John devotes almost five chapters to Jesus’ farewell. How tender of our God to be so like us when it comes to saying our final good-byes to our loved ones, family, and friends. We, too, want to be sure that all is in order, that we have kissed everyone good-bye, that we have spoken of memories, encouraged those we leave behind, and that we have loved enough, and that we have been loved enough as well.
The fourth gospel is filled with symbolism which expresses the evangelist’s profound understanding of the events he is describing; these writings in the Book of Signs and in the Book of Glory are meant to lead the reader to the same deep understanding.
The signs of Jesus are “signals” of his divinity and symbols that lead some to faith in Jesus while others remain in disbelief. The Book of Glory invites believers into the same love relationship that he has with God the Father; Jesus invites all of us to open ourselves to this new teaching that there is more beyond the letter of the Law; for He has come to fulfill the Law and to give a new perspective and interpretation beyond those of the Scribes and Pharisees.
Jesus promises that if we love him, we will keep his commandments. These are not the ten commandments of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is speaking of the command to love – to love God with all our heart and soul, to love others as we love ourselves, and to love others as Jesus loves us.
Jesus reassures his followers that they will not be left alone – he must leave so that another Advocate can come. This Advocate is the Spirit of Truth who is comforter, counselor, helper, protector, consoler, and strengthener.
This Spirit of Truth will journey with these disciples in their preaching and will accompany them with power, courage, and tenacity in their Good Newsing of Jesus the Christ.
And it is this same Spirit of Truth who comes to stand by us as well and give us support during our own experiences of the paschal mystery - and that in our efforts to live out Peter’s words of encouragement, we pray that we will be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope – and do it with reverence and gentleness!
So, what is the Good News for us today?
• Let us be open to the graces of these powerful readings
• Let us be open to God’s intimate, forever, eternal, everlasting, never ending, timeless, priceless, unconditional love relationship in which Jesus will not orphan us.
• Let us ask for the graces daily to accept the hellos-and-goodbyes of the human journey with faith, hope, and deep peace.
• Finally, let us ask the Spirit to replace any anxiety within us with a sacred calm as we as a community daily travel the path of the now and the not yet – and the more beyond.
I close with a prayer attributed to Sir Francis Drake . . .
(1577)
Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.
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