Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus says to his disciples as he is preparing them for his death and resurrection in these Last Supper Discourses. Yes, we are still in the liturgical Easter season, but the gospel readings take us back to reflect on what happened before the resurrection. In juxtaposition, again, with the first readings from the Acts of the Apostles (post-resurrection accounts), we get a look at how the disciples eventually came to understand much of what they did not (could not?) understand previously. Do not let your hearts be troubled? Even as the one they loved, they followed, gave up their livelihoods for, placed all their trust in, was about to be executed in a torturous manner?
This chapter of John’s gospel (14) not only opens with this counsel, but is repeated near the end of the chapter as well, with added emphasis, “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” This counsel/admonition is given twice. Jesus seems to “get it.” The events to follow are not going to be easy. For him or his disciples. Perhaps the gospel writer also understood that future readers and proclaimers of the Word would need to hear it more than once, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
How does this speak to you, to us, today? In the current state of things, I sometimes find it easy to let my heart be both troubled and afraid. What’s the future going to look like? Will my family, both close and extended, survive this pandemic? Will our jobs survive? Will our son’s college survive? Will our other son be able to return to school in the Fall? Will our recent graduate daughter be able to find work? What about the people much more vulnerable than us, both physically and financially? How long will this go on? The questions and uncertainty go on and on.
I am challenged to stop. To stop and listen to the voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, saying “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” We do not yet know the answers to all of the questions above, but we do know that if we keep our eyes on Jesus, He will show us the Way. The Way of peace, truth, and life, even in the midst of death.
~Eileen Miller