Sixth Sunday Of Easter
In this sequel to the parable of the Vine and Branches, John meditates on the relationship of love and commandment. All statements are attributed to Jesus, but it must be remembered that the most probable date for the Gospel of John is in the mid-nineties of the first Christian century. That separates this gospel from the time of Jesus by sixty to sixty-five years. We are therefore justified in calling this Sunday’s gospel and most of the very long Last Supper Discourse of Jesus a profound meditation on the meaning of the Last Supper. In this section of the meditation, as in other sections of it, the subject is love. The Last Supper is seen as an anticipation of the ultimate act of love – Jesus offering his life for us. As Jesus says within this very gospel reading, “Greater love than this no one has, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
The act of love expressed by giving one’s life for another is however not the first theme of today’s gospel reading. The first theme is the love relationship between Father, Son and disciple,
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Remain in my love.” John sees Christians as extensions of the divine family. The Greek Fathers of the Church had an interesting expression for the relationships of the Divine Trinitarian Family within itself. The technical Greek noun, even in its anglicized form, is perichoresis. The meaning: dancing and singing together. It is a joyful term for the inner joy of Father, Son and Holy Spirit with one another. Even better from our point of view, is that by God’s grace we can be drawn into this interior life of the Trinity and join the eternal choral round dance.
How do we get drawn into this relationship? John answers in words he attributes to Jesus, “If you keep my commandments….” It is not that we are left to fend for ourselves. We have a path-finder, or as Hebrews 12:2 calls him, “looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of faith…” And so Jesus says, “…just as I have kept my Father’s commandments.” Then he says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” That fullness of joy is only possible when, in a way adapted to the creature, we join the eternal round dance. As Jesus would say, “The Father in me, and I in the Father, and I in you and you in me.” Although the role of the Holy Spirit is not mentioned in this particular meditation of John’s gospel, the Spirit is also there. In a previous section of the Last Supper meditation, John depicted Jesus promising his disciples that he would ask the Father to send “another Paraclete…, the Spirit of truth…. You know him, for he dwells in you.”
If Jesus demands of his disciples to keep his commandments, what are these commandments? One could surely make a long list of commandments from Jesus, but he sums up all of them in one commandment, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” How did he love them? What did he do to demonstrate that love? “Greater love than this no one has, than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” The statement must first of all refer to Jesus giving his life for his friends. In this meditation of John’s gospel, the disciples represent all Christians. So when Jesus says to his disciples, “You are my friends if you keep my command-ments,” those words are said to every Christian in every generation. We think of ourselves as servants, even slaves of Jesus, but he has raised us far above such a lowly status. “No longer do I call you servants (slaves), for the servant does not know what his Master is doing, but I have called you my friends, because I have made known to you what I have heard from my Father.”
The next thought of John’s meditation picks up the theme of Christian vocation, “You did not choose me, but I chose you….” Any grace from God is a free gift. The very name “grace” implies the gracious freedom God has in bestowing his gifts. Thus the grace of the call to be a Christian is also a free gift. We may recall that in all four gospels, Jesus gives the invitation. An example of a would be disciple inviting himself: “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus responds, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head,” Matthew 8:19-20. Another example: After Jesus released a man from a Legion of demons, the man begged him that he might be with him, but Jesus refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, etc.” When Jesus chooses disciples for some particular office or function in the Church, that function is only to serve, “I have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain….”
This Sunday’s gospel reading ends with a promise. To those who keep the commandment of love, who have been called by Jesus and appointed to bear fruit that lasts, “…whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give it to you.” Has this been our experience? That “whatever” we ask in Jesus’ name is given to us? Most Christians would answer with a firm “No.” But do we know that we have fulfilled all the conditions which Jesus required so that we can receive the promised answer to our prayer? We cannot know! Jesus simply ends with words that again emphasize the beginning theme of this gospel reading, “This I command you: love one another.” We are left with a mystery of why some prayers do not seem answered. Perhaps Isaiah 55:8 has an answer: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways!”
