“DO YOU NOW BELIEVE?”

A reading from the holy gospel according to John. The disciples said to Jesus: “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16, 29-33)

I find this short dialogue between Jesus and his disciples which John presents at the end of chapter 16 of his gospel very interesting. In it the disciples profess their faith in Jesus and he questions them: “Do you now believe?” I have been thinking about this question because I feel that … I have the lyrics but I do not know the tune! I am curious to know how Jesus pronounced the question. On which word did he put more emphasis? How did it sound to the apostles? Did it sound like “Do you now believe?” or “Do you now believe?” Is there another sound to these words?
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In his commentary on John’s gospel St. Thomas Aquinas seems to ask if this phrase is really a question or is it just a comment. St. Thomas wrote: Jesus says “Do you now believe? If this is understood as a question, it is a rebuke for being so slow to believe. It is like saying: Have you waited till now to believe?” If it is only a comment then, Thomas wrote, “Christ is reproving the instability of their faith. Then it is like saying: It is true that you believe now, but as soon as I am betrayed, you will leave me: "They believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (Lk 8:13).

As we only have the written words and not a recording of Christ’s voice we cannot really know the tune, only the lyrics. How did Jesus want his disciples to understand his words?

As we listened to this gospel selection today, and we believe that the Gospel is God speaking to us now, at this moment, we do not need to decide if “Do you now believe” is a question or a comment. I believe that for us today it is both.

Do we believe now? Are we fulltime believers?  What is ‘now’ for us? We can be ‘off and on’ believers, or we can ‘pick and choose’ when and what to believe. We can easily compartmentalise our life of faith and be a believer in church and a pagan outside. At the end of the parable of the widow and the unjust judge Jesus asked: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk 18,8) This does not refer only to the end of times, rather it regards the end of my and your time on earth. Will Jesus find us faithful, full of faith, full-time believers? How can we figure this out? Once, when Jesus was speaking to a huge crowd, he said: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit.” (Lk 6, 43-44)

This brings us to another question: “Do we believe?” How healthy is our faith? At the beginning of today’s gospel reading, the disciples said to Jesus “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” Just before this expression of faith of the disciples, Jesus said: “The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.” (Jn 16, 25-28)

He told them about the Holy Spirit who “will guide you into all the truth ... and he will declare to you the things that are to come”. He spoke to them about their suffering. “They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God” (Jn 16, 1-2). He also told them: “You will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. [It will be like] When a woman is in labour, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world” (Jn 16, 20-21).

He spoke these words of comfort “so that in me you may have peace” and “so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them”. It is interesting to remember that the first thing Jesus did just after telling all these things to his disciples was to speak to his father and say: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you” (Jn 17, 1) in other words: “Thy will be done”.

How strong was the disciples’ faith in Jesus at this time? They believed because they thought they understood what Jesus was telling them. In a way, their belief was based on their own understanding. St. Thomas Aquinas quoted St. Augustine who said that the disciples were still so lacking in understanding that they did not realize they were lacking in understanding. That is why after commenting “Do you now believe?’ Jesus told the disciples: “You will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone.” He was telling them that, notwithstanding their professed faith in him, they would still be limited human beings. They had to take care and nourish their faith. He was not belittling them. He told them clearly what was going to happen to them so that when the hour came they would remember that he told them about it,  “so that in me you may have peace”. “Take courage” he told them, “I have conquered the world!”. The world has no power over me!

When Jesus told them “Do you now believe?”, he was not judging his disciples. He only wanted to open their eyes, and their minds and their hearts so they could stand strong and firm in times of difficulties and persecutions which they had to face as true disciples.

I am sure that we all would like to be true disciples of Jesus Christ. We are aware of our limitations and the difficulties we face in order to be full-time believers, when we are in church, at home, fulfilling our daily work, or during our time of rest. When we find ourselves scattered and lacking in faith, let us not be discouraged. Deep down, we love Jesus. Let us believe in him, and let us believe him, not because we understand everything he tells us, but because we love him. The resurrected Christ asked Peter who, out of fear had solemnly denied ever having known him: “Peter, do you love me?” This was Christ’s healing response to Peter’s denial. Perhaps, we should frequently ask ourselves: Do I love Jesus? I am sure this would lead us to do the right thing when facing the challenges of our daily life.