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Are you fed to the lions? Saturday, 5th Week of Easter – Acts 16:1-10/ John15:18-21

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/unanswered-prayers-saturday-5th-week-of-easter-acts-161-10/ based on the first reading taken from the Acts of the Apostles

Jesus has been preparing his apostles for fruitfulness (John 15:5) and as he says, ‘even greater works than he did’ (John14:12). Yet he knows that the tasks ahead are not going to be easy for the apostles. They will be hated for standing up for Jesus and so he exhorts his apostles to “remember” (John 15:20) the words that he has taught them. He will tell them (not in the text of today) in John 16:1 that the reason he has been teaching them all this is so that when they are persecuted, ‘they may not stumble.’

In the Gospel of John, the author makes a clear division between the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of darkness belong to the ‘world’ and the ruler of this world is Satan (John 14:30). Clearly, if that be so, then it is the children of light who are walking in unwelcome territory and the consequences are clear; they will be hated not just disliked. Hate is a strong word and Jesus does not diminish the challenges of the road ahead in order to win a few more followers.

Jesus is clear in John 14:30; satan, the ‘ruler of this world’ has no power over him. Yet, that does not mean he will not work against Jesus or try to deceive. Remember it was satan, the prince of deceivers, who came to Jesus when he was fasting for forty days in the wilderness. He came with words of deception, stopping at nothing, even misquoting sacred scripture. Satan uses every instrument in this world, human or inanimate to lure us further into his darkness. His billboards are always loud and flashy over the small yet unwavering voice of the children of light.

Jesus tells the apostles and us that the world will hate us. The world would not hate us if we were members of their commune, their mindset, their belief system. The world demands to have the freedom of speech yet the world will deny that same right even to one child of the light that speaks against their belief system. Yet, the minute you switch over to the side of the world, arms are thrown open, honours are bestowed and invitations flow.

To experience that persecution from the rank and file of society and sometimes even withing the Church is not uncommon. Those who have loved the Lord have experienced this persecution time and time again. Jesus was emphatic when he warned us that parents would turn against their children and brother against brother all because they made a choice for Jesus.

Today, if we are not being fed to the lions, especially in our country, it means that we have kept our religious identity a secret. It means that we have not gone out as the Mass commands us to proclaim the good news. It is because we have chosen to hide our light or even worse extinguish it so that no one may know who we are. Ironically while many ‘children of the light’ keep their religious beliefs and identity a secret they have no difficulty presenting their secular credentials with details of earthly achievements plastered all over their business card and every social media platform.

The children of the world continue to build more shrines to ego, selfishness, hate, greed, avarice and vice. Notice how the culture of this world does not ask for more Churches in which we can pray and connect to God but the culture of this world will not seek to build another mall, another multiplex, another hyper- market. We want more of the world, less of Jesus.

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Faith

Promotion to friendship? – Friday, 5th Week of Easter – Acts 15:22-31/ John 15:12-17

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/the-winds-of-change/ based on the first reading of today’s liturgy.

At the concert to celebrate the coronation of Charles III, Katy Perry told the world that she was invited to perform and stay at Windsor castle with her mother. Clearly, she was ‘chosen’ to perform because of her accomplishment in the world of pop music. From humble beginnings singing in churches, Katy Perry has now established herself as one of the biggest music acts in the world with 108.8 million followers on twitter. Yet, it is clear that she was ‘chosen’ to sing at the concert for what she achieved as a performer.

For a minute, sit back and do a bit of introspection. You and I are chosen too. No, not to sing at the coronation concert but to be friends of another King, Jesus. Talking to the twelve on that first Maundy Thursday, somewhere between the last supper table and the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus tell the apostles that He chose them. They were not chosen because they had a million followers. They were not chosen because they had a great fishing business. They were not chosen because they were erudite speakers. They were chosen simply because Jesus picked them. This is not the first time he has said this for in John 13:18 he says, “I know whom I have chosen.”

Christ tells the apostles and by extension speaks also to us, that we don’t have to climb Mt Everest to get his attention. He simply chose us and he took it one step ahead by calling us his friends and by doing that He invited us into his inner circle. This Jesus club has no enrolment fee or a list of unreasonable demands. His is an invitation with no hidden clause. It is not what we can do for him but what he chose to do for us; to offer his life for us in order to seal that bond of friendship. In return he asks that we love one another as he has loved us.

All our achievements for Christ and his Church ring hollow, if at the end of the day, we are not recognized and seen as people who love. If Christ is not mirrored in us then the world will not see Jesus or experience His love. We are the only Jesus some may ever see.

