"Whoever Loves Me will Keep My Word"
John 14
Homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter
Mark Payne, OSB
We have to be careful when we hear Jesus talk
today about love and about peace. Sometimes we think of love and
peace as being pleasant emotions, just two of the many ways
people can feel. For Jesus, of course, peace and love are not
feelings at all; they are activities. They are relationships.
They are hard work. They are also gifts from God. The peace and
love of God are nothing that we could experience by ourselves
even as a result of careful planning and hard effort.
The person who loves me, Jesus says, will keep
my word and will be drawn ever closer to me and to my Father.
This relationship with God (the reason why we were created) could
never be an exclusive or private relationship. After all, Jesus
commands us to do whatever is needed by other people at every
moment. We prove ourselves loyal to Jesus by placing ourselves at
the service of other people. We can't really plan ahead for these
most important activities because we don't know whom we will meet
each day and what needs they will present to us.
Peace is the state of being confident that we
are in the care of a God who will let nothing come between us and
God. Nothing that happens to us can rupture the merciful and
joyful relationship God has established with us. There surely
will be hard times, missed opportunities, bad judgements, and
failures, but our personal connection with God grows only
stronger as we experience God's mercy, forgiveness, and growing
strength within us.
It is the Holy Spirit, St John assures us this
morning, the presence of God, who brings this about in us each
day. Jesus no longer walks about on the earth but Jesus' spirit
and the power of God is even closer to us, ever in our hearts,
because of the Spirit we share with God and each other. \par \par
The new Jerusalem, the redeemed people of God, is the light of
the world already growing up in the world. So claims the Book of
Revelation today. We can experience the beauty of this world and
of other people and we can make our way safely because of our
earthly vision. Revelation promises that the Spirit of God does
the same thing for us in the kingdom of God. We will feel and we
will know the beauty of God and all other people, and we bring
about the communion of peoples with confidence as a result of
Jesus good example, his teaching, and his power in us already.
Jesus is this light of the world by whom even we can accomplish
deeds of mercy, of healing and forgivness.
The first reading tells us of a huge
disagreement in the early church. Since Jesus himself, and his
mother, since St. Joseph and all the apostles were Jews,
shouldn't all newcomers to the faith become Jews? Since it is the
Law and the Prophets and all the Jewish writings of the past that
allow us (even today) to understand who Jesus is, then shouldn't
all new believers become Jews and experience the grace of Jesus?
The leadership of the church decided to come together with
representatives from the new churches to find an answer to this
difficult question. They had often experienced that when
Christians come together and when they share their experiences
and insight, all of this interaction is guided by the one Spirit
in a most obvious and powerful way. While each of us has a
relationship with God and enjoys the gifts of the Spirit, still
it is only all of us together who are the Body of Christ in the
world. Jesus is most effectively present when all are gathered
together.
In Psalm 67 this morning we used the words of
our ancestors to ask that God's face may shine on us. So many
ways we discovered, is God's face already today shining on us: in
the face of each believer and in the giving and receiving of
forgiveness, in the mercy and assistance we grant to one another,
in the conversation and deliberation of Christians to determine
the will of God in vexing modern situations. In those who serve
the poor and lead holy lives, and especially those who suffer for
doing good. The light of the sun and the moon are no match for
the light of the radiant glory of God avaialable to us through
the mercy of Christ and in each other each day.