I will come back

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 14, 27-31)

Jesus said to his disciples: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.  You heard me say to you, “I am going away, and I am coming to you.” If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me; but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

This is a selection from Christ’s discourse at the end of John’s version of the Last Supper. Perhaps we can understand it better if we read it in context.

In Chapter 13 John speaks of the Last Supper and he reports that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, a slave’s work, at which Peter was disturbed. When his turn came Peter told Jesus: “You will never wash my feet”. Jesus told him: “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand”. As Jesus insisted that he had to accept this humble service, Peter told his master: “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus answered: “You are clean, though not all of you!”

Then Jesus asked the disciples: “Do you know what I have done to you? … So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example.”

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Jesus was troubled in spirit and he declared: “One of you will betray me!” After receiving his piece of bread, Judas immediately went out. And it was night. Trouble! Jesus gave the disciples a new commandment: “that you love one another … By this everyone will know that you are my disciples”.

Although Peter had said he was ready to die for his Master, Jesus knew that Peter was troubled and afraid, and he told him: “You will deny me three times”. At the beginning of John’s chapter 14 Jesus told his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me … If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” He then promised them the Holy Spirit, “another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth”.

In this charged atmosphere in which people were troubled and afraid Jesus spoke words of comfort. “Peace I leave with you” he said, “my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid”.

I believe that these words of Jesus are not limited by time and space for they are meant for us too! Even in our times Christians are troubled and afraid. We are troubled and afraid! We are troubled and we ask: “Why are Christians persecuted even today, perhaps more than in other times?” We are afraid of what the future may hold for us!

Many a time Jesus told his disciples individually or in groups: “Do not be afraid”, and after his resurrection he told them: “Peace be with you”. A meditative reading of Christ’s priestly prayer in John’s chapter 17 will encourage and enlighten us. In it Jesus prayed for the apostles and also for all of us who believe in Jesus through their word ... “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (Jn 17, 20-21).

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, “Peace is nothing else than the tranquillity arising from order, for things are said to have peace when their order remains undisturbed. In a human being there is a threefold order: that of a person to himself; of a person to God; and of a person to his neighbour”. This is why, when a Pharisee asked Jesus: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’’ He answered: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt 22, 36-40). This is the peace that God gave us humans since the time of creation. This is the harmony that was disturbed by Adam and Eve, the peace that is still being disturbed by the many Adams and Eves of our days, who do not follow God’s project. God’s harmony is disturbed when a person declares himself the object of the first commandment, kicking aside God, and expects to be loved by all with all their heart, and their soul and their mind, and in a delirium of love of self, closes himself to neighbour and to creation. He imagines himself a god; a false one, of course.

God’s project is love shared. “God is love”, and when he asks us to love him it is not because he needs our love. He only wants to protect us from the many false gods we easily create and to which we often sacrifice ourselves! The world’s project is egotism, an excessive reference to oneself. Love of God is a source of life in society in which we are meant to learn the experience of the common good. Egotism is a seed of death in a society that is closed on itself.

What God wants from us is true love that opens our heart to God and to all things created. True love is what God wants for us, true love! He wants us to enjoy the truth of love. Perhaps one of the most abused word in our times is “love” which, in today’s vocabulary and together with the word “freedom”, can mean anything. This is why Jesus tells us that he does not want to give us words that may sound beautiful but are not truthful, for they are empty words.

God’s peace, God’s love, God’s freedom are very different from what the world can offer us. A world in which God has no say cannot give us true peace because it is not concerned with our interior tranquility, and it is short-term, for it does not take into consideration living with God now and into eternity.

Is everything bad in our world? Of course not! But we need to cultivate the ability to discern what is good and what is bad. In his letter to the Thessalonians St. Paul teaches us: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thes 5, 16-22).

“Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid”, Jesus told his disciples past and present. Why shouldn’t we be troubled or afraid? Because Jesus promised that he would not leave us orphans. He said: “You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you’”. He sent the Holy Spirit to teach us everything, and to remind us of all that Jesus said and did. In this way we do not only have a roadmap that shows us where we would like to go and how. He also sent us a spiritual GPS (a Global Positioning System) that shows us where we are and suggests ways forward especially when we get lost because of a bad decision we might make. The Holy Spirit provides this service for free if we but listen to him.

Let us then make good use of our time on earth so we can live in peace even when we have to face difficulties and challenges. With a peaceful life, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, let us rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances for we believe that Jesus lives, and we will live with him. This is his promise: “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them … and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me”.