. Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”

If we look closely, between the Word of the Father of the Old Testament and that of Jesus in the New Testament, there is no contradiction, no contrast, no contraposition and no denial. Jesus brings to fulfilment, but does not abolish, does not demolish, does not betray, does not transform, does not change and does not repeal. Between Jesus and many of his disciples today there is a substantial not difference, but contraposition, negation, alteration and substantial modification of the Word. Jesus says one thing and his disciples say the exact opposite. Certainly there is something that does not work, so as to urge us to ask them: you, disciples of Jesus, who attest the opposite of what our Master says, on what eternal foundation do you give truth to your words?

Mother of God, Angels and Saints make us one thought and one truth with Christ Jesus.