6th Sunday of Easter 

 

My dear parishioners,

God is Good!!!  All the time!!!  And all the time!!!  God is Good!!!

The apostles and elders lead the whole Jerusalem Church to an agreement. Paul and Barnabas are sent back to the community at Antioch. In company with Judas and Silas, they return with a letter announcing that no burden will he placed upon gentile converts to the faith. They assert that those who demanded they be circumcised did not represent the Jerusalem Church. That Church requires only what is strictly necessary for table fellowship between gentiles and Jews. They are advised to avoid food sacrificed to other gods as well as food not prepared according to Jewish tradition. They are also not to engage in the illicit sexual practices tolerated by the pagan culture around them. The apostles and elders affirm the role of the Holy Spirit in all this. So once again the Spirit has led the Church across another threshold in the advancement of the Gospel.

In our Gospel pericope, Jesus said, whoever loves Jesus lives with both Jesus and his Father. This is the establishment of a new relationship that has the dynamic of coming home (“make our dwelling with him”). Failure to love Jesus is characterized as not keeping his words. These words are not simply Jesus’ words; they are the words of the Father.

After he returns to the Father, Jesus promises to send his disciples the Advocate. This Advocate is also called the Holy Spirit, but that should not be taken in the full sense of later Trinitarian doctrine. Technically, the concept of advocate is taken from the legal profession. An advocate is someone who supports and defends a client in legal matters. The purpose here of the Advocate is not to proclaim new teaching. He is to assist the disciples in remembering past teaching and applying it to new post resurrection situations.

Here peace is a gift Jesus offers to his disciples. This is the first time that the word has appeared in the Gospel of Jn. It implies a gift of salvation. Much more is referred to here than the absence of strife and conflict. That understanding would describe the world’s peace, which must be maintained by force. The peace that Jesus gives is bestowed in and through love. It infers a wholeness and completeness that cannot be obtained in the world. This is captured in the Hebrew word shalom. It is this gift of peace that will allow the disciples to continue working in the world without being taken up in it or conquered by it.

All that Jesus has promised his disciples requires that he depart from this world and return to the Father. Before the actual events of the death and resurrection of Jesus, this information would have been very troubling. Now, however, in the aftermath, Jesus’ return to the Father is good news. They can rejoice because of what it will bring to the disciple still working in the world. Jesus originally told the disciples all this before it happened. Now that it has indeed happened, the disciples’ response should be that of belief. While Jesus has returned to the Father, he has also returned to his disciples in some new and greater ways.

Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org. All rights reserved

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Aloysius