10 March 2027 · Latin Rite
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“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15
The exiles in Babylon had a heavy thought: God has left us. “Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.’” Isaiah answers with a promise of homecoming: in “a time of favor” God will say to the prisoners, “Come out,” and to those in darkness, “Show yourselves.” He will lead them like a shepherd by springs of water; he will turn mountains into roads; heaven and earth will sing. Then comes one of the tenderest lines in all Scripture. God compares himself to a mother: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” The Hebrew word for compassion is close to the word for womb; God's mercy is a mother's love from deep within. And the next verse, which the Lectionary leaves just outside today's reading, says: “See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.” The Psalm sums it up: “The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
In the Gospel Jesus answers those who were angry that he healed on the sabbath: “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” God rested on the seventh day of creation, but he never stops giving life and judging the world; and Jesus does the same work as the Father. His hearers understand at once that he is “making himself equal to God.” Jesus does not take back the claim; he explains it. The Son does nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; the Father loves the Son and shows him everything. “Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.” Here Lent opens a window onto Easter. “Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life… and has passed from death to life.” And one day “all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out.” The God who cannot forget his children has sent his Son, who will not leave them in the grave. That is why we can face our own fears of being forgotten, of failure and of death, with hope.
Theme: “Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”
God's mother-love, the Son who works with the Father, and the voice that calls us from death to life.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15
“But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Luke 12:7
Apply: When fear says you are forgotten, pray Isaiah 49:15 slowly three times.
“The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” Psalm 145:9
“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”” John 5:17
Apply: Each evening this week, name one place where you saw God at work that day.
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24
Apply: Pray for one person who has died, and for one who is far from God, that both may hear the voice of the Son.
God's love is stronger than a mother's and never forgets.
The Son gives life now and will raise the dead; we hear his word and live.
Take-home resolution: Be the memory of God for one forgotten person this week.
Dear friends, the exiles in Babylon said: the LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me. Maybe you have said that too, in a hospital, at a graveside, or in a long struggle with sin.
God answers through Isaiah: can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you (Isaiah 49:15). And he adds: see, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands. On the cross those palms were pierced for us. Our names are written there.
In the Gospel Jesus says: my Father is still working, and I also am working (John 5:17). God never stops loving and giving life, and Jesus does the same works as the Father. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
And he promises: anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life… and has passed from death to life (John 5:24). Today, let us hear his word and believe. And let us become the memory of God for someone who feels forgotten. Amen.
Children, a mother never forgets her baby. God says: even if a mother forgot, I will never forget you! God has written your name on his hands. Look at your hand today and remember: God is holding you.
Father of mercy, you love us more than a mother loves her child, and you have written our names on the palms of your hands. When we feel forgotten, let us hear the voice of your Son, who gives life to the dead. Bring us with the elect from death to life this Easter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today two great statements about God stand side by side. In Isaiah, Zion thinks she has been forgotten, and God answers with the most tender image in the Old Testament: a mother and her nursing child. In John, Jesus answers those who object to his healing on the sabbath by speaking of his oneness with the Father, who gives life and judges. Psalm 145 joins them: “The Lord is gracious and merciful.” The God who cannot forget his people is the God who, in his Son, calls the dead out of their graves.
Setting.
Isaiah 40–55 is often called the Book of Consolation, and it speaks to the Jews in exile in Babylon, before Cyrus let them go home (539 BC). Chapter 49 opens with the second of the Servant Songs (vv. 1–6), in which God's servant is called from the womb and made a light to the nations. Today's reading comes straight after that song and describes what the servant's mission will bring: a new exodus, with a road through the mountains and God himself as shepherd.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you;” (49:8)
St Paul quotes this line in the Greek form and adds: “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2). The Church reads that passage on Ash Wednesday, and the same word is still being said to us here in the middle of Lent.
“But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.”” (49:14)
The Bible does not hide this complaint. Zion is the ruined city, personified as a woman left alone. God lets her say it and does not rebuke her; he answers her.
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” (49:15)
It is hard to imagine a stronger human love, and yet God admits that even this can fail. The next verse, just outside the reading, adds that God has inscribed Zion on the palms of his hands. Whoever feels forgotten by God has this verse to pray.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism draws on this kind of passage when it says that God's love for his people is stronger than a mother's love for her children (CCC 219), and that his parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, for God “is neither man nor woman: he is God” (CCC 239). Jesus teaches us to call him Father, and the Church keeps that name, as Scripture does; Pope John Paul I recalled Isaiah's words on this at the Angelus of 10 September 1978. Revelation 7:16–17 takes up v. 10 for the saints in heaven: they will not hunger or thirst, for the Lamb will guide them to springs of the water of life. The promise made to exiles is fulfilled beyond what they could picture, and it holds without being taken away from Israel, for “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29).
Setting.
This is the continuation of Tuesday's healing at the pool. Jesus is accused of working on the sabbath, and his reply goes to the heart of who he is. Jewish teachers of the time also discussed how God could rest on the sabbath when births and deaths go on and the world is kept in being; many scholars think that this is the background. God does not stop giving life or judging, and these are the two works that Jesus now claims as his own.
John writes that “the Jews” sought to kill him (v. 18). As on Tuesday, he means the authorities who were opposing Jesus, not the Jewish people; this is what the Church teaches (Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”” (5:17)
He says “my Father”, and the listeners rightly understand that he is claiming more than a pious person would (v. 18). John states it plainly: Jesus was “making himself equal to God”. The evangelist's point is that the claim is true.
“Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing;” (5:19)
This does not mean that he is less than the Father. He has his whole being from the Father and never acts apart from him; see the question below.
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (5:24)
Notice the past tense: “has passed”. For the one who believes, the great crossing has already started. This is a gift of grace, to be lived and guarded in love, and it gives a firm hope (CCC 2005).
“those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” (5:29)
The Catechism cites this verse when it teaches that the resurrection of all the dead comes before the Last Judgment (CCC 1038). The two statements of vv. 24 and 29 belong together: the faith that receives life is a faith that works through love (Galatians 5:6), and those good deeds are themselves the fruit of grace.
How the Church reads it.
The Church confesses that the Son is “consubstantial with the Father” (Nicaea; CCC 465), and this chapter is one of the Gospel's foundations for that faith. Christ's right to judge comes from his having “acquired” it by his Cross (CCC 679, citing John 5:22). St Augustine, preaching on this passage, distinguishes two resurrections: the raising of the soul now by faith (v. 25) and the raising of the body at the end (vv. 28–29) (in substance). The Catechism adds that Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of the sabbath, and that he gives its authentic meaning (CCC 2173).
If “the Son can do nothing on his own”, is he less than the Father?
No. The Arians in the fourth century used verses like this one, and the Fathers answered them. St Augustine explains that the Son does nothing of himself because he is not from himself: he is God from God (in substance). The verse speaks of the order of origin and of a perfect unity of action, not of a lesser power. In the same passage Jesus says that whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise (v. 19), and that all should honour the Son as they honour the Father (v. 23). As man, too, he willingly submits his human will to the Father's (v. 30).