6th Sunday of Easter
My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the time!!! And all the time!!! God is Good!!!
Peter enters the house of a gentile. This is a watershed moment for the apostle. Without God taking the initiative, Peter would not have crossed the threshold of the house of someone “unclean.” But the apostle was granted a vision challenging him to move beyond the limited thinking of mortals. Peter’s response to Cornelius’ show of respect reveals the change that has taken place in his thinking. The apostle regards this gentile soldier as a man like himself. Peter now sees from God’s impartial point of view; every man and woman is a child of God worthy to hear the Gospel.
The context for today’s Gospel is Jesus’ lengthy teaching about the intimate relationship between the vine grower, the vine, and the branches. This becomes a metaphor for the intimate relationship that exists between the Father, Jesus, and the disciples.
Keep my commandments. Jesus tells his disciples that he loves them in the very same way that the Father loves Jesus. The disciples are admonished that they should remain in Jesus’ love for them. “Remain” means to continue to abide or dwell in the love Jesus has for them. The way this abiding or dwelling takes place is rooted in the way Jesus stays connected with the Father. He does this by keeping the Father’s commandments. Therefore, the disciples are to keep Jesus’ commandments which will serve to keep them intimately connected to Jesus and his love.
Love one another as I love you. Jesus continues on to explain in more detail what is involved in keeping his commandment. Jesus’ key commandment is: “Love one another as I love you.” Notice, the commandment is not simply, love one another. There is more required. That more is that the disciples are to love one another just as Jesus has loved them. This, of course, raises a further question regarding how Jesus has loved the disciples. He loves them so much that he is willing to lay down his life for his disciples. This action is understood to be the pinnacle of love.
You are my friends. In the midst of this explanation Jesus makes an important point. Jesus now refers to his disciples as “friends.” They are not subservient slaves or servants. Through love, the disciples have attained a deeper relationship with Jesus that is captured by the word “friends.” This of course bespeaks intimacy. And this intimacy places Jesus and his disciples on a level playing field. So much so that Jesus has shared with his friends everything that he has heard from his father. This, of course, will prepare them to carry on his work after he leaves and returns to the Father. There is to be no mistake about how all this took place. Jesus chose these friends and appointed them to bear fruit that will remain.
Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius