What is truth?

 

 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning.  But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.  Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?"  They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evil-doer, we would not have delivered Him up to you."  

 

Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law."  Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.  

 

Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"  Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?  Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me.  What have You done?"  Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."  Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"  Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king.  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"  And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all."

 

- John 18:28–38 

 

Yesterday we read that, following Christ's arrest by night in the garden of Gethsemane, Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.  Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.  But Peter stood at the door outside.  Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought Peter in.  Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, "You are not also one of this Man's disciples, are you?"  He said, "I am not."  Now the servants and officers who had made a fire of coals stood there, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves.  And Peter stood with them and warmed himself.  Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself.  Therefore they said to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?"  He denied it and said, "I am not!"  One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?"  Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed.

 

  Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning.  But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover.  Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?"  They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evil-doer, we would not have delivered Him up to you."  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible says, the irony here is notable, as Jesus' accusers don't fear being defiled by condemning an innocent Man to death -- but they would not set foot into a court of justice.  

 

 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law."  Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," . . .  that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.  My study Bible explains that because the chief priests of the Jews didn't have an actual crime with which to make an accusation against Jesus, Pilate refused to pass judgment.  When the chief priests declare, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," they're not talking about the Law of Moses, but the laws of the Roman occupation.  The Romans, as occupying power, reserved the sole right to execute people.  So, therefore, the chief priests relied on Pilate to sentence Christ to death.  

 

 . . . that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.  According to the Jewish law, stoning was the usual means of execution.  But, Christ had prophesied that He would be killed by being lifted up on the Cross (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32-33).  Therefore He had foreknowledge that He would die, not at the hands of the religious leaders of Jerusalem, but by the Roman method of crucifixion. 

 

 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"  Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?"  Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?  Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me.  What have You done?"  Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here."  Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"  Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king.  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."  Pilate asks Jesus, "What have you done?"  My study Bible comments that it is unheard of that the accused would have to name the charges against himself in any court; it's the captors who name the crime.  That Pilate has to ask Jesus what the charges are shows that the chief priests could not name any crime He might have committed.  More importantly, the unfolding of this time shows that Christ was Lord over the events of His death (see John 18:4, 8).  Notably, even the governor has to come to Christ for the trial to proceed!

 

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"  And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all."  Pilate's words indicate he can come up with no charge of his own against Jesus.

 

 Pilate asks the question anyone wants to know, philosophers still seek to answer, and which dominates all academic sciences:  "What is truth?"  Over the many centuries before and after Christ's human lifetime, people have sought and come up with a variety of answers and theories, and they continue to do so.  But Christ has a particular answer, and Christianity has a particular answer to this question.  The great irony (among many ironies, clearly) is that Pilate asks this question of the One who stands before him, who is the truth, the One who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" - John 14:6.  Of course, this sense in which Jesus is the Person who is the truth is in the sense of the Logos, the Son.  He is truly the One by whom all things are measured, in relation to whom all things have meaning, and who will in the end be the judge of all things.  Christ, as Logos, gives each of us meaning, and has for each a name and identity (Revelation 2:17; 3:12).  In this sense, we find ourselves in relation to Him, through faith, and through the ongoing effort to live a faithful life.  We come to know ourselves, even to be transformed, through such a relationship and process.  This is, above all, an experiential process, one we come to know through living and experiencing it.  But saints, Church Fathers and Mothers, theologians, and an ongoing stream of faithful have taught and given us this understanding to us for centuries.  This is seen in the Old Testament in the action of God calling Abram out from one life to another, and renaming him Abraham; and in the new name given to Jacob to become Israel.  It is seen in the New Testament, in Christ renaming Simon Cephas, or Peter from the Greek; and naming James and John Zebedee Boanerges, meaning Sons of Thunder.  And this is indeed the lived experience of the Church and the faithful we can't count and don't all know.  "What is truth?" is a question which we, as faithful, answer in the fullness of the real Name of Christ; that is, this Name which becomes ours by adoption, of the house which also becomes ours by adoption (John 8:35).  While a materialist perspective might teach us that everything is relative, and meaning is only determined by what we desire at the moment, this so often proves a recipe for chaos and futility, a dead end that doesn't leave us with much meaning in life, and for all kinds of reasons.  There will always be a foundation of values we need to be able to count on, that can transcend our ongoing varied, collective, contradictory, and unusual experiences, and this is particularly true if tragedy strikes, unforeseen trauma we can't explain to ourselves in normal terms.  We require a relation to something -- actually to Someone -- much greater than ourselves to put all those pieces of collective and personal experience in a place that can not only make sense, but give us meaning and even purpose.  Why need truth be a Person, rather than the materialist sense of facts or reasons?  Because for truth to be transcendent, to give us meaning and purpose, to find real value and worthwhile substance, we need love.  And we need the Person who is love, who loves us, and who can teach us that transcendent love for ourselves to learn to live and practice as well.  There is no substitute for such truth, for it is at the core of our value even if no one else values who we are, nor will teach us that truth about who we are.  And Christ is the truth that can lead us there, show us His way to walk through a world of chaos or tragedy, and give us more than just selfish impulse or rigid law or conformity to a crowd or the next best theory (or fashion) we can find.  His is the kingdom that is not of this world, but surpassing it.  In Him, the contradictions are reconciled, and there is depth of meaning even in the Cross.  For He has overcome the world for us, and is always waiting to show us the way for us, too.  For His way is not out or beyond the world, but through it -- and He is the light of the world that we need to follow.

