Isaiah 49:8-15 / John 5:17-30
Whenever we talk about a relationship, we can assume it is between two persons.
Yet a relationship can only happen between two persons when there is a depth of affection for each other.
In the 1st reading, we get an idea of the relationship that God wants to have with His people.
It is a relationship with the depth of the affection of a mother for her child at her breast or the child in her womb.
It is a relationship that is not just affectionate but also with a deep intimacy.
In the gospel, Jesus called God His Father. Jesus had a very affectionate and intimate term for that - Abba.
That depth of affection and intimacy with God His Father is also what Jesus wants to have with us.
Religion is about the worship of the divine.
But in Jesus, our worship of God is a relationship that is affectionate and intimate.
Yet our relationship with God must also turn our relationships with others into one that is affectionate and intimate.
Just as God loves us, we too must love others with the same depth of love.