6th Sunday of Easter – May 5, 2024
Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17
Theme:
What Remaining in Jesus’ Love Mean
The
Gospel story we heard today is not a standalone narrative but a continuation of
last Sunday’s Gospel. Together, they form a cohesive unit called “The Vine and
the Branches Discourse.” This discourse is part of a larger sequence, beginning
with Jesus’ Last Super Discourses (14:1-14) and his promise to send the
Advocate to his disciples (14:15-31) that immediately precede our text and
concluding with Jesus preparing his disciples for the world's hostility (15:18
– 16:4) that immediately follows our text. Thus, the historical context of John
15:1-17 is rooted in Jesus’ final comments to his disciples at the Last Supper
(John 13-17). It extends beyond the immediate crisis of Jesus’ departure,
serving as a guide for his disciples in the tumultuous days following his
passion and death.
It
is necessary to briefly review what the first part of this discourse (Jn
15:1-8) taught us last Sunday. It spoke of Jesus as the true vine, his Father,
God, the vine grower, and the believers, including all of us, the branches. Like
the vine gives wine, Jesus, the “true vine,” offers his Blood as the true drink
for the eternal salvation of the world. In John 6, Jesus spoke of himself as
the Bread of Life. So, bread and wine are two species used in the celebration
of the Mass. Therefore, believers can remain in Jesus mostly when participating
in the Eucharistic celebration, during which they receive the Body and Blood of
Jesus in the Holy Communion after listening to him in the Scripture readings. Jesus
exhorted his disciples to remain in him as he remained in them for at least
three reasons: to bear much fruit, to live, and so that God might hear their
prayers. He warned them about the role of his Father, the vine grower, which
consisted of taking away those in him who do not bear fruit and pruning those
who do. Here, the disciples and all of us learned that we are not just passive
recipients of God's grace but active participants in his plan. We are expected
to remain in Jesus, the true vine, produce fruits of virtues, holiness, and
good works, and allow God always to prune us (meaning, discipline us) despite
its painful process so that we continue bearing more fruits. If we fail to do
so, at the last judgment, God will cut us off from the Body of Jesus and throw
us into the fire of hell for eternal condemnation (see v. 6.) So, in this first
part of our Gospel story, Jesus exhorted his disciples and all of us to remain
in him as he remained in us and let God prune us to bear much fruit and have eternal
salvation.
The
second part of the Vine and the Branches discourse is today's Gospel passage
(Jn 15:9-17.) Its context is found in the story that immediately follows our
text (15:18 – 16:4a), in which Jesus asserts that people may persecute his
disciples as they did to him. In our text, Jesus prepares his disciples for the
world’s hate. He calls them to respond with great love instead. This love
entails a one-on-one relationship and experience with God, keeping Jesus’
commandments and changing the status from slaves to Jesus’ friends.
Jesus
calls his disciples to remain in his love. He says, “As the Father loves me, so
I also love you. Remain in my love.” (V. 9). Notice the word “as” in this
statement. It compares two loves: the love between God the Father and Jesus and
the love between Jesus and his disciples. The way God loves Jesus is the same
way Jesus loves his disciples. The love that Jesus uses to love his friends
comes from his personal experience of love with his Father God. This means we love
others using the love placed within us by those who had loved us first. Unfortunately,
it is sad to notice that many people in our societies have an unhappy
experience of love behind them. They came from broken families; they experienced
a lack of love from their parents and siblings, betrayal and cheating from
their spouses and friends, and rejection and discrimination from their society.
They received rejection where love was expected. To them and all of us, the
liturgy of today’s Mass exhorts us to consider and use Jesus’ love for us. Jesus loves us and invites us to remain in his
love. This means that the way Jesus loves us with the love he gets from his
Father is the same way we should love our brothers and sisters using our
experience of love with Jesus.
First,
to remain in Jesus’ love implies our one-on-one relationship and experience
with him. We can use Jesus’ love in our love for others only when we ourselves
experience it in our personal relationship with him in prayer life, using the sacraments
(especially the Eucharist and Confession), and good works. This is what our
second reading tells us when it says that we should love one another because we
know God and are begotten by him. It affirms that God is love, so to know God
results in loving others. We cannot say we know God if we do not love one
another. Therefore, to remain in Jesus’ love entails our personal relationship with
God and leads us to love our fellow humans as he loves us.
Second,
to remain in Jesus’ love entails keeping Jesus’ commandments. Jesus connects the
call of remaining in his love with keeping his commandments. “If you keep my
commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and remain in his love” (V. 10). Remaining in Jesus’ love and
keeping his commandments go together. One who loves Jesus must necessarily keep
his commandments. He explains what he means by “his commandment.” His
commandment is this: “Love one another as I love you.” (v. 12.) The
comprehension of this statement is on the word “as.” We are called to love our
brothers and sisters “as” or in the same way Jesus loves us. And the way he
loves us consists of laying down his life for us, his friends (v. 13). Therefore,
we can say that we love Jesus and keep his commandments when we are capable of
loving one another to the level of laying down our lives for those we love.
Third,
remaining in Jesus’ love and keeping his commandments changes our status from
slaves to Jesus’ friends. “I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does
not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have
told you everything I have heard from my Father” (V. 15, NABRE). The word
“slaves” here means “servants.” Moses (Dt 34:5), Joshua (Jos 24:29), and David
(Ps 89:21) were called “servants” or “slaves of Yahweh.” Abraham was called a
“friend of God.” (Is 41:8; 2 Chr 20:7.) In our text, the transition from
“slaves or servants” to “friends” explains how Jesus invites us to a deep
relationship with him. Our personal experience with him is no longer based on a
relationship between the Master (him) and servants (us) but between friends. This
means, in our turn, we should love all people as our friends with no discrimination.
This is what our first reading teaches us.
The
context of this first reading is the meeting between Peter (a Jew) and
Cornelius (a Gentile), which broke the barrier that separated the Jews and
Gentiles. God first appeared to Cornelius in a vision and asked him to invite
Peter to his house (10:1-8). He then appeared to Peter also in a vision and
told him to eat the food that the Jews considered “profane and unclean.” He
told him that he should not call profane what God had made clean. Then God
asked Peter to go to Cornelius’s house without hesitation. Note that at that
time, it was prohibited for a devout Jew to socialize with the Gentiles. But here,
God asked Peter to accept Cornelius’s invitation (10:9-23). Peter went to
socialize with all the Gentiles found in Cornelius’ house. Our first reading picks
up from here. First, Peter and Cornelius met (vv. 25-26). Then, he delivered
his speech, which promoted unity between Jews and Gentiles. “In truth, I see
that God shows no partiality. 35 Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and
acts uprightly is acceptable to him.” (Vv.
34-35). The Holy Spirit fell upon all the Gentiles in Cornelius’ house, listening
to Peter. Consequently, Peter baptized them all (vv. 44-48). The meeting
between Peter and Cornelius broke the longtime barrier that separated the Jews
and Gentiles. Our “remaining in Jesus’ love” that Jesus invites us to in our
Gospel should also break all barriers that separate us from our fellow humans.
The
world continues to hate believers until today, as it did to Jesus and his
disciples. Jesus prepared us to respond to hate with great love. May the
liturgy of this Mass enable us to love everyone as Jesus loves us. Amen.
Rev. Leon
Ngandu, SVD
No comments:
Post a Comment