Loved, Called and Sent to be One!

 (Homily for 7^th Sunday of Easter Year B)

     Upon proper perusal and reflection on the readings of this Sunday, one discovers that they help us to look back to what has happened before us: the event of Christ, and as well, help us to look at and forward to what is and what is to come: the on-going mission of the Church. A slight pause, therefore reveals that the central pillar of this Sunday’s message is the call of the disciples to be united in the Mission. Indeed, this Sunday in-between Ascension and Pentecost is a special one, for it looks backward and forward into the Event of Christ and its implication for the disciples (the Church). Little wonder, the ascended Christ sends his apostles to go and bear witness of his redemptive event to the world. It was for this purpose that Mathias was chosen to complete the symbolic number 12 and to bear witness to the Christ event (first reading). And the offshoot of this witnessing is the confession of Jesus as the Son of God to the world and its implementation in the life of the Church orchestrated by the phrase “love one another” (second reading). And lastly, in the Gospel, Jesus offers his priestly prayer to cement that love, to foster our unity, thus indicating an important factor: unity in mission!

    The first reading (Acts 1: 15-17.20a. 20c-26) is basically the narrative of the election of Mathias, which in the Acts of the Apostles occupied the twelve days interval between the Ascension and the Pentecost day. It is therefore, well situated into the context of this Sunday, in-between Ascension and the day of Pentecost. In the narrative, the number of the Twelve has to be completed after the betrayal and defection of Judas. And the prerequisite was the choice of someone who was among those that received the resurrection appearances, possibly one of the five hundred (cf. 1Cor. 15:6).

      Be that as it may, the number 12 is symbolic, for the earthly Jesus appointed the Twelve as a sign of the eschatological community, a representation of the new Israel. In that bid, the choice of the twelfth man was geared towards the preservation of this eschatological significance. Not only that, more importantly, in Luke’s parlance the Twelve serve as a bridge between the earthly Jesus and the ongoing mission and life of the Church. The basic requirement for the replacement, is that the person has to be a witness to the manifestations of God’s love {witness to the earthly life of Jesus and witness of his resurrection}. Matthias took the position and made up the deficiency of a missing part. We can see that the position was important but the person of Judas was not indispensable. This, reminds us equally that none of us is indispensable.

     Beloved in Christ like Mattias we have called to be witnesses. The Lord has called each of us in the world not as spectators in the scene of life, rather he has called us majorly to be witnesses to the Resurrection. Thus, to proclaim the reality of Jesus’ resurrection in our lives by the newness of our lives. In a more active way, we witness to that event by sharing the Good news with others and by making the presence of God visible in the world.

     The second reading (1John 4:11-16) is the continuation of the second reading of the previous week, and as it is typical of John, it repeated practically the themes of the preceding passage with slight difference. As such, the themes of God’s love, the reciprocity of love among the faithful and the mutual indwelling of God in the faithful and the faithful in God resurfaced. God loves us so that we should love one another. Upon proper voyage into the Johannine corpus, one notices that when John makes his repetitions, usually he accompanies it with a new point, and in the context of our reading today, the new point revolves around the fact that this mutual indwelling is manifested glaringly in the confession of Jesus as the Son of God.

     St. John therefore, exemplifies the element that gives life to unity and that enlivens it.  The element in question is love. The apostle John advised that as God so loved us we should love one another. Here, Christ becomes the Reason and Model of our love. Our love should be an offshoot from God’s love. Love is like the cement that binds the people of God together, and as such, unity cannot be achieved without love. The unity that Christ asked for in His Sacerdotal prayer (Jn. 17) is a unity wrought out of love. We may therefore categorically say: “no love, no unity”. Above all else, however, love is a sign of divine presence, because according to St. John “by this we know that we abide in him and him in us” (v.13). By what? By Love! (cf. vv.11-12). “This is a proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit” (v. 13), our sharing and participation in the Spirit of God is indeed proof of our abidance in his love. Once again, we meet this wonderful definition of love. Love in Jesus’ parlance is an action word.

     The Gospel periscope of St. John (Jn. 17:11b-19) presents the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, or as some exegetes have termed it: “the Prayer of Consecration”. In this passage, Jesus consecrated himself in that the disciples may equally be consecrated for their mission, in order to be preserved in unity and truth even in the midst of persecutions. Once again, this passage is situated well into the context of our liturgical season, for the departure (Ascension) of Jesus paved way for the inauguration of the mission of the Apostles. In the same vein therefore, the prayer looks forward to the event of the Pentecost, but also beyond it, to the mission of the Church. Jesus tells us in the Gospel what it means to be grounded in Him. Jesus presents God as a great Unifier, unlike the Devil who is a divider.

