Amen Amen

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040225.cfm

In John's Gospel, we find the curious phrase 'amen, amen' 23 times. It is translated from the Hebrew word: amen. Yep. No translation applies. The word is universally accepted as a word or testimony. The most practical understanding of its meaning is 'I swear to God'. Not in a 'I swear to God, if you do that ONE MORE TIME' sort of way, but in a 'I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth' sort of way.

What makes the phrase curious is not the word, but that Jesus says it twice. In Hebrew there are not phrases of gradation like good, better, best. Instead, a repeating of the word indicates this gradation. So 'amen, amen' is not just declaring truth, but declaring a higher or greater truth. In the statements that follow 'amen, amen', Jesus speaks mostly of His identity as coming from the Father, and His great desire that we believe this. Why is this so important? Because if we believe Him, we will follow His words. All of them. Even the hard ones. That's the focus of the other times when Jesus testifies in this way.

Jesus wants us to believe in Him, and this believe has tremendous benefits for us: forgiveness of sin and life everlasting. If we believe in Him - according to His testimony, we will do certain things: we will be born again of the spirit (baptism and confirmation) will avoid condemnation (reconciliation) will never see death and will have eternal life. He will do the works that Jesus does.

We have to believe it ALL. We can't pick and choose. This also extends to the Church that He founded. With Peter (and his successors) as the foundation, and the words and life of Jesus beyond the Gospels as the great Tradition, we are called to believe and to trust in what the Church professes. If we believe it was founded by Him and brought into being by an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, then I can guarantee this: there will be times when the Church follows the plan of God and we don't fully understand it. People (including the Apostles) did not always understand what Jesus was doing (why is He talking to that Samaritan woman, no Jew does that!). When we don't understand, that is when it is time to trust Jesus. He has already testified to the truth.

The truth is that He came from the Father. He came for us. He only does the will of the Father. He left us here to do His work: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father."