Homily for the 6th Sunday of Easter, C

Although we refer to Scripture as the “Word of God,” it is Jesus of Nazareth who is the "Word of God" made flesh and dwelling among us. So this collective memory is fluid and dynamic.

I have Mass on Sunday, May 25 at St. Isidore @ 9:30/11:30 am.

frjoedailey@gmail.com

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. 

Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, yet the word you hear is not mine, but that of the Father who sent me." I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. 

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, "I am going away, and I will come back to you." 

If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. 

The Gospel of the Lord. 

At the last supper, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his coming departure. The disciples have been at home with Jesus. They have shared his company, he has been their companion, the center of the community. But Jesus must disappear if they are to be not just with him but at home in him. 

The paradox is that faith requires distance in order to exist and flourish. Adam and Eve, humankind, would never know faith unless they left the garden.With his death and resurrection, Jesus is transformed from being someone with whom the disciples are at home. Instead he becomes their home. They used to be with his body. Now they are becoming his body, as we are the Body of Christ. They have to lose him, paradoxically, if they are to discover this new intimacy.

When children leave home for college or marriage or life on their own, we have a real sense of loss. We know they will no longer be in our lives in the way that they were before. But that is not usually the end of our relationship. They come back to us, no longer children, but as adults, sometimes bringing us grandchildren. We meet them in a whole new way. God is the perfect lover. 

God gives us so much space that some people do not even notice his presence at all. But in Jesus, God gives us himself unconditionally holding nothing back. 

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells the community the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Jesus does not leave us a written text. We consider ourselves like the other Abrahamic religions as people of the Book. But Christians declare that the fullness of divine revelation came not in a text, but in a person. Although we refer to Scripture as the Word of God, it is Jesus of Nazareth who is the Word of God made flesh and dwelling among us. So this collective memory is fluid and dynamic. No two people remember the same event in the same way, as is true in every family. This means that we will remember and understand things differently. 

The question of the Gentiles in the Church seemed to be settled in the time of the Gospels. In Matthew 10, verse 5-6, Jesus said, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But now, in the time of the Church, there is a new understanding. 

Our reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes what is often called the Council of Jerusalem. The disciples gather because they saw that God was already doing something new. God had gone before them, and they had to catch up with the Holy Spirit. Peter proclaimed earlier in the Acts of the Apostles that God, who knows the human heart, testified to the Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us. And in cleansing their hearts by faith, He has made no distinction between them and us. 

Apparently, this outreach to the Gentiles was not welcomed by all the followers in Antioch. Certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem and after momentous debate, the missionaries received the approval of the Jerusalem leadership. Jewish Christians still kept dietary food laws, so they could not share communion with gentile converts. In setting aside these laws, Christianity underwent a shift. We went from being a Jewish sect to becoming a global community. 

For some, the idea of a universal welcome, in which everyone is accepted regardless of who they are, is felt as destructive of the Church's identity. But for others, it is the very heart of the Church's identity. In the Joy of the Gospel, the late Pope Francis said, "The Church is called on to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open. The Church is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone with all their problems." 

Notice how the apostolic community speaks about their unanimous decision. It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us. Remember what Jesus said? The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. 

“Lay no burdens beyond what is absolutely necessary” is their conclusion. This ancient saying captures this wisdom: "In necessary things, unity; In uncertain things, freedom; In all things, charity." 

We may wonder where on earth we are headed. Each of us will live through moments of crises when the future seems unsure. But at every Eucharist, we remember the moment when there seemed to be no future except the cross, when it all seemed over. And then Jesus made this extraordinary act of generosity and hope. And so we need never be afraid. We can share our hope with each other.