     Jesus considered his earthly mission to have been concluded, and he already situates himself outside the world, that he was about to leave. Conscious of his would-be absence he prayed for the disciples that are going to be left alone in an adverse and hostile world, in the midst of persecution and hatred. The term world in the fourth gospel has a negative connotation, it symbolizes the world of sin and evil dominance, with  ideas and mentalities contrary to the values of the Gospel and the Kingdom. For this Jesus says that his followers are not of the world. That is why the world hated them., indeed “friendship with the world is enmity with God” (Jm. 4:4). Jesus does not ask the Father to take them away from the world, rather to keep them from the evil one. Who is the evil one? The “dia-bállo”: the accuser of the brethren (cf. Rev. 12:10), the one who divides, the slanderer. The belonging of the disciples to Jesus by adhesion to his Word separates them from the world, as such, attracts hatred and persecution for them (v.14).

     Jesus addresses his prayer to the Father “Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us” (Jn. 17:11b). His invocation was addressed to the Father. He addressed the Father with the appellatives “Holy”, the transcendent God, and also “Father” as such not a distant God, He is in an intimate union with the Son. Jesus invokes the Father in a tender manner, in order to keep the disciples in their struggle against evil. He asked the Father to keep or to guard them in his name, with the power that springs from his omnipotence. He prays the Father to preserve the disciples in fidelity to his revelation. By the effects of the Father’s guardiancy, the disciples can experience that same profound union that united the Father and the Son. He says he kept all, except the Son of perdition, that is Judas (who lost his place among the twelve, and was replaced with Mathias). Jesus says “so that they will have fullness of joy” (13-16). Jesus invokes the assistance of the Father so that their joy will be full. This joy indeed is an eschatological gift (cf. 15:11; 16:24), a total joy that is identified with the communion with the Father and the Son in a reciprocal indwelling. How have you been an instrument of unification in the society or in your family? Jesus prays for our joy to be full, does your life as a Christian radiate joy to those around you?

      In the 17^th chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus is seen praying for different purposes, at the first part of the chapter Jesus prays for Himself (17:1-5), and in the second part he prays for his disciples (17:6-26). In the passage of today’s gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ was seen praying to God the Father in a very exceptional way. This is traditionally known as the priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. The highlight of his prayer was the need for his disciples (which includes all of us) to be one as he is one with the Father. “Why was that supplication very important to our Lord Jesus Christ? Why was he wishing that they all be one?” Our Lord Jesus Christ thus prayed for Oneness so that his disciples can share in the unity existent between Him and the Father. For any apparent unity and oneness that are not founded on God, sooner or later collapses (cf. Gen. 11:1-7). No doubt, one of the easiest ways towards destruction and failure in life is through disunity. This can be seen in families, communities and nations. It is often said: “together we stand but divided we fall.” Jesus prayed for oneness in the “Name” of the Father, because in the Old Testament the name of God indicates his being, supremacy and manifestation, and this manifestation is that of love. The name of God is Love. Little wonder, Jesus asks the protection of the Father so that they will remain united in his name (in his love), in a reciprocal love. Jesus further prayed for their consecration in the Truth, and the sanctification of Jesus for his people culminates in his death, a death that is beaming with love. That is the truth they are to be consecrated in, which has to become the lung of their Mission.

     Jesus in his sacerdotal prayer intercedes for his disciples. He prays that his work may continue through the disciples, in a unity of charity, a participation in the unity of the Father and the Son (vv.20-23). It is a holy, apostolic and universal unity, which is to be consumed in eternal love. The spirit of this longest prayer of Jesus, resembles the one in his short prayer found in (cf. Jn. 11:41; 12:27; Mt.11:25; Lk. 22:42).

     In all, this Sunday is the last before the Pentecost, little wonder, the messages emanating from the readings are preparatory. Evidently, our Lord Jesus Christ prepares the ground for his disciples before the coming of the Holy Spirit. Extrapolating from this passage, he was actually communicating to them and to us, that before the Holy Spirit comes we should be united as one. We should be bound together in love. If we peep into the upper room before the coming of the Holy Spirit we could see that all the believers were together in ONE place and in ONE accord (Act 2:1). Similarly, as Jesus offered his prayer to the Father for love and unity among his disciples and among us today, we pray that the efficacy of His Priestly prayer may be felt the more in our world, in our nation and in our families torn apart by the presages of war, division, dissension and hatred. May the power of His Priestly prayer dissipate the darkness that discord and disunity have implanted in our hearts. May we all be united in His love! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)