(Homily for 6th Sunday of Easter Year B)
In today’s
readings the word Love and the verb to love were repeated a good number of
times. Love therefore becomes the pivot around which revolves the readings and
message of this Sunday. It is at the
backdrop of the experience of a loving God in everyone, in everything and in
everywhere that the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles, as evident
in the first reading. In the reading from the epistle of John, we see that
fascinating presentation of God as Love. Again, the Gospel passage drew the
theme of love not only to a theological conclusion, but also to its existential
implication. Be that as it may, in today’s readings the theme of
mutual indwelling resurfaces. This is orchestrated by abidance in the love of
the Father and the Son, and by the keeping of his commandments.
In the first reading (Acts 10:25-27.34-35.44-48) St. Luke presented the episode of
Cornelius as a decisive element in the Gentile mission, this is well expressed
in the tenth chapter in a detailed and lengthy manner, though today we read the
closing part of the episode. In the story of Cornelius, we see a fascinating
incident: the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit upon Cornelius and his companions prior to their baptism. This is not
common, because usually both in Acts and in the New Testament, the Spirit
descends after baptism. This indeed, is the initiative of the Spirit, that
blows where and when it wills. This event has been termed the “Pentecost of the Gentiles”. However,
the people that received the Holy Spirit before baptism were brought to the
fold of God’s people through baptism.
Extrapolating from this event therefore, we may well opine that one of the
culminating points of the Resurrection event is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In that bid, it behooves us to affirm that the whole period of fifty days
(Easter season) includes the gift of the Holy Spirit as one of its motifs. It is therefore, plausible we begin to have
gradually a shift of theme, or rather an incorporation of theme: The Risen Lord
and the Promised Paraclete.
Another point
emanating from this episode is the
universality of God’s salvific love. Prior to this event, the Pagan
converts thought that God had favorites, that he preferred the Israelites to
other peoples. Instead, Peter affirmed “I now really understand, he said, that
God has no favorites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears him and
does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts
10:34-35). This tells us about the love of God towards all, also towards
the gentiles, the pagans, to whom he sent his Spirit and opened wide the door
of the church to them through the out pouring of His Spirit. Through His love, God has shown us that redemption
is not a privilege of a particular people, rather redemption is offered to and
for all in Jesus Christ. Upon consideration and meditation on this passage,
let us ask ourselves if people are treated equally in our communities? Are
there still some of us who are practicing the unhealthy spirituality of holier
than thou? Do division and segregation still exist in our midst? Let us not
forget that Peter reminded us that it is the same Spirit we received (Acts 10:47b), all as adopted sons and
daughters of God.
In the second
reading (1Jn. 4:7-10) St. John gives
us the most interesting presentation of God, simple, comprehensible and replete
with meaning: God is Love. This
affirmation is not derived from conclusions emanating from philosophical
reasoning or from theological arguments, but it is a conclusion that St. John
must have deduced from existential facts thus:
a) First, “In this the love of God was manifested
toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we
might live through him” (1Jn 4:9).
Indeed, God demonstrated how much he loved us by sending his only Son to save
us. By the agapic act of sending His
Son, God demonstrated to us that love is part of His nature.
b) Second, God loved us first, not because of our
merits, irrespective of our weaknesses and failing, even when we were still
sinners, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us” (1Jn 4:10a). His love is unconditional!
c) Third, God loved us to the point of sacrificing His
only Son as a Victim for the expiation of our sins. Behold, “In this is
love…and sent his Son to expiate our sins” (1Jn
4:10b).
The writer continues to insist against
his gnostic opponents that the love of neighbor, as such is the acid test of
the knowledge of God.
The writer maintained his ground and later reaffirmed that only he who loves
his brother knows God. He posited that the reason behind this, lies in the
affirmation that “God is love”. Indeed, this is an affirmation of faith from
those who have encountered the love of God, as demonstrated in and through His
Son- Jesus Christ. That God is love is
not a philosophical axiom, rather an offshoot of an existential experience and
encounter of this love. Without ifs and buts, to say it with Bultmann, God’s love for us is really an event.
Besides, St,
John tells us that to love is to show that we know God. Therefore the logical
consequence of demonstrating that we love God is: “to love one another” (1Jn 4:7). Here, love becomes not just a head knowledge, but a knowledge that passes
from the head to the heart and from the heart to the hands and that is Love
in action. For a Christian, love is a “doing word”. Benedict XVI captured this
vividly well when he opines that “the Christian message is not only
informative, but performative” (Spe Salvi n.2), the same too, could
be said of love. Drawing the issue further, I may well affirm that there is a
close connection between love and the Holy Spirit, for St. Paul posits that
“our hope does not disappoint us, because the love of God has been poured into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us” (Rm.
