Grace and Truth (3)

But the Gospel of John continues to show us Christ as both grace and truth. When the son of the king's official comes to the Lord to ask for his son, the Lord reproaches him for his need to see miracles in order to believe. In doing so, the Lord lays bare the motivations, not only of this man, but of all who came to him. People were not willing to believe his word, but wanted to see miracles and wonders. It was the sad reality. However, that did not close the Lord's heart to this man's tribulation, so he healed his son.

When the Lord came to the pool of Bethesda, he apparently had only one motive in mind: to care for the paralytic who had been prostrate for 38 years. The man had not been healed, because he had not been able to approach the pool when the angel came down to heal. But what he had never been able to do, the Lord does by approaching him. However, he then warns him not to fall into sin again, lest something worse befall him. It is the wonderful union of grace and truth.

When the Lord multiplies the loaves and fishes among the hungry multitude, he shows the marvelous grace of God. But later, when he rebukes them for seeking "the food that perishes" and not the food that "endures to eternal life", he is revealing to them the true state of their hearts, so human and self-interested. It is the raw truth. Many of them from this moment on turned back.

In the episode with his unbelieving -and mocking- brothers, the Lord makes it clear to them that they do not know the ways of God, and that they act on the impulses of their own heart; but, immediately, he shows them grace when Jesus descends to Jerusalem, where he attends to the needs of the people by offering them the water of life.

With the adulterous woman, grace reaches ineffable heights, which men are incapable of probing. Along with it, the truth is shown to the scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites and merciless, sinners themselves as much as anyone else. They could not judge truly, because they were blind, and had no light. But when the light of truth is manifested, then the darkness flees, and the lie is exposed. That is why the Lord presents himself as "the Light of the world".

The Jews presumed to be children of Abraham; that was their glory and pride. Yet the Lord shows them that they are children of the devil. Alas, how painful is the truth! But what can it do better to man than to know it, that he may thus proceed to repentance?

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