May 7, 2010
Sunday Scripture
Sixth Sunday of Easter
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
Today’s gospel reflects a major theme of Jesus’ Last Supper Discourse in the Gospel of John, his departure. He prepares his disciples for his absence by cautioning them to “keep my word.” In the Old Testament the Ten Commandments are called ‘the Ten Words.” In last Sunday’s gospel we heard Jesus giving only one commandment “that you love one another as I have loved you.” John takes another step here, “If someone loves me, that person will keep my word,” one “word” instead of the “Ten Words.” That “word” is love of one another, love of neighbor. The commandment of love of neighbor summarizes the Ten Commandments (actually 613 commandments). Paul wrote in Romans 13:10, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the Torah (the Law of Moses).” Jesus (God) cannot be loved without love of neighbor, “If anyone says, ‘I love God; and hates his brother, he is a liar, for the person who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen,” 1 John 4:20-21.
Those who keep the “word of Jesus,” that is, do the love of Jesus vouched for through love of neighbor, will experience an intimate relationship with God, the divine indwelling,”Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Some ancient Christian theologians expressed the union between a Christian and the Divine Persons with the delightful Greek word, perichoresis, which means “dancing or singing together.” If that accurately expresses the union between God and Christian, those who have it should be filled with exuberant joy as an outward sign of their joyful, internal dancing and singing with God.
Jesus next promises Someone to carry on his work with the disciples, ‘’the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.” The Greek word Paracletos is a counselor or defense attorney. What will the Paraclete’s work consist of? “He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” In Luke 12:12 Christians on trial for their faith are told, “The Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Paul expresses a similar thought in Romans 8:26, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”
Jesus conveys his own Shalom (peace) to them, a peace which comes from the security he has through total and eternal unity with his Father. The peace Jesus conveys to those who love him, to those who already in this world enjoy the divine indwelling, who “dance with God,” is eternal life. In John 10:28 Jesus spoke of his sheep, whom the Father gave him, “and I shall give them eternal life. They shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand.’’ They are secure. They have Shalom!
Finally, Jesus asks the disciples to celebrate that he is leaving them. Why? Is it on the principle that absence makes the heart grow fonder? Or because it may be easier to love when not confronted with the too human qualities of the one loved? No! They must rejoice because he, now even with his human nature, returns to “the glory which I had with the Father before the world was made,” John 17:5. John gives a perplexing reason why they must rejoice at his return to the Father, “For the Father is greater than I.” This statement has the unhappy history of being used to deny the equality of Father and Son. This cannot be the meaning of John, who otherwise speaks of Jesus as the I AM, and “My Lord and my God.” The Father is indeed greater than the human nature intimately united to the Person who is the Son, but that Person is equal to the Father.
This reading acquaints us with a major struggle in early Christianity. Male circumcision for Jewish males was the outward sign of the covenant between God and the Israelites. Gentiles soon began streaming into Christianity. Since the Christian Church considered itself the continuation of Israel, or even the new and true Israel, would these new Christian men have to bear the external sign of the covenant? The Council of Jerusalem, convoked to deal with this question, decided against circumcision for Gentile converts. They were asked to keep only those laws of the Torah which were enjoined upon non-Israelites living among Israelites. The Council’s decision was expressed with complete confidence that it came from God, “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us . . .
The prophet John continues in a visionary trance. The Spirit whisks him off to a high mountain. He sees the holy city, the new Jerusalem. On the twelve foundations of the city were inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. There was no temple. Nor was there a need for a temple, because “the Lord God and the Lamb” now functioned as the sacred temple. Note equality between God and the Lamb of God. Both are the temple, distinct from one another, yet one and the same temple.