We continue meditating on chapter 17 of the Gospel of St. John. Before the hour of His Passion comes, Jesus turns to the Father and says: “I have glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do” (Jn 17:4).
Jesus acts in the Name of the Heavenly Father and thus shows us how much He cares for our salvation, giving us His love to the end: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (Jn 3:16). This is the great work of Redemption!
“Whom shall I send?” – the Lord asks Isaiah (Is 6:8). In the times of the Old Covenant, God made Himself present in the prophets to manifest his Will to mankind. But when the Father wished to accomplish the work of redemption, He could send no one but His only begotten Son. God Himself accomplished the work of salvation! No one but Himself could have cancelled humanity’s debt and wiped away its guilt (cf. Col 2:14). No one else but Himself could have paid the ransom price to free us from slavery. No one else could have revealed to us the love of the Father as He Himself did by sending us His Son.
Thus, the Son glorifies the Father in all His words and works. And He completes the work entrusted to Him. Nothing and no one can stop Him: neither the fear of the suffering He undergoes in Gethsemane, nor the outrageous treatment of those he came to redeem, nor the rejection of His love… Jesus endures everything with His gaze towards His Father and in His charge.
The Cross is the irreversible victory of God’s love. The Heavenly Father offers us the sources of salvation. From the Heart of His Son He makes a spring of love gush forth for us, which becomes the fountain of salvation. All we have to do is to approach it and drink!