"My Peace I Give to You"

Sunday Mass Readings

BBC carried a news item last week on their website titled “Unholy row at clergy soccer game.” A friendship-building football match between Muslim and Christian clergy in Norway was called off after a row over the participation of women players. Muslim Imams had refused to play against women because it went against their beliefs about close physical contact with the opposite sex. But when the church decided to drop its women players, the priests' team captain walked out in protest. The game was meant to be an enjoyable end to a day-long conference in Oslo. Members of the two faiths had been discussing ways of encouraging greater inter-faith dialogue. We human beings are so pathetic. Sometimes even our good intentions turn out to be so insufficient. In fact, that is the state of the disciples after the death of Jesus. They were a frightened, uncertain, confused, and timid bunch of men. It is to them that Jesus says, what he said in today’s gospel passage. I would like to divide Jesus’ words into three sections and comment on each of those parts. I think that Jesus gave a challenge, a promise, and an assurance.

A challenge
“Whoever loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” The disciples of all people understood the importance of the presence of Jesus among them especially in the post-crucifixion times. For them it meant that their lives still had a purpose, a goal, a destiny. Now Jesus offers his disciples a task, a responsibility, a challenge. What Jesus was to the disciples, we must now be to the world around us.

Jesus not only gives us a challenge but also how we can achieve this. The primary motivation for taking this challenge is love – love of God. We want to be the presence of God in the world around us because we have a passion for God and everything God stands for. It is in love that Jesus says. “…my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” We become, as St. Paul suggests, earthen vessels that carry divine presence.

A Promise
“The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” Jesus was very honest when he made demands on his followers. Not once did he promise them a pain and trouble free life. Jesus was realistic. His own life was not free of strife. So he asked his disciples to be ready for misunderstanding, for persecution, ready to take up the cross and ready to die.

Jesus’ life was frighteningly similar to any of us yet amazingly different. The difference was not in his human condition but in the way he faced the human condition. He lived life each moment in the Father. Yes, it is true, Jesus did not promise us a life free of pain and suffering; but he promises us his presence through his Spirit. That is the only thing he promised his disciples before his ascension: ‘Behold I am with you until the end of times.”

The coming week will perhaps not be any different from the many we have lived in the past. This week, as a conscious spiritual exercise, let us conscious of God’s presence.

An assurance
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it you . Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”

It is amazing that Jesus was giving an assurance to his disciples who were frighteningly insecure. How could the disciples, who saw Jesus suffer a cruel and violent death, experience peace? At a time when they feared for their own lives, at every post-resurrection appearance Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you.” But Jesus’ addendum to the peace greeting says, “Not as the world gives…”

The Hebrew word for peace is “Shalom,” and it means “the total well-being (spiritual and material) of an individual and the whole community, that comes from fidelity to the Covenant.” Peace, cannot come from the world. Peace comes from knowing that a person is in right relationship with God ,and to the best of one’s ability, with the neighbor. The only people you are not obliged to maintain a relationship are those who lead us into sin.

This is kind of peace drives away every fear. Could the disciples experience this kind of peace? Sure, they could and their later ministry tells us that they did. Could we experience the assurance of peace that Jesus gives us today? Sure we can. But the peace we will experience will only be the result of a relationship with God and to the best of one’s ability, with our neighbor

Conclusion
The results of the clergy soccer match was not totally negative. As the spokesman for the Church of Norway said, “Both sides have learned to better understand our cultures and we have had an open discussion." In our limited capacity as human beings we can rise above human limitations with the power and the presence of God. That is why the Eucharist is so important for us. Let the Eucharist fill us with his presence. Amen.

Fr. Satish Joseph