Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of John (5: 17-30) when Jesus tells the Jews about the relationship between the Father and the Son. Fr Paul reminds us of yesterday’s Gospel when Jesus was being attacked for working on the Sabbath. The authorities are also upset because Jesus was actually claiming the right to work on the Sabbath and that right can only be claimed by God.This leads us to today’s Gospel with Jesus’s opening statement to the Jews… my father goes on working and so do I.  Jesus uses the healing he performed on the Sabbath to reflect on the relationship between God and himself. Fr Paul says we need to note at the beginning and the end of Jesus’s dialogue he states that he and his Father have the same will; whatever the Father, the Son does too. Both have power to give life. Both are able to judge.  The key message today, Fr Paul says, is found in the very beginning where Jesus says to the Jews, ‘I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself’. This upsets the Jews because he speaks of God as his own Father. He is making himself as God’s equal. Jesus’s response to that accusation brings trouble in the days and weeks ahead.