(Homily for the 7th Sunday of Easter Year A)
Truly,
as we draw closer to the end of the Marian Month, we are like the apostles,
praying together with Mary in the Upper room for the Father’s Gift on
Pentecost. 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 liturgy
of the Word today is equally replete with the tonality of expectancy,
orchestrated in the atmosphere of prayer. Therefore, it is a prayerful waiting
and expectation, and we are not alone, we are with Mary the Mother of
Jesus. Prayer indeed is the axis of our human existence as Christians,
and with that consciousness we can explore the power and importance of prayer
in our existential sojourn. As our body needs food to
survive so our spirit needs prayer to be alive. Little wonder in Luke
18:1 our Lord asked us to pray and never lose heart. Prayer
for Jesus is entering into a sublime intimacy with the Father, for us too
prayer becomes a way of dwelling in that union, entering into intimacy with the
Father through Jesus. In the words of St. Luigi Guanella, prayer is a heart to
heart relation with God, prayer for him is like the breath of our life. Prayer
is the way to become and remain part of Jesus’ mission, by drawing people to
this intimacy. Prayer is indeed one of the major themes that run
through the readings of this Sunday, especially in the first reading and the
Gospel. But also in the second reading that is centered on bearing persecution
for the sake of Christ’s name, it is equally through prayer that we are enabled
to bear witness to his love and message in and out of season.
The
first reading (Acts 1:12-14) presents Luke’s literary
scheme whereby, the Ascension, the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy
Spirit are distinct events. In fact, the Ascension and the Pentecost took
place forty and fifty days respectively after the Resurrection. In this passage
the context is the Upper room where the apostles, with some women and Mary the
Mother of Jesus and some other brethren were at prayer in expectation of the
Holy Spirit. After the Ascension event the apostles
and some believers went back to Jerusalem as the Lord instructed them. They
went to the Upper room to pray, the Upper room is a place of
concentration, of isolation and of silence, it is a place of prayer. Why
were they praying? We can get the answer from the instruction of the Lord: “Do
not leave Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4). This
passage captured the time between the Ascension and the Pentecost, and it is
indeed a time of waiting and praying. However, the Church and every single
Christian have to continue to pray constantly for the coming of the Holy
Spirit; because the gift of the Holy Spirit is not an
assured possession once and for all, rather we have to beseech it
constantly anew in and through prayer. So they
were prayerfully waiting for the Holy Spirit. Here, prayer is seen as an
expression of trust in God. Therefore, we are encouraged like them (the
disciples, the women and the mother of Jesus) to pray the Holy Spirit
in.
As
a matter of fact, in the list of names mentioned by St. Luke, the one
of Mary the mother of Jesus stands out, because she was not mentioned or
included in the other women as depicted by the author. The name of Mary the mother of Jesus, shows that right from
the beginning of the Church, she is honoured. St. Luke decided to accord her
an outstanding position in the life of the early Church. In fact, this marks
the last appearance of Mary the mother of Jesus in the New Testament.
Behold, it is fascinating that our last picture of her is within the
context of a praying community, as a member of the community of believers
engaged in a prayerful expectation of the Paraclete.
The
Gospel passage (Jn. 17:1-11a) is taken from the famous high
Priestly prayer of Jesus, which took place within the context of the Last
Supper. Although, some theologians prefer to call it the prayer of
consecration, because in this prayer, Jesus consecrates himself in view of
his redeeming death. On this seventh Sunday of Easter in the three liturgical
years, we always read the passage of the Gospel from the 17th chapter
of St. John’s Gospel. Therein, Jesus is seen praying for
different purposes: in the first part Jesus elevates his entreaties and
presented his mission report to the Father (vv.1-8); in the
second part Jesus prays for his disciples (vv.9-19) and
in the third part Jesus prays for us and all future believers (vv.20-26). The
prayer in question does not represent only the substance of Jesus prayer at the
Last Super according to the fourth Gospel, more than that, it is the
prayer that the ascended Christ continues to offer to the Father in heaven.
The overriding theme or content of the prayer is “ut omnes unum sint”
(that they may be one). The unity that Jesus prays for is a unity
founded not on human effort but on the divine union and on the common sharing
of the Word and Sacrament. The priestly prayer of
Jesus was presented at the time of his departure from the world to the
Father. It reveals our Lord’s deep concern for those he was leaving
behind. First, we are told that Jesus raised his eyes up and raising
his eyes up, was to establish a contact with His Father (we see a similar
gesture in John 11:41 at the tomb of Lazarus, here Jesus
called God Father). Whenever Jesus raises his eyes up to the Heavens, something
great always happens. It is a gesture that is always accompanied with
divine intervention, for it is a spiritual cable for divine connection.
In this
payer Jesus offers himself to the Father as a holocaustal sacrifice.
In the fourth Gospel the concept of “hour” signifies the hour of his Passion.
As Jesus prayed he expresses his obedient desire, that through his death the
Father and the Son may be glorified, that is, that through his death
the redemptive plan of the Father will be realized through and in the Son.
In this passage, this redemptive plan of the Father is defined as the giving of
eternal life to those whom the Father has given to the Son. And what is eternal
life? The author describes eternal life as the knowledge of the Father and the
Son: “eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent” (v.3). In St. John’s parlance, eternal
life is not a matter of duration of life, rather it hinges on the idea of
quality, the quality of life, a life in communion with the Father and the Son.