It may seem that Jesus graduated or promoted the apostles from ‘servants’ to ‘friends’. Did the apostles just get an internal promotion? Many who read this text may also find this term ‘servant’ or ‘slave’ rather strange when the word ‘disciples’ would have sounded more in line with Jesus’ relationship with the twelve. Did Jesus see his apostles as servants or slaves? Are we not the children of God and if so, why uses such a word like ‘servant’?

Servanthood is but the essence of our vocation, the character of our love, and the gift of ourselves to one another. Jesus did not say, you are no longer servants in your vocation to the world. If he said that, he would be contradicting his very words when he washed their feet. What he is saying in essence is that while you are still called to service, in my heart I honour you with the relationship that friends are called to. Because you serve you are my friends. When you serve you have understood the one commandment I give you, ‘to love one another.’

We arrive at the gift of friendship, never graduating from servant work but raised to the level of holy love. We are transformed in our self-understanding from responsibility to a master to the obedience of love. We become the friends of Jesus to find ourselves no longer his servants but the empowered servants of others.

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Expanded, Explained, Elucidated – Thursday, 5th Week of Easter – Acts 15:7-21/John15:9-11

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/differences-ironed-out-thursday-5th-week-in-easter-acts-157-21/ based on the first reading of today taken from the Acts of the Apostles.

This unit is best read as one composite (John 15:9-17) but the lectionary has broken it up into two, as if to say this is the heart of this discourse, introduced by Jesus in John13:34 but now expanded and explained and elucidated. Today we relish these three verses that take us to the cusp of the new commandment.

In yesterday’s text (John15:4) Jesus invited us to abide in him as he desires to abide in us so that we may produce not just a fruit but much fruit. Today we are invited to abide with Jesus not just for what we could produce externally but what we are called to be internally; a people of love, a people filled with joy.

The teaching begins with the words, “as the father has loved me …” The words ‘just as’ or ‘as’ (kathos in Greek) appear 31 times in this Gospel within the context of a relationship with the father. So just as the father loves so does the son love and so must we love. The word love is scattered four times in three verses, the word love is scattered countless times in the Bible; it is with love that Jesus embraces his cross. There is no Christianity without love and a Christian who does not opt to love professes empty words.

The measure of Jesus’ love is not some halfhearted love. It is given in full as he received it. Jesus says, “just as the father..” He gives us the father’s love in its entirety as he has received it. It is often easier to identify with the love that Jesus has for us but Jesus just made it as easy for us to identify the love of God for us. ‘Look at how I have loved you and that’s the way the Father loves you’, Jesus says.

Jesus also provides us with a model of obedience. He has come to do the will of the one who sent him (4:34; 6:38; 8:29). He keeps the Father’s word (8:55). He does the Father’s will so that the world might know that he loves the Father (14:31). The Father loves Jesus because he lays down his life in obedience to the Father’s command (10:17-18). Jesus promises to love the disciples if they obey his commandments.

Jesus then says, “I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full” (v. 11). Jesus is not calling us to dreary, lock-step obedience but to joy. The joy of Jesus isn’t the same as what is commonly understood as happiness or excitement. The joy of Jesus is not the pleasure of a life of ease or the joy that dissipates as soon as things change. It is not the hollow joy of luxurious surroundings and sated appetites. It is, instead, the joy of the disciplined life. It is the exhilaration of being right with God, and consciously walking in His love and care. We can have that joy; we can have His joy and have it as an abiding presence.

Yet, when the disciple fails to abide in the love of Jesus and thereby fails to keep His commandments, that disciple will not experience the fullness of joy Jesus promised to those who do abide in His love and obedience. Christianity does come with clauses!

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Abide in me – Wednesday, 5th week of Easter – Acts 15:1-6/ John 15:1-8

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/when-a-council-gave-sound-counsel/ based on the first reading taken from the day’s liturgy.

John 14:31b ends with the words, “rise let us be on our way.” Just before this Jesus has given the apostles his gift of peace. The peace that Jesus promises is not an escape from trouble but rather the courage to face it calmly. As he spoke these words of peace, Jesus and His disciples left the table and slowly made their way toward the Garden of Gethsemane and his passion. It is clear that they did not leave  immediately  (John 18:1), but here began to.

At some stage, which is not clear to us, Jesus gives them another teaching. Central to this teaching is John 15:5, “Abide in me as I abide in you.” The word abide appears 9 times in verses 1-8, which highlights the focus of this section. This teaching that highlights our Lord’s own relationship with his Father is meant to throw light on what our relationship with him should be. For good measure and for the sake of clarity he thrown in a ‘mashal’ taken from viticulture. A ‘mashal’ is not exactly a parable nor is it an allegory but a semitic form that includes an image and its application to real life.

It would seem odd if I tell you that the hymn that we have grown so fond of, ‘abide with me,’ focuses on ‘activity’; not the increase of it but rather the ceasing of it. The focus of Jesus calling is to be with him; the doing follows naturally. The very word abide sounds sleepy and dull leaving most people thinking of ‘abiding’ as a kind of ‘free ride.’ To abide with the Lord is anything but a free ride. Jesus tells us that abiding involves connectivity; not passive connectivity but one that leads to transformation.

Jesus says he is the true vine and the Father is the vine grower. The first thing the Father does to the son is to break off every branch that bears no fruit. A fruit tree may look beautiful with a thousand leaves on it but that is not the job of a fruit tree, or for that matter a vine. Dead branches need to be broken off and that being done there is no pause in the work at hand. The branches that do bear fruit need to be pruned so that it bears ‘more fruit.’ Now perhaps, you might understand, why I said that abiding is not a free ride. For those of us who abide with him, he asks more from us; more fruit.

Having told us what the father’s relationship is with his son, Jesus now asks the same from us. He is the vine we are the branches that need to abide in him. Our Lord wants to make a point, ‘you can’t do this by yourself.’ So many of us struggle to get our lives fixed, to get our brokenness fixed. Jesus is emphatic, you can’t do this by yourself you have to abide in me, because apart from me you can do nothing.

The vine was a common image used in the Hebrew Bible to speak of Israel as God’s people. John plays masterfully with the symbolism of this image. The vine grower is still God but the vine is not Israel. Now it is Jesus. And the branches, or the New Israel, are those who abide in him. We need to attach ourselves to Jesus’ words, his message, the Gospel, to ensure that we the Church, produce fruits. Apart from that there is nothing we can do (John 15:5). And whatever else we do we may be doing it for the wrong reasons.

Finally, there is the great promise; “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask what you will and you shall get it.” This is not the first time we hear this promise in the Gospel of John and it is certainly not to be interpreted as some kind of blank cheque; such as asking to win the first prize in a lottery or to have one’s enemy wiped out, or to be cured of a terminal sickness.

The promise is prefaced by an important and essential condition: we need to be IN Christ and to have our lives totally guided by his “words”, that is, his teaching, his vision of life. And, if we are with him, our prayer inevitably will be to be more deeply rooted in him because he is the Source of all life and all Meaning in life.

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Faith

We are citizens of heaven – Tuesday, 5th Week of Easter – Acts 14:19-28/John 14:27-31a

Read also https://www.pottypadre.com/faith-without-falter/ based on the first reading of today taken from the Acts of the Apostles.

Jesus’ death is imminent, yet his concern is for the disciples rather than himself. He reassures them that they will not be alone, and promises to send them the Holy Spirit. Because Jesus will be present with them through the Holy Spirit, his disciples need not be anxious. Chapter 14 begins with Jesus’ exhortation, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). Now again Jesus exhorts, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid,”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus offers the disciples another gift. He gives them the gift of peace. This gift is offered not only to his immediate disciples but also to all who love him and keep his word (v. 23). Yet this is a peace that is unlike the peace the world gives. This is Jesus’ last will and testament. He had little to leave; even his clothes would soon be the property of the crucifixion squad of soldiers. But there was one thing he could give; the gift of peace.

The Greek word for peace is eirênê, but this is surely a translation of the traditional Hebrew greeting shalom. Shalom was a greeting that passed the lips of any Jew. Jesus took this normal good-bye and filled it with deep strength and meaning. Shalom signifies more than the absence of conflict; it is a profound and holistic sense of well-being. It is the kind of peace which the world cannot give, but can only come from God. This gift of peace accompanies the gift of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus breathes into his disciples as he sends them out in mission (20:22). The peace of this world is often based on distraction or deliberate blindness and lies. Jesus offers a better peace, a real peace.

The world offers us the peace of escapism, of avoiding trouble, of refusing to face things, of unreality as well as the absence of trouble or the denial of problems. The peace of the world is a peace that is sought through pleasure, satisfaction, and contentment. This peace comes from the ruler of the world; satan.

The end is near. “The prince of this world is at hand.” But the apostles are not to worry. Jesus knew that Satan was coming for Him. At that moment Judas Iscariot was arranging the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus could confidently and truthfully say that Satan had absolutely no hook, no foothold, no toehold of deception in Him. Satan could not push Jesus to the cross; Jesus went in loving obedience to God the Father and out of love for the world.

The challenge for us today is to admit confidently that satan has no hook, no foothold, no toehold on us. Even an inch of sin in our hearts means that we have given residence to the prince of this world. As we turn to the Lord, clinging to his promise of peace we are also called to promise that we will live as children of Gods kingdom, in his marvellous light. Today, would be a great day to bring out your spiritual boom. Clear the sin out of your life with one end of the broom while using the other end effectively on satan’s head.

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