 

 

 

   

 

Go your way, your faith has made you well

 Now they came to Jericho.  As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"  So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.  Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer.  Rise, He is calling you."  And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.  So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way, your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

- Mark 10:46-52

Yesterday, we read that the disciples were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going before them, and they were amazed.  And as they followed they were afraid.  Then He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them the things that would happen to Him.  "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles; and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him.  And the third day He will rise again."  Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask."  And He said to them, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory."  But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask.  Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"  They said to Him, "We are able."  So Jesus said to them, "You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared."  And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.  But Jesus called them to Himself and said to them, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.  And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.  For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

 Now they came to Jericho.  As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.  And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"  Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"   My study bible tells us:  "Have mercy is a favorite phrase of prayer in the liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church.  Mercy is God's lovingkindness, His tender compassion toward repentant sinners."

So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.  Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer.  Rise, He is calling you."  And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.  So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."  A note says, "Jesus knows all things, and knows this man is blind.  Yet He asks, What do you want Me to do for you?  The man could have asked, 'Lord, give me grace to live with blindness,' but he asks for his sight.  Faith needs to be specific, and Jesus requests him to exercise his faith by asking for a specific need.  Rabboni means 'my teacher,' showing the man's affection for Jesus."  I think the text gets specific and vivid when it tells us that Jesus has stood still in the middle of the road, on this journey with His disciples toward Jerusalem, in order to call out Bartimaeus.  It's a way of focusing attention, zeroing in on the one calling out to Him, and stopping -- even while everything seems to simply be moving in an inevitable direction.

Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way, your faith has made you well."  And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.  My study bible says, "Bartimaeus follows Jesus, becoming a disciple of His (the road is Gr. hodos, the same word used for 'the Way' in Acts 9:2), and is not commanded to silence.  Now that Jesus is heading toward an open confrontation with the Jewish leaders in the Holy City, the veiling of His identity (the messianic secret) is no longer necessary."   In the Greek, the word translated as "made (you) well" is literally "saved (you)."

Bartimaeus makes a connection with Jesus here in today's reading -- this is what we notice.  He cries out, repeatedly, "Have mercy on me!" and he won't be silenced.  Bartimaeus, it would seem, already has a sense that there is a connection here.  His referral to Jesus as Rabboni, "my Teacher," also tells us that.  There is a sense of personal connection on Bartimaeus' part, whether he has formally met Jesus or not.  When Jesus stands still, in the middle of the road (the "way"), even as He is on His way to Jerusalem, and commands Bartimaeus to be called, it's a personal connection.  It's interesting, also, that Jesus doesn't call Bartimaeus Himself, but commands others to call him.  It's like Bartimaeus is personally being called, the way we imagine angels in heaven are commanded to call one person or another to summon them to the presence of God.  There is an amazing personal connection here, where, even though Jesus is on His way to His Passion, death and Resurrection, He takes time out to command one to be called, the one who is crying out repeatedly "have mercy on me!" and who called Him, "Rabboni."  I think that this personal connection to Christ is so important that Mark's Gospel gives it to us right on this road to the greatest event in history, the central event in the history of the world -- from a Christian point of view -- the culmination of God's mission into the world, the time of inconceivable sacrifice:  that God, as human, will suffer and die, and be Resurrected to save a whole world, past, present, and future.  And yet, while He's on this mission, and clearly set His sights for Jerusalem, the blind Bartimaeus cries out, and Jesus stops everything and commands him to be called.  It's reminiscent of the healing of the woman with the blood flow, who touched His garment in the midst of a crowd, even as He was on His way to heal Jairus' daughter:  Jesus has time for everyone.  He does what He is here to do, and each one of these things take place not just in "examples" to give us a general idea of what He is about, but in personal stories, in actions that make up all the links in this chain of love, all the points of light in the great, blinding, otherworldly light that is Christ which we can't possibly contain.  These stories aren't just examples to teach us the "concept" of Christ:  rather, these stories are the heart of Christ.  His work takes place in each of us, in each of our hearts and each of our lives.  "Rabboni" is the place of the heart, the place where Jesus dwells.  He knows each one of us personally.  And that's the place where we meet Him, we carry His presence around with us, with love and affection, in a kind of Person-to-person reality of the heart:  the whole of which, a whole universe of beings, past, present, and future, we can't possibly comprehend nor know.  But if we miss the personal, we miss the story.  We miss that mystical reality that we need.  We miss the point, and I think we lose out on our faith.  Here is where Jesus steps in and tells Bartimaeus, "Your faith has made you well."  Or, more literally, "Your faith has saved you."  In that depth of trust, we find the real power of Christ to save; we may know the grandest theories, we may understand all things known to man and even more, but if we don't have that place of love, that personal connection, we're missing out.  Let us remember He's got time for each of us, and wants us to make that time for Him.  When He tells Bartimaeus, "Go your way," that way is His Way, on the road ("the way") with Him.  Bartimaeus' shout of have mercy is the "new" shout of Jericho, the one that liberates and knocks down walls so that we enter into the real promised land, with Him.

Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried to all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

- Mark 10:46-52

In yesterday's reading, Jesus was traveling toward Jerusalem. As they walked on the road, He warned the disciples once again about what was to happen to Him there. James and John Zebedee approached Him and told Him they wanted Him to grant that they would sit on His right hand and left in His glory. But Jesus told them they didn't understand what they were asking -- there is a cup to drink, and a baptism with which to be baptized which they must also endure. To sit on His right or left hand is not His to give, but it is for those whom it is prepared. He said to all of the disciples, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried to all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jericho, we remember, is the town whose walls were toppled with a shout. Here, blind Bartimaeus is the one who is doing the shouting, and he won't be kept quiet. Instead, he calls out more loudly. So badly does he want something, that he just can't be contained by the crowd. To say, "Have mercy" is to pray, and is a phrase of liturgical prayer in many traditions of the church. My study bible says that "mercy is God's lovingkindness, His tender compassion toward repentant sinners."

So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" This is the same question Jesus asked in yesterday's reading, when John and James Zebedee wanted to make a request of Him. Here, Jesus offers the same lovingkindness, compassion to a blind beggar: Bartimaeus gets all of His attention. My study bible points out here that faith needs to be specific, and Jesus requests him to exercise his faith by asking for a specific need. So often the readings teach us that God wants us to know what we want, and come to Him with what is in our hearts. It is a way that we cooperate with grace, by emptying ourselves in this way.

The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. My study bible points out that Bartimaeus could have asked for the grace to live with his blindness, but he asks for sight -- a specific request. Rabboni is a term of affection, meaning "my teacher." Again, my study bible points out a helpful aspect of this reading: Jesus is on the road to confrontation in Jerusalem -- Bartimaeus is not commanded to silence about this messianic sign of healing. The good news here is Bartimaeus' call. Just as Jesus called Him to ask what he wanted, here he chooses to follow Jesus on "the Way." The word in Greek for the "road" is the same one used among the early believers for the "Way."

There are some little clues in the reading about the action here between the afflicted and Christ. Bartimaeus throws off his garment (his cloak) as he goes to Jesus, in a figurative sense he casts off one role for another, and he goes as himself openly, a man before God. In the Greek, asking for Him to "have mercy on me" is a kind of active verbal form. It sounds like "mercy me" in the same sense a child might ask, "feed me" -- or if a plant could talk, it would ask, "water me." And the word in Greek for mercy sounds alike for the one for olive oil: it is evocative of a request to "anoint me." In our image we have of mercy and lovingkindness, we see grace as a type of anointing, and a healing (both were uses of oil). So, when Christ calls us, responding to our cries for mercy, we come as ourselves -- and we come with our heart's desires, who we truly are, our specific faith. We cast off the cloaks of who we think we should be for a real and true relationship of the heart. This is the way which we are called -- and when Jesus tells Bartimaeus to "go," Bartimaeus goes His Way, as a follower, with the gift of His love, His grace, His anointing and healing. When we pray, "have mercy," let us think about prayer in this way. We reveal ourselves for relationship and love, and we give ourselves to Him as He gives Himself to us. This is the road to Jerusalem, the Holy City.

I am the way , the truth, and the life

"Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

- John 14:1-14

Yesterday was Easter Sunday, and there was no Gospel reading for Saturday. But today we return to Jesus' words to His Apostles at the Last Supper. We start in the text right after Friday's reading, in which Jesus told Peter that he would deny Christ three times that night, despite Peter's protests to follow Him even into death, that Peter would lay down his life for Jesus' sake. Of course, Peter will eventually do so, and his words will be true in time. See Lord, where are You going?

"Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." My study bible has a beautiful note on this passage which is worth repeating: "Many mansions is literally 'many dwelling places,' a word-picture of numerous living units surrounding a central courtyard -- an abundance of living accommodations. Mansions also speak of the multiplicity of blessings which await those who enter the Kingdom of God." But in these verses we see Jesus linking Himself with the Father, and His disciples with both of them, even unto the eternal reality of heaven. He prepares a place for them -- and by extension, for us who are faithful, so that where He is, we may be also. He is announcing His departure from this world as incarnate man.

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Once again, I will quote from my study bible: "The way, the truth, and the life is a Person, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is so because of His perfection union with His Father. The way we reach the Father is forever established through the Son. Jesus is the truth because He is the unique revelation of the Father, who is the goal of our journey through life. Christ is the life, the uncreated eternal life manifest in the flesh, so that we might have life. Because of this, 'no one comes to the Father except through' the Son. While aspects of goodness and truth are found among all people by virtue of their being created in the image and likeness of God, salvation comes through Christ alone." Jesus again emphasizes His union with the Father, and that the Father is reflected through Him - that we know the Father through Him. All in all, this summing up of His life and mission is to bring us to the Father, to create union for us as well, reconciliation, relationship, love and knowledge.

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works." Philip is our wonderful Apostle who asks the questions for us, and Jesus answers. Has Philip not been with Him since the beginning of His ministry, does he not know Him by now? The union of Father and Son, separate Persons, but of the same essence, is our interpretation of these words, as it is written in the Creed. Jesus' words are the words of the Father, because He serves the Father in all things, and the Father in Him does the works (the signs or miracles) He has done. My study bible notes that, "if we believe in Christ and follow Him, then we ourselves become 'sons of God,' living eternally in the love of the Father." So we also recall Jesus' earlier words to the temple leadership, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods."'?"

"Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." Jesus begins His departing speech to His Apostles with these words about what is to come in their lives and the life of the Church, the believers. My study bible points out something important here: "As shown in the Book of Acts, the disciples will later do even 'greater works' in spreading the gospel throughout the world because Jesus will have completed the work of salvation and they will be endowed with the Spirit. In Christ, and through the Holy Spirit, the Church makes God's salvation available to all in every age."

Jesus completes the circle of relatedness and union: He goes to the Father. But, He is saying, He will also take us: He prepares a place for us where He goes so that we may be with Him. But there is much more to it, after all. If we know Him, we know the Father -- and so, we come also to be sons of God. He draws us with Him into union, friendship, love and reconciliation. Is there any way to calculate what this really means, and all the ways this feeds us with true food in our lives? I don't think so. An eternity is not calculable, nor are the depths of that relationship and relatedness and how it impacts us in our lives, in every moment. So, think today about Jesus' mission and His departure to return again, to keep us with Him wherever He is, and to teach us also to know the Father. In this is our salvation, our joy and rest. I hope Easter is blessed for you on this day of Resurrection, as is every day.