Immediately after that emphasis on eternal life, Jesus continued his prayer
with theme of glorification. Therein, Jesus brings in his earlier life, prior
to the cross, and again he makes further allusion to the glory He received in
his pre-existent state: “Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you
before the world existed” (v.5). In that bid, we see that the
glory of the cross cannot be separated from the whole incarnate life and
mission of the Son.
Be
that as it may, from the sixth verse the prayer looked back once again to the
earthly work of the Son, with emphasis on the revelation that Jesus gave to his
disciples. As a matter of fact, the major constituent of the revelation
of Jesus is the word, “They have kept your word” (v.6c). The
word(s) in question are the words of the Father, which He the Father gave to
Him (the Son). As a matter of fact, in receiving those words as the words of
Father the disciples demonstrated their faith in Jesus, as One sent by the
Father. Thus, we may say that their positive response to the revelation
made by Jesus stands out as a Christological confirmation and affirmation of
who Jesus is: the One Sent by the Father, the Revelator of the Father (cf. v.8).
Here Jesus made a claim on our behalf, that they have kept the word.
But have we kept the word? In this episode, we see from afar the
relation that co-exists between the Father and the Son. The Father is the
Originator and the Initiator of the whole redemptive plan, He is the Sender of
the Son, who comes to execute the Father’s will. It is indeed worth
reaffirming that prayer of Jesus to the Father does not in any way obscure his
divinity or Godliness, rather it reveals something of his divine nature,
for as the divine Son He receives everything from the Father and returns everything
to the Father.
This
prayer of Jesus is divine in nature and as such, cannot but be eternal. For
us who are still here on earth, Jesus continues to pray to the Father on our
behalf, for “he has taken his seat at the right of the Father” and there
continues to intercede for us. By virtue of his priestly office Jesus is the
mediator between God and man, and through his priestly office he sanctifies all
that the Father has entrusted to him. Above all, through his obedient
sacrifice his priestly ministry is perfected in one hand, and at the other
hand, sustained in and through his intercessions, he is our Great Intercessor,
the First Advocate of mankind (cf. Jn. 14:16). And this
priestly ministry of Jesus does not stop with him, it continues, for along
history lane, we see followers of Jesus assuming the priestly ministry in
continuation of Jesus priestly work, they (we) continue to sanctify, intercede
and offer sacrifices for His people. That is what happened in the first reading
after the Ascension of Jesus, his disciples returned to Jerusalem and devoted
themselves with one accord to prayer. They entered into prayer, not because the
priestly prayer of Jesus is inadequate, but because it is the wish of Jesus for
his disciples and followers to share in the divine life.
And
finally, the last part of Jesus’ priestly prayer as contained in this
passage moves from the work that Jesus did, his ministry to the fate of his
disciples after his departure. Jesus prays for them because the reception
of the revelation of Jesus has made them to belong no longer to the world, even
though they still live in it. As such, they belong to God’s kingdom. And little
wonder, Jesus consecrated himself as he departs from them to enable them
participate in the Kingdom of God. Thus the prayer ends with Jesus departure
from the world and to the Father: “I am coming to you, Holy Father” (v.11a).
In
the second reading (1Pt.4:13-16) we see rather a warning of
imminent persecution in a time when being a Christian was beginning to be
considered a crime. At this historical period, Christianity has been recognized
as a separate religion from Judaism, although not yet considered a legal
religion. It was probably during the persecution of Nerus,
when Christians were burnt alive. In this period, Christians have to suffer for the
name of Christ. For sure, the participation in
the sufferings of Christ leads to participation in his Glory. Here, the apostle advises us not to suffer like thieves or
murderers, but for the Christian cause. However, in today’s liturgy,
this reading appears to be like a square peg in a round hole as far as the
theme of this Sunday is concerned, but on a second thought it is not. St.
Peter tried to bring to our consciousness and consideration on how to live when
we must have received the Holy Spirit. For we receive the
Holy Spirit to become audacious witnesses of Christ. And it is within this
framework that we can savour the present passage alongside the themes of
expectation, prayer and the Holy Spirit. In fact, in the words of St. Peter:
“If you are insulted for bearing Christ’s name, blessed are you, for on you
rests the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory” (v.14). Therefore,
the persecution we may experience as witnesses of Christ is a confirmation that
the Spirit dwells in us. Thus, there is a knit connection between the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness for Christ and suffering
persecution for the sake of his name. In Greek the words witness and
martyrdom come from the same root word or even the same word: “Martureo.”
As such, this passage serves as a reminder to us, that as we await and pray for
the coming of the Holy Spirit, we should be ready also to bear witness to
Christ by the power of the same Spirit, in and out of season, both in good and
in bad times.
In
all, the readings of this Sunday could be seen from the light of a theological
succession, for the first reading pictures the disciples in the upper room
waiting for the outpouring of the Spirit, which as we have seen in the Gospel
passage is the result of Jesus’ departure to the Father and his glorification.
As a matter of fact, the events of his departure and that of the outpouring of
the Spirit enable his disciples to be in the world, and
yet not of the world, but in any case for the
world; in the measure they (we) are called to bear witness to His name
and even suffer persecutions as Jesus did in his earthly life. Therefore, it is
upon consideration of our presence in the world, our belongingness not to the
world but to God’s Kingdom and our witnessing in and for the world that we join
our minds and hearts together with those of the believers in the Upper room in
invoking: “Veni, Creator Spiritus”!
(Fr.
Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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