5:5). Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit that pours the love of God into our
hearts.
The passage of
the Gospel (Jn. 15: 9-17) serves as
an in-depth consideration on Love, for it widens our understanding of love. Jesus traces the origin of love to God “As the Father
has loved me, I also have loved you, abide in my love” (Jn. 15:9). Jesus loved us
with the same love of the Father. In
primis,
we encounter God’s love in the person of his Son, because that love co-exists
between the Father and the Son. The Father in love sent the Son, and entrusted
him a saving mission, and the Son in Love accepted, and his acceptance and
obedience to the Father was consummated in his death on the Cross. Through and by
the merits of this event Jesus constituted the disciples as “friends”. And the acid test of this friendship is the
commandment of love. We too are his friends, gathered by and around Jesus,
and bound together by the invitation to love. His, is a self-giving love, “greater love than this, no man has to lay
down his life for his friends” (Jn.
15:13). Jesus gave his life for us out of love. It is indeed, a gratuitous
gift of love without any merit of ours, “you did not choose me, but I chose
you” (Jn. 15:16).
The
programmatic words of Jesus: as the Father has loved me, I love you, remain in
this Love. Jesus invites us to remain in
this love that has its origin in the Love existent between the Father and the
Son. The words of Jesus: “remain in
my love” presupposes that we are already in this love, little wonder he
tells us to remain in it, not to run away, not to break out from this love. He
is therefore, telling us to remain connected to him and to be strong in the
communion with and in Him. Here, indeed,
Jesus proposes his pedagogy: Love one another, in the reciprocity of giving and
receiving! Besides, there in we encounter a word or a phrase that makes
Christianity to stand out: “Love one another as I have loved you”. Like or As Christ, who washes his apostles’ feet, who does not judge or
send anyone away, who goes in search of the lost sheep with tenderness and who
dies on the cross for love. This
invitation entails taking Jesus as the model and measure of our love and
actions. In and with Jesus there is a paradigm shift in the invitation to
love. It is no longer love your neighbour as yourself (cf. Lev. 19:18; Mk.12:31; Jm. 2:8), because sometimes we do not
even love ourselves not to talk of loving others. He loves endlessly and
without ifs and buts (cf. Jn. 13:1).
Jesus comes
close to us, he takes the initiative of coming close to our humanity. He
approaches us: “You are my friends, if you do what I command you” (Jn.15:14). This connects us once again
to message of the first reading: “I now really understand, he said, that God
has no favorites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears him and does
what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts
10:34-35). Friendship with Jesus comports obedience to his words. The condition for being part of his
friendship circle is the readiness to do what he commands. In the
subsequent verse he says, “I shall no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have
made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father” (Jn.15:15). First, when
Jesus brings us into the circle of his friendship he reveals not only himself,
but also the Father to us. In the friendship of Jesus, nothing is hidden
for the friends, no secrets are kept. These words of Jesus resound like music
in our hearts. Second, in Jesus’
pedagogy, friendship entails equality, no superiority and no inferiority. It is
an “I-Thou relationship”. It is an
encounter of two freedoms. Interesting,
the gesture of Jesus, from our Lord, He becomes our friend. He calls his
disciples friends, and we too he calls us friends, therefore, the Christian community should be made up
of friends and not enemies. The passage interestingly ended with the
invitation of Jesus: “my command to you is to love one another” (Jn. 15:17). As Christians therefore, love should be the DNA of our existence and
remaining in Him.
Above all
else however, Jesus invites us to remain
in this love for our joy, in his words: “These things I have spoken to you,
that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (Jn. 15:11). Again, one of
the reasons for our joy is the Father’s prompt response to our prayer. For
he says: “the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name” (Jn. 15:16b). The experience of
remaining in his love produces the fruit of having our prayers answered by God.
Love indeed, is a joyous adventure.
Thus, love as well as joy form the pivot around which revolves the liturgy of
today. Indeed, a liturgy of a joyous love! Love of the Father who sends his
Son, love of the Son who obediently accepted the mission, and in turn sends the
Spirit, and in all, love of the Spirit that pours this Trinitarian love into
our hearts (cf. Rm. 5:5). May the
Holy Spirit continue to pour this joyous love into our hearts, so that we may
be able to remain in the love of the Son and to love as He loves us not as the
world loves. Jesus help us to love You and to love one another! Amen!!!
(Fr. Vitus M.C.
Unegbu, SC)
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