Cycle C -- Homily -- 6th Sunday of Easter -- 22 May 2022

Cycle C – Homily – Sixth Sunday of Easter – 22 May 2022

Lectionary I                                           Lectionary II

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29                                 Acts 16:9-15

Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8                             Psalm 67

Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23                    Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5

John 14:23-29                                       John 14:23-29   (5:1-9)

I think today’s gospel is a gospel of reassurance.  Oh, that is not a canonically official title for this gospel according to any mainstream religion I am familiar with.  But, to me, it feels like a gospel of reassurance.  Remember last week’s gospel where we are told that all would know that we are disciples of Jesus if we love one another?  Jesus gave the disciples (and subsequently us) a mandate – a mission – but that is where last week’s gospel ends.  Answering the question “How is this going to happen if Jesus isn’t here?” is saved for this week.

It is important to remember that this gospel was written 40 to 50 years after the fact.  The Evangelist was well aware of the events leading up to the culmination of the mission of Jesus – namely the Ascension and Pentecost – events that had not yet taken place when Jesus was speaking here.  For today, however, let us leave the linguistic complications of this gospel to the scholars and instead concentrate on a very fundamental theme – reassurance.  The disciples were confused and frightened, to say the least.

This gospel is all about how the mandate of Jesus is going to happen – how each disciple and each one of us is going to be able to do it – to love, to live the love of Jesus, to preach, and to be that love to and for all the world.  This is the gospel of reassurance.  Jesus assures and reassures the disciples – and us! – that those who work on this love mission will not be left to flounder.  In this short gospel reading alone Jesus gives us at least eight points of reassurance – points that gently remind us that we are not alone in our mission to love.

The first point is simple in words but strong in meaning.  Jesus says the Spirit will be sent.  This is the Spirit of God – the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit, dwelling within us, is our advocate.  That is definitely a powerful point of reassurance!  How can we go wrong in our mandate to love if we have the Spirit of God within us?  Do we trust God on this one?

Jesus did not only say simply that he was sending the Spirit.  He also said some things that the Spirit was going to do.  The Spirit would teach the disciples (and us!) everything they (we) need to know.  Did the Spirit teach the disciples nuclear physics?  No, they didn’t need to know that.  Could the Spirit teach some of us nuclear physics?  Yes, if we need to know it.  The promise is that we will be taught everything we need to know.  We have to remember that the Spirit rarely talks from ethereal, wispy, spectral images.  The Spirit speaks to us through our teachers, our civic and religious leaders, our families and friends, and so many others, and so importantly also the silent whispers in our hearts when we clear away the clutter and we “just know” something.  Yes, the Spirit speaks to us silently when we just take the time to listen.

Going along with all this is the reassurance that the Spirit will be there (here) to remind the disciples (us) what Jesus said, of all that Jesus said.  That is a wonderful reassurance, isn’t it?  The words of Jesus will always be with each one of us!

Now we come to a very special reassurance.  Jesus gives his disciples (us) a gift.  “Peace I leave you; my peace I give you.”  Peace is what Jesus gives us.  Not only does he leave us with his peace – in other words he leaves us with an aura that he himself radiates – but also, Jesus gives us peace.  Peace is a present, a wrapped gift freely handed to us by Jesus.  Like all presents, however, if we want to utilize the gift, we must unwrap it and take it out of its constraints.  God gives us peace but it is our choice whether or not we are going to use this gift.  We said that Jesus left us with that aura of himself – that peace that enshrouded him.  Jesus gives us that same peace; it is what is wrapped up as that present.  If we open our peace-present, we too will radiate that same aura of peace that Jesus had.

Let’s just think about that for a moment.  If we are at peace, do we not do better in all we do?  Maybe it’s our personal projects at home or at work.  Maybe it’s our interactions with family or friends or even the clerk at the grocery store.  Everything goes better when we are at peace, right?  Oh, that includes our emanating the love that Jesus has commanded us to radiate so all will know that we are Jesus’s disciples.  And Jesus has given us this marvelous gift.  All we have to do is open it and use it.  Is this gift not a marvelous reassurance of how we will have the tools we need to go forth in God’s love?

“Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.”  Jesus speaks these words both as a command and as a reassurance.  The admonition not to be afraid occurs more often in Scripture than does any other admonition.  God has to tell us over and over and over not to be afraid.  And, yet, we are still afraid.  We are afraid of doing what we know the Spirit is telling us to do.  We are afraid to trust our God!

As we said above, God whispers to us in many ways.  Maybe something we read in a book or online gives us insight into how we can broaden our perspective on loving one another.  We all know the routine – loving someone may be as simple as helping a neighbor get the groceries into the house, or it may be as complicated as signing on for a long-term volunteer commitment.  Maybe all we can do is a phone call to an estranged friend or a birthday email to a cyber-acquaintance we’ve never met.  When we do these simple things, we are radiating that love that distinguishes us as disciples of Jesus.  We are engulfed in peace and we are free to love one another.

Jesus issues a post-script to this message.  He reminds the disciples that he has told them that he is going away but that he would return.  He adds that he told them these things before they happened so that they could believe.  To me this shows how well Jesus knew the disciples.  He knew their faith would need to be reinforced or boosted.  The disciples were given reassurance with that loving reinforcement tool.  The disciples were ready for their mission.  We are ready too.  We have the Spirit within us ever ready to remind us of what Jesus said and always there to teach us what we need to know.  We have the aura of Peace, the gift of God that we can spread as we go.  And we have the admonition to not be afraid.

What more could we ask for?  We have the mandate (from last week) to love one another so as to be known as the disciples of Jesus.  We have the Spirit to guide us.  And, we have the reassurances of continued guidance.  Let us go forth and love one another because we are true disciples of Jesus.

Dr Roberta M Meehan