Gospel (Jn 5,17-30) - At that time, Jesus said to the Jews: "My Father is acting even now and I too am acting." For this reason the Jews tried even more to kill him, because not only did he violate the Sabbath, but he called God his Father, making himself equal to God. Jesus spoke again and said to them: «Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son of himself himself cannot do anything except what he sees the Father doing; what he does, the Son also does in the same way. In fact, the Father loves the Son, he shows him everything he does and will show him even greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. Just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants. In fact, the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming - and now is - when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live. In fact, just as the Father has life in himself, so he also allowed the Son to have life in himself, and gave him the power to judge, because he is the Son of man. Do not be surprised at this: the hour is coming in which all those who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who did good for a resurrection of life and those who did evil for a resurrection of condemnation. By myself, I can't do anything. I judge according to what I hear and my judgment is right, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Today's evangelical passage is directly linked to the healing of the paralytic in the pool of Bethesda. The Pharisees accused Jesus of having violated the Sabbath and of having also led the paralytic to sin to whom they said: "It is the Sabbath and it is not lawful for you to carry your stretcher" (5.10). Jesus responds by clearly stating the identity of his action with that of the Father who is in heaven: "My Father is acting even now and I too am acting". It was a statement that could not fail to create a scandal. And in fact from that moment the hostility of the Jewish leaders against Jesus became a murderous desire. It was not just the question of the Sabbath that was at stake, but the very identity of Jesus, his divine sonship: "For this reason they tried even more to kill him, because not only did he violate the Sabbath, but he called God his Father, making himself equal to God" . After all, the divine sonship of Jesus is precisely the heart of his Gospel, of the good news that he came to communicate to men. And, faced with the opposition of the Pharisees, Jesus reiterates that he is the Son of God who came among men to carry out the work of the Father, that is, the plan of the salvation of peoples. He came to fight evil and gather all those who were dispersed into one big family, into one big people to lead towards the destination of the fullness of life. Jesus realizes on earth the dream of the Father who is in heaven. It goes beyond the "Sabbath" rule precisely because it is the beginning of the new time of the Kingdom. Jesus wants to hasten the eternal Sabbath when, as Paul writes, "God will be all in all" (1Cor 15,28). The entire action of Jesus among men is aimed at giving life, which not even death can no longer cancel. For this reason Jesus adds solemnly: «The hour is coming – and it is now – in which the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear it will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has also allowed the Son to have life in himself." A sign of this will be the miracle of Lazarus: Jesus will speak to the dead Lazarus, but he will hear the voice of Jesus and come back to life. This is why Jesus insists: "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life." Jesus does not say: «he will have eternal life», but he «has eternal life». Whoever welcomes the Gospel into his heart receives the seed of immortality from now on. Faced with our weakness and our precariousness, these words leaven our entire existence and snatch it from the abyss of nothingness because they bind us to the risen Lord. Eternity has already begun in Jesus and in those who join him. Whoever has heard the voice of Jesus in this life, when the tombs are opened at the end of time, will still hear it and recognize it. And the kingdom of heaven, which already lived in him, will reach its fullness.