Sixth Sunday of Easter
Last words of people approaching their the end of their life are words people don’t forget. Often, they can trigger life-changing experiences.
The gospel readings that we have heard over the last few weeks are from the section of St. John’s gospel we know as Jesus’ farewell discourse. It begins in Chapter 13 with the Last Supper. The next four chapters is a monologue that contains Jesus’ last words to the disciples. We can find Jesus important teachings in them. In chapter 18 we read that Jesus goes out to the Kidron Valley to a garden and is arrested. Jesus’ words in today’s gospel reading are from the middle of Chapter 14. Because these are Jesus’ last words, we must pay special attention to them.
I would like to focus on three sayings from today’s section of Jesus’ farewell discourse and draw some practical implications.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments…” (Jn 14:24).
Over the last two weeks, we have heard Jesus give his disciples a “new commandment”. He said, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so should you love one another” (Jn 13”34). But today, there is a shift. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my word.” The focus today is on a disciple’s love for Jesus.
Love means many things, isn’t it? I want to keep it simple. Who is the person you love the most? Who is that one person for whom you could die? Who is that one person, whom you love so deeply that when you talk about them, you have tears in your eyes? Do you love Jesus like that?
Let me take you a step further. Unless we love Jesus with a passion, living out the “new commandment” is not possible. Only if we love Jesus with everything we got in us, then we will be able to love others in the way Jesus asks us to love them.
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything” (Jn 14:26).
As Jesus plans his departure from this world, Jesus tells his disciples that his presence will be replaced by the Paraclete. Jesus’ words suggest that the Paraclete will replace Jesus’ physical presence. For that matter, Jesus creates a parallel between his presence and ministry and that of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father, so is the Holy Spirit sent by the Father. Similarly, the mission of the Holy Spirit is also the mission of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus taught the disciples, now the Holy Spirit will teach the disciples. Just as Jesus was with the disciples, the Holy Spirit will be with the disciples. Just as Jesus teaching revealed the Father, so will the Holy Spirit recall and continue to reveal the Father to the disciples.
More than anything else, the parallel between Jesus’ presence and the presence of the Holy Spirit tell us that we cannot do without the Paraclete. We are merely one weekend away from Pentecost. Each day in the coming weeks, pray earnestly for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the world, upon the church and upon each one of us. “Come, Holy Spirit!”
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (Jn 14:27).
Jesus leaves a precious gift with his disciples – a peace that the world cannot give. The peace that Jesus offers is ‘his’ peace, and this qualification is the difference that makes it something that world cannot match. What is the difference? The peace the world offers comes from an absence. The peace that Jesus offers come from a presence. The peace that the world offers is the absence of conflict. The peace that Jesus offers comes from the total-wellbeing that God’s presence brings.
The English word, ‘peace’ is a very weak translation of the Hebrew word shalom.Besides peace, shalom includes harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility. For example, if the war ceased in Ukraine, we would claim that peace has been declared. However, peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Rather, peace means that every human person is blessed with harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, and tranquility. Jesus came so that the world my know this kind of peace.
These days, we can easily succumb to the peace that the world offers – the kind of peace that comes from worldly values. Or, in prayer and reflection, we can open ourselves to the peace that Jesus gives.
Christ gave his farewell discourse at the Last Supper. Today, this Eucharist is a re-living of that very Supper. As we partake of this Supper and hear Jesus’ last words, let us dedicate our lives to him. May we love him more, allow the Paraclete to invade our lives, and become instruments of the God’s peace. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph