Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are

 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:  "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.  I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.  And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.  They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.  Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.  I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.  And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.  Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are."

 - John 17:1-11

Last week, we read through Jesus' Farewell Discourse to the Apostles.  On Monday, we read Jesus teach, "In My Father's house are many mansions."   Tuesday's reading gave us, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."  In Wednesday's reading, Jesus said, "I am the vine, you are the branches."  In Thursday's reading, He taught, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  In Friday's reading, He said, "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth."  Finally, on Saturday, Jesus taught:  "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."  Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"  They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'?  We do not know what He is saying."  Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?  Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.  A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.  And in that day you will ask Me nothing.  Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.  Until now you have asked nothing in My name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.  These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is  coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language but I will tell you plainly about the Father.  In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.  I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.  Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."  His disciples said to Him, "See, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!  Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You.  By this we believe that You came forth from God."   Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.  And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said:  "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him."  My study bible has some interesting things to say about these passages.  It notes that "the hour has come signifies that Christ is in charge of time.  He cannot be crucified until He is ready. . . . Glorify refers to the exaltation as well as the eternal glory of the preexistent Christ.  The 'hour' is that of His death:  the sacrifice of the Lamb of God made once and for all.  This is Jesus' exaltation upon the Cross -- the completion of the work and salvation for which He was sent by the Father. . . . God is glorified when salvation and eternal life come to His people."

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."  A note tells us, "The knowledge of God, which is eternal life, goes far beyond rational or academic pursuit; it is participation in divine life and communion with God.  Thus, eternal life -- life proper to the age to come -- is an ongoing, loving knowledge of God in Christ."

"I have glorified You on the earth.  I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.  And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."  My study bible tells us, "For Christians, there are two important and interrelated aspects of Christ:  (1) who He is:  the eternal Son of God incarnate; and (2) His work:  accomplished through His Incarnation.  His work is not limited to the Cross.  It incorporates everything from His conception in the womb of Mary to His Ascension and enthronement in the eternal Kingdom."

"I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.  They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word."  My study bible tells us that the men to whom Jesus refers are the Apostles.  "It is the Apostles who receive the Word of the Father from the Son and pass it on to those 'who will believe in Me through their word' (v. 20) [which we will find in Wednesday's reading].  The Apostles as a body -- not primarily Peter, nor any individual preacher or teacher -- are the ones through whom God's Word comes to us.  This is what is meant by apostolic tradition."

"Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You.  For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me."  Again, as He has done so much throughout John's Gospel -- and especially in this Farewell Discourse -- Jesus invokes the closeness of the relatedness between Himself and the Father.  Earlier He taught that "all things the Father has are mine" (Friday's reading).  Here, He is assured that the Apostles understand the fullness of this relationship, and that what they have received has come from the Father.  We really can't separate the urgency with which Jesus continually refers to the Father so that the disciples understand completely His (Jesus') identity in relationship to God the Father, and through this teaching, their own mission linked to the Father -- and hence our faith intrinsically linked also in that relationship.

"I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours."  My study bible says that "although God loves the whole world, and the Son came with a specific mission to the world, Jesus prays here for the disciples, the Twelve.  He will later extend His prayer to all believers to come.  But He does not pray for the world as such in terms of society, governments, nations.  Here the world is that portion of humanity which exists in direct opposition to Him; preferring darkness to His light; refusing to come to the light; rejecting Him and thus standing under judgment."  We remember Jesus' command to "love one another" -- which my study bible calls, "a definitive mark of discipleship."  In this we find a key to what it is to walk in the light, as opposed to the darkness of "the world" as the term is used here.  The question of what we love will always be pertinent to this prayer, and the deep mystery of how the Father leads us to faith.

"And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them."  Jesus' prayer is for those He leaves behind "in the world."  We remember His warnings about the persecutions to come, and how they will scatter at the time of the Crucifixion.  Jesus is praying in trust to the Father, so that those whom He has drawn 'out of the world' will remain intact after He goes to the Father.  In some sense, He completes the circle:  All His are the Father's and the Father's are His, and Christ is glorified in them.  It is His love for us that He is expressing here.

"Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.  Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are."  The important thing here is Jesus' fervent prayer that they be kept in the Father's name.  Jesus has mentioned this in the beginning of the reading and here we end with it also.  It is a sign of all that we are a part of in faith, in His name.  It keeps us all as one.  My study bible cites a prayer from the Didache (10:2), the earliest known surviving teaching work of the Apostles:  "We give You thanks, Holy Father, for Your Holy Name which You have made to dwell in our hearts, and for the knowledge and truth and immortality which You have made known to us through Your son Jesus."

Let us consider, as it's of central importance to today's passages, what it is to live "in His name."  Jesus prays to the Father, "I have manifested Your name to the men You have given Me out of the world."  In these words we understand relationship beyond anything we conceive of in a worldly sense, because it is the Father who has given "these men" out of the world to Christ; Jesus has manifested the Father's name to them, and the fullness of today's prayer is a prayer for these men - and those who will come to Him through them - to remain in the Father's name.  So let us consider what it means to manifest His name.  My study bible teaches that "in Old Testament times the term 'the Name' was reverently used as a substitute for God's actual name, 'Yahweh.'  Although all humans belong to God, the fuller revelation of the Name was given only to those who were given to the Savior from out of the world.  The word they have kept is Jesus' revelation, and especially the new commandment to love one another."  So, when we pray "in God's name," or "in the name of Christ" or the name of the Father, Son and Spirit, we have to keep in mind all that this implies.  Ultimately, it is all about relationship, and the depth of a kind of relationship in which all is included:  His teachings, His word to us, His love for us, and the love we are expected to share in return.  All of this is included in "the name," and all of it goes back to and includes the Father at every turn.  The power of relatedness is what shows forth here, and it is a relatedness that teaches us how we live and relate to one another, a relationship, ultimately, of love.  So to remain in His name, in the Father's name, is to remain "out of the world" in the sense that we don't live by all the rules we find in the world that call upon us to be short-sighted, selfish, merely to understand ourselves in competition with one another.  Rather, God's love calls us to live in a particular type of family and in a way from which we can learn and practice love.  So how does that light call you today, out of things you may have learned from "the world"?  How does it invite you in?  When we ask to remain "in His name" let us remember "His name" includes "His Way."

That your joy may be full

"A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."  Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"  They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'?  We do not know what He is saying."  Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?  Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.  A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.  And in that day you will ask Me nothing.  Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.  Until now you have asked nothing in My name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

"These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is  coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language but I will tell you plainly about the Father.  In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.  I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.  Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."

His disciples said to Him, "See, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!  Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You.  By this we believe that You came forth from God."   Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.  And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

- John 16:16-33

This past week, we have been reading Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His Apostles.  We began on Monday, when we read that Jesus told them, "In My Father's house are many mansions."   On Tuesday, we read that He said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."  Wednesday, we read His teaching, "I am the vine, you are the branches."  In Thursday's reading, He taught, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  Yesterday, we read Jesus' words:  "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.  But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are you going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.  I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

"A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father."   My study bible tells us that "the first little while is the period of the arrest, death and burial of Jesus; the second little while is the time He is in the tomb."  But again, what we must note is Jesus' reference to the Father.  In all ways, in speaking of His identity, Jesus continually references His relationship to the Father.

Then some of His disciples said among themselves, "What is this that He says to us, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'; and, 'because I go to the Father'?"  They said therefore, "What is this that He says, 'A little while'?  We do not know what He is saying."  The Gospel tells us of the confusion of the disciples.  John witnesses to the truth, whether it is flattering or not.

Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, 'A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me'?  Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy."  Again, there is a strong warning here, a kind of caution against the future so that they will not be too devastated and lose hope because of what is coming:  "You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice."  This is similar to His teaching in yesterday's reading that there will be those who believe they are serving God by persecuting them:  "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."   They are prepared by His warnings for the time to come.  Here the sadness is acute and poignant; they will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.  And there is the full purpose of His warning:  they will be sorrowful, but their sorrow will be turned to joy.  These are words we must always remember.

"A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you."  My study bible tells us that "Jesus uses the powerful image of a woman giving birth to express both the pain and the joy of the birth of His new creation. . . . Joy will come with the revelation of Christ risen from the dead, after the sorrow of the Cross.  Jesus does not promise sorrow will be removed.  His promise is that no one can remove our joy.  In Phil. 3:10 we see this same combination of sorrow and joy -- the sufferings of Christ combined with His Resurrection, giving us entrance into the Kingdom of God."

"And in that day you will ask Me nothing.  Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.  Until now you have asked nothing in My name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."  My study bible teaches:  "They asked nothing in His name because Jesus was not yet glorified."  But here, He teaches about asking.  A new kind of relationship is being established through what is to come.  Let us remember the great treasure of the Spirit, that will lead us to "all truth" (see yesterday's reading), meaning "every" truth.  What we ask is implied, through time, to be the spiritual truth of inexhaustible treasure.  It is the true discipleship and stewardship with which He leaves us, so that we may "ask the Father in His name."  In this, their joy, and ours, is full.

"These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is  coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language but I will tell you plainly about the Father."  A note reads, "The time is coming when Jesus will speak plainly, not in parables.  That time, according to St. John Chrysostom, refers to the post-Resurrection 40 days, as confirmed by Acts 1:3."

"In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.  I came forth from the Father and have come into the world.  Again, I leave the world and go to the Father."  A note here teaches:  "We know that prayer may be made in the name of God the Father, for Jesus Himself prayed 'Our Father' (Matt. 6:9) and 'Father, the hour has come' (17:1).  Through Christ, we have direct access to the Father.  Here, however, our Lord teaches us we may also pray in the name of God the Son.  After Pentecost, we learn:  'the [Holy] Spirit Himself makes intercession for us' (Rom. 8:26) and we are instructed to be 'praying always . . . in the Spirit' (Eph. 6:18).  Therefore, . . . we pray continually and with confidence to all three Persons of the Trinity, 'in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.'"

His disciples said to Him, "See, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech!  Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You.  By this we believe that You came forth from God."   Jesus answered them, "Do you now believe?  Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone.  And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  My study bible tells us, "Despite persecution and suffering, Christians can maintain the peace and joy of Jesus Christ who has overcome the world of darkness through His saving work."

In today's reading, we once again observe all of Jesus' references to the Father.  His identity is inseparable from that of the Father.  This isn't only His nominal identity as Son, but it is all about a relationship of the deepest love.  And this is a relationship into which we are invited, and included, and in which we are also invited to participate.  Jesus notes that we will participate in prayer to the Father (my study bible's note referenced that Jesus' prayer which He gave to the disciples is the "Our Father").  It goes much further than that, they will ask and receive from the Father, so that their joy will be full.  This is the fullness of a relationship of love -- but love here is dialogue, communication, true communion.  Human beings, the great news is here, are directly in communion with the Father; through prayer we engage into this dialogue.  And this is our real joy.  Jesus tells us, "I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God."  We are entwined (as branches and vine) in a direct relationship of love, even with the Father Himself.  This is so that "our joy may be full," in Jesus' words.  His final words are the most poignant of all:  "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  The world will present us with all kinds of obstacles to our faith, to the fullness of our joy.  But He has already overcome the world, He has paved the Way, and His truth is there for the asking, so that we too may find His Way through the darkness we encounter.  This is the fullness of His joy, and His love, which is the grace given to us, and the peace given in a way the world cannot give.  Let us remember His promise, that while we have tribulation, and the pangs of childbirth, there is joy that is our fulfillment of His promise of faith.  How do you experience that joy, that fullness, a peace that passes understanding?  Let us remember it can't be counted in worldly terms.  We can simply witness to what we know, and have "seen and heard" in our own lives.  Let no one take away that joy from you.

When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth

 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. 

"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are you going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

- John 16:1-15

Over the course of this week, we have been reading Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His disciples, before His betrayal and arrest.  We began on Monday, when Jesus taught, "In My Father's house are many mansions."   On Tuesday, we read that He told us, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."  In Wednesday's reading, Jesus told them, "I am the vine, you are the branches."  Yesterday, we read a final commandment Jesus leaves with them, and us:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.  If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'  But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."  We remember that at the time John's Gospel was written, a terrible persecution was going on for members of the Church, so when Jesus warns of being put out of the synagogues, this is a very personal message for the disciples, all Jewish followers of Jesus.  But the message of persecution can be taken everywhere that Christians have been persecuted, including the Roman world of the time period as well.  It's important that we understand Jesus has specifically informed them that those who seek to kill them will believe that they offer God service, because it is a distinct preparation for what is to come.  Indeed, St. Paul himself was one of these who did so.  The warning is given now so that they will be equipped and prepared for what is to come, after He is gone.

"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are you going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart."  My study bible notes here:  "The word sorrow means 'extreme grief, leading to a state of severe depression,' which is a sinful passion.  Thus, St. John Chrysostom writes, 'Great is the tyranny of despondency.'  This sin is also constantly referred to in the writings of the Desert Fathers.  Even when the world hates true Christians, they must not become despondent, but take comfort from the Holy Spirit.  The disciples are troubled not only because Jesus is leaving them, but also because of the ongoing struggle between light and darkness, between Jesus and the prince of this world."  Let us remember the sorrows the disciples have gone through, that none of us are immune to them, but that they must be endured as we abide in Him, along with others who help to strengthen us.  Here the disciples seem to be so distressed as to be unable to even ask Him where He is going.

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged."  Here is the light in the darkness:  the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will come to them.  My study bible says that "through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the world will be convicted, that is, proved wrong and judged about:  (1) sin -- the ultimate sin is not to believe in Jesus as God and man, crucified and resurrected; (2) righteousness -- a right relationship with God, possible only through Christ, risen, ascended, and righteous before God; (3) judgment -- all who reject Christ, and are under the sway of the devil, will be given the same penalty their ruler has already received."  Jesus seems to say that the ruler of the world is judged through His life and mission incarnate in the world, and thereby the Holy Spirit is free to do His work of witnessing and testifying as to this judgment.  Let us remember that when we do the works of love He has commanded us to do, we too are witnessing and testifying, participating in this work.

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."  Here, my study bible tells us that "Jesus Christ, the incarnate son of God, possesses all things the Father has and is fully equal to the Father."  But the extraordinary teaching here is about the fact that it is out of the fullness of all things that truth will be shared and declared to us, through the Holy Spirit.  Again, we witness to the loving nature of God the Trinity, and how we are included in that love:  what the Holy Spirit takes and declares to us is not only from all that Christ possesses but also all things the Father has, which are the Son's as well.  When Jesus speaks of "all truth" there is absolutely nothing held back from us, through the Spirit.

This great gift of the Spirit is one that is inestimable and unimaginable.  Here, the promise is clear and unequivocal:  Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, "He will guide you into all truth."  This word for "all" is an interesting one, and it may give us an insight to Jesus' promise.  "All" in this sense means "every part," as if Jesus is literally saying, "every truth."   One dictionary describes it by saying, "The emphasis of the total picture then is on 'one piece at a time.'"  So this promise of all truth is important for us to understand, because we don't really think we possess all truth now, even 2,000 years after Jesus' Incarnation in our world.  But through Tradition, through faith, we see the Church as whole as on a road, just as we each are on a road, the Way that Christ taught.  This isn't a "one time only" kind of truth, but a kind of truth that holds nothing back, yet comes to us through time.  It is such a grand and expansive whole that it is impossible for us to have it all at once, for its reserves are inexhaustible:  they are all the things that are of the Son, and all the things that are of the Father.  This is the great truth that is worth everything, the gift that far surpasses everything else in life, the fullness of the Kingdom that He promises to us.  So, this is what the disciples have been promised, even as He leaves them -- the fullness of the gift which He leaves them is greater than what they can know at this moment.  So let us consider the gift in our own lives.  It is that which provides the light through the darkness, through our own times of sorrow or limitation or wondering where do we go from here.  It is that which always promises the new and the future, even as the gifts of the past remain golden and transcendent, as we look to the earliest Apostles and seek also the holiness and the presence of the Spirit in our own midst, here and now.  Let us consider this gift, and how we honor it and live with it, living through its help and guidance!  Let us remember its code is love.  Jesus has declared to us, in Tuesday's reading, "Not as the world gives do I give to you."  In the fullness of the promise of the Spirit, we must realize the inexhaustible and uncontainable treasure that is offered to us, in complete love, from Christ, the Father and the Spirit.  It is truly "not as the world gives."   St. John Damascene tells us:  "Just as the action of water, which like that of earth and air and the all-enlightening sun is simple and single, still adapts itself in a different way to each creature who shares in it, according to its nature, becoming wine in a grape and oil in an olive, so grace, which is simple and single, works for the good of those who share in it in various parallel ways, according to the need of each (cf. 1 Peter 4:10)" (Second Homily on the Dormition of Our Lady).  In the same homily, he also adds that "grace is given without measure in all corners of the world."  Let us remember the fullness of "every" and "each" in the truth that has been promised to us!

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

- John 15:12-27

Over the course of this week's readings, we have been reading Jesus' Farewell Discourse to the Apostles.  We began on Monday in which Jesus taught, "In My Father's house are many mansions."  In Tuesday's reading, He told them, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."   In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught them, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  Here we are in the heart of Christ's message to His disciples; this is what He leaves them with.  He has taught love through discipleship, now they are to emulate the Master in all the ways He has practiced love for them.  My study bible says, "Just as God loves us unconditionally, so we are to love each other unconditionally, in Christ's name -- whether there is a response or not." 

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."  My study bible notes here:  "Friendship is higher than servanthood.  A servant obeys his master out of fear; a friend is a servant who obeys out of love.  Abraham was called a 'friend of God' (James 2:23) because he believed and obeyed God.  The disciples and the saints are honored as friends of Christ and heirs of God:  'and if children, then heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ' (Rom. 8:17; see also Gal. 4:7).  Here Jesus tells his friends those things He has heard from His Father, the truths and blessings which He reveals in the Gospel."  Jesus has been open with His disciples, He has revealed the things of the Father that were given to Him:  therefore they are friends, and in all ways they are to emulate Him, to do His commands, the things He has taught are true.  He lays down His life for His friends, just as He has revealed all to them that was given by the Father.

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another."  Again, as in yesterday's reading, there is the emphasis on bearing fruit.  This fruit is not like the seasonal fruit of the world, but gifts of the Spirit that must remain; as we (and they) abide in Him, so we may pray to the Father in His name, in His word and commandment.  And once more, there is the emphasis that is clear:  love one another.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' "  My study bible has a note on this entire passage:  "Regarding the world we learn that:  (1) while union with Christ brings love, joy and peace, it also brings the world's hatred and persecution; (2) the citizens of the world who hate Christians do so because they do not know the Father; (3) a person cannot say he loves God but not God's Son, for those who hate Christ also hate God the Father; and (4) hatred for Jesus Christ is without legitimate cause, for He brings God's love and truth to the world."  Let us consider the persecution the Church was facing already at the time of John's Gospel, and we will come to understand the vicious difficulties of the time.  But in our own time and place, we can also witness such hatreds in the world and in our own lives we may encounter such things as well.  In some sense, it is this love that "calls us out of the world" because its impulse is not "of the world," it doesn't "give as the world gives" (as Jesus said of His peace in Tuesday's reading).  Love here is also inseparable from truth, from His teachings.  Let us understand that to love as He loved is a form of witnessing.  If we are hated for such love, let us remember that it is testimony.

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."  Again, a helpful note is here:  "While, with respect to God's work in the world, the Son will give or send . . . the Spirit . . . from the Father, with respect to His divinity, the Spirit originates or proceeds from the Father alone:  The Spirit receives His eternal existence only from the Father.  In conformity with Christ's words, the Nicene Creed confesses belief 'in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father.'  By contrast, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father.  The source, the fountainhead, of both is the Father."  The Spirit testifies of Him, sent by the Father.  And the disciples themselves, they will bear witness, because they have been with Him from the beginning, and we have their word in Scripture itself.

Jesus speaks of love in today's reading; perhaps it's the greatest and most powerful word we have on love.  "Love one another as I have loved you."  This is His command, and it's given in such a way as to understand its power and imperative quality.  It is the final command with which He will leave them, and us.  Love is illustrated in many ways in today's reading.  There is first of all Jesus' pointed example of the One who will lay down His life for His friends.  "Greater love," He says, "has no one than this," He tells us.  But there is more love that He speaks about.  Everything that the Father has given to Him, each command, each work, has also been given to them.  He has shared all that is of true value and kept nothing back.  The spiritual reality of the teachings and the works and the love has all been shared; as Master He has kept nothing from them, thereby they are not servants but friends.  And there is more love:  He goes to the Father but the Father will also send the Helper to all of us.  Father, Son and Spirit are together united in love, and are together united in love in us.  We come again to a place where the gift that we are given is inestimable.  And yet, how often do we call upon this gift to ask what is truly valuable?  Here, the things that are shared in this love are the teachings and meanings and values, the true sense of what love is, and everything the Divine can pour out to us and in us so that we may share with one another.  Let us remember the quality of this love.  It may not, in turn, make the world enamored of us.  But this is the love in which we must abide, through which we testify and bear fruit ourselves, and which we are to share with one another, just as He shares with them and with us.  Life is a learning place, with the Helper's help, of what it means to share in this love.  Let us learn.  Let us remember that the Helper is also the Spirit of truth, and that it will teach us the truth of this love.

I am the vine, you are the branches

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

- John 15:1-11

Jesus has been giving His Farewell Discourse to the Apostles.  This is the time just before He will be betrayed and seized by the authorities.  He began with the words, "Let your heart not be troubled . . . " (see In My Father's house are many mansions).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued:  "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.   I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.  These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser."  My study bible notes that "the vine is a symbol if Israel (see Is. 5:1-7, Jer. 2:21).  In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel, Jesus calls Himself the true vine which, together with its branches, constitutes a new and fruitful people of God, the Church."  We note that every time Jesus identifies Himself, it is with clear reference to the Father.  Here, He is the true vine, but His Father is the vinedresser.

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."  Here, we are invited to consider what it means to bear fruit in the context of Jesus' teachings.  We are all called upon to bear spiritual fruit, the fruit of His teachings and commands.  Note that even those branches that produce are pruned by the Father; the things we don't need in our lives are pruned away for better spiritual growth, more fruit.

"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me."  My study bible has a note here:  "Abiding in Christ is living out our union with Him in faith, baptism, love, obedience, and Eucharist.  The figure of the vine and branches shows:  (1) our union with Christ is intimate and real -- we are a new people in Christ; (2) life flows from the vine to the branches -- abiding in Christ is not static nor 'positional,' but dynamic and vitalizing; and (3) the fruit we bear is both good works and mission (v. 16, 'go and bear fruit').  Those who do not abide in Christ bear no fruit, and are cut off from Him (v. 6)."   The words Jesus teaches here are very clear:  just as He has always referred Himself back to the Father, so are we dependent upon Him for our own fruit we bear.  We cannot do it of ourselves, just like a branch can't bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.

"I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."  My study bible notes, "Without Christ we can do nothing -- nothing which is properly motivated and gives glory to God."  Jesus takes this metaphor of the vine and continues, turning it to different angles and teaching us what this really means for us.  Again, there is an even stronger emphasis now on bearing fruit:  abiding in Him, we can bear much fruit.  But without Him we can do nothing.  Abiding in Him isn't a one-way street:  we abide in Him, and He in us.  This speaks of the depth of relationship, of communion, among believers and Christ -- but He will take this even further.

 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you."  Without this abiding, our worth is like a branch that is withered and bears no fruit at all.  It is a sense of dying spiritually without Him, without this abiding.  He again refers to His commandments, His words, as in yesterday's reading, when He taught, "If you love Me, keep My commandments."    Abiding in Him is a relationship made possible through the Helper, the Spirit which He will send.  In Monday's reading, He taught, "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."  Here He links this again with what it is to abide in Him.

"By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love."  My study bible tells us, "The fact is, God does love us unconditionally, no matter what our response.  But His unconditional love does us no good unless we keep His commandments and abide in His love.  We show our love for God by obeying Him."  Jesus gives us a deeper response to what it is to keep His commandments, the teachings He has emphasized and given:  we also abide in His love and we are linked through Him in turn to the commandments of the Father and the Father's love.

"These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."   Not only love, but joy is given here through Jesus at His Farewell Discourse.  He is going away, but it is His joy and love in which we are to abide.  This word for joy, in the Greek, is linked to the word for grace - they share the same root.  It is also the root of the word with which Gabriel greets Mary at the Annunciation, which has often been translated as "hail."  It means, in the Greek, "be joyful."  The good tidings of God's grace renders us joy; it is the fullness of this joy that Jesus leaves us (and His disciples) here.

In today's reading (and the earlier ones in His Farewell Discourse), Jesus ties in what it is to remain "in His name" with His commandments, with the Spirit who will enlighten us to them, with abiding in Him and the Father, with His love and the Father's love, and finally with the fullness of His joy in us.  The fullness of this cup cannot be overestimated.  He is going away, but He goes to the Father and will send us something greater than any gift.  In the fullness of His grace we abide in His love and share the fullness of His joy.  We bear spiritual fruits and so are "like Him" by abiding in Him.  Even the things which do not help us to bear such fruit will be pruned away from us by the Father.  Love and grace and the truth of His commandments are mixed with the fullness of the joy with which He leaves the disciples and gives to us in turn.  How do you experience the love of God, and how do you return that love?  Are there spiritual fruits in your life?  Are His commandments precious to you?  All of these questions are opened up for us here, and the depth of His love is something we have within ourselves, as He promises that He also abides in us.  Let us remember that joy and grace are linked:  Mary's good news greeting is the same joy with which Jesus gives His farewell.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you

"If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."

- John 14:15-31

In yesterday's reading, Jesus began His Farewell Discourse to the Apostles, just after He warned Simon Peter that he would deny Jesus three times before the rooster crowed.   Jesus told the Apostles:  "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."

"If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you."  My study bible tells us that "this is the first of three passages in the Farewell Discourse (chs. 14-16) which deals with the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  The Apostles did not fully understand the teachings and works of Christ prior to their reception of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. . . . Jesus calls us to know the Spirit of truth who is in us and helps us pray.  Thus prayer in Jesus' name relates to all three Persons of the Holy Trinity.  Jesus gives assurance that such prayer is answered for those who are united with Him."  This note refers also to parts of the discourse we read in yesterday's reading (see above).

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.  A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."   Although He is going away, He will not leave them alone.  "A little while longer" refers to the "brief separation of Jesus from the disciples, due to His arrest and Crucifixion," says my study bible.  It will "lead to a deeper mystical union after the Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost."   It adds, "At that day refers to the Resurrection of Jesus followed by the Ascension and the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, all of which, working together, make the fullness of divine life available to all believers."  Jesus speaks of commandments, which we receive through the Gospels -- but there is also an understanding that His commandments are in real time, through the presence of the Helper, through His Spirit of truth that will be ever-present with them, and with us.  My study bible says, "Love for Christ is shown through obedience to Him.  Jesus tells us that if we have His commandments and keep them, He will manifest Himself (reveal, make Himself real) to us."  This is the promise of a gift greater than any other that is possible.

Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.  He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me."  Here Christ's Farewell Discourse leads us into the greatest power of God, which is the power of love.  John is the disciple who will also write to us that "God is love."  But Jesus elaborates here on the great union possible to Him and to the Father, who will come and dwell in us.  Our love for Christ is intimately connected to our response to His words and teachings; in turn He establishes into permanent understanding that the word from Him is the word from the Father who sent Him. 

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."   My study bible says that "we have confidence in the Apostles' doctrine because the Holy Spirit is their Teacher and brings Christ's words to their remembrance."

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you."  My study bible notes here, "Peace was the customary Jewish word of both greeting and farewell.  Perfect peace is brought by the Messiah, who carries out the work of salvation and reconciles humanity with God.  Together with 'grace,' peace is part of the traditional greeting of Christians to each other."  His is an assurance of His steadfast love; in this we find our peace, as the world cannot give -- it is a gift of grace.

"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."  Christ goes to the Father, but in return He will give us the Spirit, making complete the indwelling of the Trinity, and all that will come to pass that we celebrate at Easter.  The disciples cannot understand Him now, but His words teach about what is to come, and the Spirit, as promised here, will bring them understanding, and He will be with them again in His risen presence to them.  My study bible says that "the ruler of this world, the devil, dominates the realm of those who do not love Christ or keep His commandments.  Jesus said the devil has nothing in Me because there can be no compromise between Christ -- or us -- and the devil.  Jesus becomes man, but was never stained with the sin of men, nor was He under the authority of the devil."  At all times, Jesus has referred His identity as Son to that of the Father.  Here He has taught that He goes to the Father, from whom all commandments have come, and under whose obedience Jesus has led His ministry and mission into the world.

There are many promises in today's reading.  The greatest of these is the promise of the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, whom my translation of the Gospels refers to as "Helper" here.  And this promise is greater than we can imagine, greater even than the promise of the Spirit (if we can imagine such a thing) because what Jesus really promises is the indwelling of all three Persons of the Trinity:  Father, Son and Spirit.  They are inseparable.  The Divine, through Jesus, invites us into the fullness of spiritual life, an indwelling of love in which we are invited to participate through our love.  Christ has said if we love Him we must keep His commandments, thus creating a bond that "the ruler of this world" cannot break.  His commandments live for us through Scripture and they live for us through the Helper that is with us.  This gift of grace is not something we earn:  we're not God's equal, so how can we possibly "earn" the gift of God?  The gift is given from love and we cement our bond through our love.  This is His promise.  His peace is there in that promise for us.  This is the truly infinite gift that surpasses all understanding and expectation, and is given "not as the world gives."  It simply continues to give. Jesus goes to His death so that we may receive of this fullness beyond measure.

In My Father's house are many mansions

 "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

On Friday, we read from the end of chapter 13 of John's Gospel:  Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?"  Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."  Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?  I will lay down my life for Your sake."  Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?  Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."

 "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."  My study bible tells us, "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."  Actually the word for "mansion" for which my study bible gives the meaning "dwelling place" is more evocative of something rather counter-intuitive to "mansion" in the English.  The word is mone' (μονή in the Greek), and as it may suggest to my readers, it implies single dwellings, made for each individual.  In that light, there are places for each of us (or each of the Apostles to whom He's speaking), with Him.

"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."  A note here tells us, "The way, the truth, and the life is a Person, our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is so because of His perfect 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."  "Way" in the Greek is a word that also means "road."

"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'?"  A note here reads (regarding He who has seen Me has seen the Father):  "Our relationship with Christ determines our relationship with the Father.  If we reject Christ, then we will not find the Father; but if we believe in Christ and follow Him, then we ourselves becomes 'sons of God,' living eternally in the love of the Father."  Jesus' words echo once again themes for which He is about to be persecuted and put to death.  He has testified many times already, including publicly before the leadership, as to His relationship with the Father -- each time He was asked about His identity, Jesus spoke of the Father.  In chapter 10, He said, "I and My Father are One."

"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."  My study bible tells us:  "While human beings are made in God's image, the Incarnate Son is the exact image of the Father.  He did not say 'I am the Father,' for He is not.  Instead, He declared I am in the Father, and the Father in Me.  This means He and the Father are one in essence and undivided."

"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."  Again, there is a helpful note:  "As shown in the Book of Acts, the disciple 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."

"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."  My study bible tells us that "we pray in Jesus' name because when we are in union with Him, our will corresponds with His will.  Thus what we ask for is exactly what Christ wants to give.  Prayer is for the glory of God the Father, not for our own glory, so we also pray, 'Our Father.'"   To be in Christ's name is an important idea, a concept we need to understand clearly in the light of the tradition of royal houses or lineage such as emperors.  Anything in the "name" of a house or king is a part of that kingdom, it "bears the image" because it bears the name.  Thus there is also his presence.  Therefore in that sense, if we are "in His name" we are, as my study bible suggests, a part of His life, His goals, His commandments.  His "name" is of the Father, and inseparable from the Spirit.

In Romans, chapter 8, St. Paul tells us, "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (26, 27).  In some sense, this is the elaboration of what happens "in His name" -- we dwell in this place where Father, Son and Spirit are altogether, and all three may dwell in and be at work in us.  When Jesus tells us, "In My Father's house are many mansions," and we understand these to be individual dwelling places, it somehow suggests something much deeper than what we think of as housing.  It suggests chambers of the heart, of the heart of Christ, which may hold each one of us.  In this sense, the image suggests an indwelling place that is at once complex and yet simple:  Father, Son and Spirit are inseparable, and in the place of the heart we may dwell in each and they in us.  It is a depth given to the understanding of what it may mean to pray "in His name."  Yesterday, we celebrated Easter in the Western world (the Eastern churches for the most part will celebrate a few weeks from now).  In the light of the Resurrection, Jesus' words here take on an even greater significance than the time and place in which they were uttered first to the Apostles.  Christ Resurrected is the Christ whose love and heart expand throughout an entire universe of Creation, and penetrate deep within us, even into the eternal life into which He invites us and within which He makes us free to participate.  Let us also remember that even our faith -- our capacity to participate in this love and in this prayer in the Spirit -- is also a gift of grace of Christ Resurrected.  We are embraced and bidden to enter into this life, not "only" the life of the Incarnation.  Our "daily bread" is the bread of the Kingdom, of the Risen Christ, in whom we may live and participate, and who also bids us to partake of His body and blood, so that He lives inseparably, in His risen majesty, as a part of us.  When we think of the magnitude of His love into which we are invited, we must think of the Risen Christ, and the "many mansions" He speaks of in today's reading.  Our "yes" is simply our capacity to love in return.