Wednesday of the
Second Week of Easter
(Acts 5:17-26; John 3:16-21)
An elderly man carries a large magnifying glass wherever
he goes. He admits, however, that the glass
does not do much good without sufficient light.
In fact, he says, good lighting is more helpful for reading than the magnifying
glass. In today’s gospel Jesus is presented
as the transformative light which turns good motives into virtuous acts.
The text emphasizes that God did not send Jesus to
condemn the world but to save it. People
may get the former idea because Jesus could not but make some demands and
prohibit some actions. After all, human
tendencies since Adam have been rather predominantly selfish. But any sternness about Jesus is more than
compensated by his graciousness. The light
he beams should be understood as the glow of the early morning which stirs followers
to a just way of living.
It is time to be hopeful. The Lord’s resurrection has
become our destiny. We have both reason
and direction to live lives of virtue.
