1 May 2016
6th Sunday of Easter, Year
C (with optional 7th Sunday Readings)
When somebody’s going away for a while, they tend to make
sure everything is in good order before they go. For instance, we might plan to take a
vacation, and so we leave instructions for other people, you know: “Please be
sure to pick up the mail every day, and here’s some papers that need to be
mailed out, or would you come over and feed the cats.” We get everything in order, and make it very
clear what we need done, so we can go on vacation.
Of course, that’s similar to when people are doing estate
planning or funeral planning. It’s all
about making our will and our intentions very clear so others will know what to
do. And that seems to be what Jesus is
doing here in the gospel. When you think
about it, next weekend we’ll be celebrating the Ascension of the Lord; we’ll
celebrate his having gone away to be with God the Father. And so, it only makes sense that, before that
happened, he would’ve made sure his Will and his Intentions were very clear to
his disciples.
Now, sometimes a Last Will and Testament can be focused
entirely on the distribution of assets: property, finances, a car, and so
on. But it can also be rather beautiful
statement about the meaning of somebody’s life.
And I saw this a lot when I was a chaplain at a hospital over in La
Crosse. When people were nearing death,
or were going into serious surgery, what oftentimes became important was for
them to make sure their loved ones knew how they felt.
They wanted to testify in a short and clear way that they loved
their family. Or they wanted to make it
known that they needed to forgive someone, or to ask forgiveness from someone. Sometimes there was even a simple profession
of faith in God written down. Before
they went away, they just had to say something to tell people what their life
was all about.
And that’s what we have here in the gospel today. Here in John we find out why the Word became flesh at the Incarnation, and why Jesus did
what he did, and said what he said during his ministry. Here in John we find out why he was crucified, and buried, and rose from the dead, and
walked among his disciples before finally ascending into Heaven. Jesus tells us the meaning of his life on
earth.
It was a testament to the truth that love and charity are more powerful than fear and hatred. His life on earth was a testament to his
absolute love of God the Father . . . and his perfect love for us. And his whole Will and Purpose for being here—just
in case we missed it—is “that [we] may all be one,” “that the world may believe
that [the Father] sent” him, and “that [we] may also be in [God].”
This is what his life on earth was all about; it was all
about exactly what he preaches to us: “Love God with all your heart, will all
your soul, with all your strength, and with all your being. Love your neighbor as yourself. Go make disciples of all peoples, so that God
may be all in all.” That’s the meaning
of his whole earthly life in a nutshell.
And before he went away, he just had to make it very, very clear to the
ones he loves.
But we’ll miss the point if we stop there. That’s his
earthly life in a nutshell, yes. But he
also wants it to be our life as
well. You know, there aren’t any
barriers between the Son of God and God the Father; how many times does he say
that “he and the Father are one.” They’re
bound together perfectly in that reality we know as the Holy Spirit. And it’s Jesus’ Will that there be no
barriers between us and God, and not
any barriers among us in the Church.
In effect, Jesus is saying: “Here’s what my life on earth was
all about—now go and do the same thing.
I am with you to help you.”
And, really, it’s a beautiful vision Jesus puts in front of
us—a vision of real unity and charity, peace and mutual respect; a vision where
the boundaries between heaven and earth, and the distinction between human and
divine become blurred to the point that they’re practically the same thing.
During Mass, there’s a moment where the priest pours a little
water into the wine. And the prayer
that’s said is this: “By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to
share in the divinity of Christ, as he humbled himself to share in our
humanity.” And the wine and the water
just mix together and they become one.
It’s a little image there in the chalice of Christ’s Will for us, and
(hopefully) our own desire that God will saturate everything with the Holy Spirit,
and there will be no more division, anywhere, on earth or in heaven.
As we heard in the psalm: “May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you! May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear him. O God, let all the nations praise you.”
At World Youth Day 2013, in Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis made
his famous remarks about “making a mess.”
He said: “What do I expect as a consequence of Youth Day? I expect a
mess. There will be one. . . . I want a mess in the dioceses! I want people to
go out! I want the Church to go out to the street! I want us to defend
ourselves against everything that is worldliness, . . . that is comfortableness, that is clericalism,
that is being shut-in on ourselves.”
“I expect a mess.” And
Jesus could’ve said the same thing. Not
a “mess” in the sense of chaos and harm, but a “mess” in the sense of breaking
down barriers that should never have been
put up in the first place. Making a
“mess” in the sense of restoring the
“order” of what God wills and intends for his creation.
And so, practically speaking, we can follow the Will of
Christ by, first of all, praying. One of
my own concerns for the Church (and the world) is that she’s getting
increasingly hyper. At some point in our
history, the mark of a “true Christian” became how much activity we’re doing. A true
Christian is a busy Christian. A true
Christian is a hyper Christian who just can’t sit still. Of course, it’s in stillness that we can be
the most intimate and one with God. And so, being too busy doing the Lord’s work
can actually be a barrier to knowing
the Lord.
And so, practically speaking, we can honor the Will of Christ
by intentionally praying more. If you’re
looking for something solid to hang onto, think of the Our Father: “Thy kingdom
come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” It takes the focus off of us, and puts it on
the Will of God. And it makes us be
still and challenges us to be one
with God.
Another practical way to honor Christ’s Will for us is maybe
to think before we speak (or get really good at saying, “I’m sorry”). You know, we all have ideas of how life can
be better: at work, at home, in the parish, in the world. But we want to be careful not to let our own
sense of rightness be a barrier to loving our neighbor.
As we know, some people are actually right about certain
things. And some people are actually
wrong about certain things. But it takes
humility and an interest in the other person, to make the love of neighbor a
reality. In the vision of God there
aren’t any “big egos.” Of course, this
is a big challenge for us (and everybody).
After all, we love to debate about things. We see it in the Acts of the Apostles when
they were debating about circumcision.
We argue about public policies, foreign policies, taxes, human rights,
justice and equality, the Church and so on, and so on. We love to debate with one another. And that’s a great thing; it’s a very good
and human activity to do. But there’s
always the risk of putting up barriers; there’s always the potential of the
“big ego” taking over. And then the
community of disciples breaks down, as does the mingling of heaven and earth.
Now, we could go on and on about practical ways to honor
Christ’s Will. But I won’t. Instead, I’ll just mention one more way. And that is: To nurture our imagination. Whenever I look at the Book of Revelation, it
always strikes me how much of an imagination you have to have in order to
appreciate what’s there. The experience
is almost like reading a children’s book; with talking animals, or a pumpkin
that turns into a carriage, or other fantastical things happening.
To honor the Will of Christ—that we love God, love our
neighbors, go make of all disciples so that God will be all in all—to honor the
Will of Christ, practically speaking, it’s helpful to think impractically; to think outside the box;
to nurture our imagination and begin to live in the world of possibilities.
Jesus left his disciples a “statement” of what his life on
earth was all about—it was about breaking down the barriers between heaven and
earth; breaking down the walls between the human and the divine. And that’s his Will for us; that we be a
people of love and charity. Just think
of the possibilities. It’s a beautiful
vision. Will we make it ours?
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