Reflection - Plans

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041618.cfm
Acts 6:8-15
John 6:22-29

The closing words of Jesus in this conversation with those who followed him across/around the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum seem dissonant to my ear, and maybe to most others in modern American society. Listen to them once more:

“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

Such a statement is strange to those of us who have been taught that our work, task, job, labor, chore, duty, assignment, etc. is an activity, even if it’s a passive activity like standing guard. “Work” and “belief” don’t even seem to fit within the same dimension. If, for example, we think of the “work” Jesus did during his time on earth we might cite “setting an example,” “teaching,” “healing the sick and infirm,” or casting out demons.” Belief would not readily come to mind.

Jesus is clear as regards his intent in the Gospel of John. He makes no pretext about acting on his own or even with his own authority.

I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 5:30) I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. (John 6:38)

We well know that the Father is the one who sent him. So, that intent of Jesus readily translates from the will of the Father to the work desired by the Father. In other words, in order for Jesus to do the Father’s will, he must do the Father’s work. He says so himself.

My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34)

But this work which Jesus does, unlike the apparent immediacy presented in the creation account of Genesis, must be understood as work which transpires within the dimension of time and therefore is carried out over time. It is something that Jesus is doing and, therefore, an on-going process.

My Father is working still, and I am working." (John 5:17)

Ultimately, Jesus will tie ‘will,’ ‘work,’ and ‘belief’ together. Most frequently the linkage of the three comes in his encounters with the Jewish leadership which challenges, and even opposes him; but that is not exclusively the case.

The testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish [to be understood as “willed for me to do”], these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me [and that you should therefore believe me]. (John 5:36)

Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name [will], they bear witness to me [belief]. (John 10:25)

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me [and that I am therefore acting according to the Father’s will] and I am in the Father." (John 10:37-38)

The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me [will] does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. (John 14:10-11)

All this leads to questions: 

• What was the will of the Father?
  
• What was the work he had given Jesus to do?
  
• Why is belief in Jesus an imperative?
  
• How is it reasonable to equate work and belief?

The will of the Father and the work of Jesus are usually understood in terms of redemptive theology: Adam sinned, the proper order of things was consequently broken, humanity and creation needed to be saved from its sinful condition. So the Father’s will was redemption/salvation/restoration; and Jesus’ work was to accomplish that. However, that viewpoint focuses almost entirely on the past; and it is not the only perspective suitable for consideration. John presents a more forward looking perspective.

Most often we think of work in terms of what we are trying to accomplish, what goal we are seeking to reach, what state we desire to realize. In other words, we look forward, into the future we hope to see. If we look for the goal, the state desired, what the Father desired to accomplish — in other words, His intent — we find that Paul addresses the matter in Ephesians.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:3-4)

It is this very intent that we should be holy and blameless which prompts Jesus to admonish his disciples.

You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

as Matthew records it, or

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

as Luke records it. In any case, both echo God’s word to Moses as we find them in Leviticus.

Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy. (Leviticus 19:2)

If, therefore, we reflect on the Father’s will and Jesus’ work with an eye to the future, even if that’s done with the hindsight we now have, it is clear that in neither will nor work was it solely, or even primarily, His intention to restore. The Father’s plan looked far beyond that. A return to square one was not in the blueprint. His creation of man was not yet complete. Genesis speaks of the beginning, not the end. In God’s plan, the end could only come after the Incarnation.

For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:9-10)

From Scripture itself I am led to conclude that the will of the Father, the work of Jesus, is the sanctification of mankind. It was in the plan from the beginning; it was realized in the fullness of time; it will come to pass when all things are united in Jesus, the Christ. For this very reason, belief in Jesus takes on an unparalleled level of importance. We must believe in him if we are to be united to him.

The Father is not interested in our being good people. He is interested in our being his children, his sons and daughters. For that we must be transformed into mercy, into perfection, into the holy, and united to his only Son. As incomprehensible as it is, it seems that He is interested in our becoming “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Peter 1:4)