A reading from the gospel according to John 6:37-40
Jesus said to the crowds:
37 “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,
38 because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.
39 And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day.
40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”
Reflection: Submission to God’s will
In John 3:16, we read how much God loves us that He sent His only Son and that if we believe in Him, we will not perish but instead, we will have eternal life. That is the core of God’s will. He wants us to be saved through His Son Jesus. That is why anyone who comes to the Son and believes in Him will never be rejected.
Jesus submitted Himself completely to the will of His Father no matter how much suffering He had to endure. During His agony in the garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives, He prayed “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42). Indeed, Jesus did not run away from doing the will of God but embraced it wholeheartedly. His obedience to the Father’s will brought Him to Calvary to be hung on the cross for our salvation.
The cross is proof of Jesus’ submission to God’s will. Through the cross, Jesus manifested how much love God has for each one of us. Through the cross, our sinfulness is laid bare. Yet through the cross, we are saved and we can now be raised on the last day.
Jesus is inviting us to come to Him without fear of rejection. No matter how unworthy we are because of our sins, He will never reject us. He only wants us to repent and He will renew us. On this day of all souls, let us once more ask forgiveness for our sins as we contemplate His great act of obedience to the Father’s will – to suffer and die that we may have eternal life. May we also have the gift to know God’s will for us and the grace to be obedient to His will.
