“Believe the works.” (John 10:38)
How can we know what God is like? How can we know him so intimately that we yield to his love and are changed? When Jesus said: “The Father and I are one,” he was calling people to examine his words and works so that they could know him and know the Father as well (John 10:30). In his earthly ministry, Jesus revealed the Father to us and provided the way for sending his Spirit into our lives. If we ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us as we ponder the life of Jesus, we can begin to know God in a personal and life-changing way.
Jesus emphasized that he was sent by the Father, that he was doing the works of the Father, and that he was one with the Father: “The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me” (John 5:36). Jesus made his claims based not on his words alone but, more crucially, on his life and actions. As we fix our attention on him as our teacher and model, our lives can assume more and more of his character.
Some of the people who heard Jesus believed in him (John 7:46), while others responded to the same words and actions by trying to stone him (8:59; 10:31). They claimed that Jesus was blaspheming by making himself God. In response, Jesus pointed to his works as evidence “that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (10:38). But these works prove useless unless they lead people to realize the truth.
When we open our hearts to Jesus and allow the Spirit to teach us, his works will witness to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. If we don’t trust him, our doubts will block his life in us. We obstruct revelation about God and his Son by putting our own notions above the word of God. If we contemplate the works of God in Scripture, in the saints’ lives, and in our own lives, the Spirit will be able to teach us the truth about Jesus.
“Come, Spirit of the living God. Open our hearts to Jesus. May the truth of who he is change us and make us true children of God.”
Jeremiah 20:10-13; Psalm 18:2-7
Our Lady's Promise is a Catholic Lay Franciscan Apostolate dedicated to evangelism and daily use of Our Lady's gifts of the Scapular and Holy Rosary.