To be With You Forever

6EasterA, Sullivan Park Care Center, May 25, 2014, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

            Chapter 14 of the gospel of John is a long discourse that Jesus has with his disciples.  It actually takes place before Jesus goes to the cross although in the lectionary, it is appointed for the Sunday preceding the Ascension.  In ways that are similar to the resurrection, yet a bit different, the Ascension is a confirmation that Jesus is doing and will do that which he promised at every step in his ministry.  Above all else, this section of scripture is meant to be a comfort to his disciples, who by this time are in a state of panic, realizing that Jesus is telling them that he is going away.  Jesus says, “I am leaving, but I will also return.”  The language can be a bit confusing.  How is it that Jesus can leave and return?  Unlike the other gospels and Paul, the teaching here is a departure.  Do we need a dramatic second coming of Jesus that will set everything straight?  Or do we go along with John who essentially says that Jesus remains with us, is in us, and abides with us, even when we don’t sense his presence with us in any sort of way.  After all, few people among those who call themselves by the name ‘Christian’ actually have mystical, personal experiences of him.  I am not here to step on anyone’s personal beliefs about Jesus—you are free to believe what you want-- but merely to point out that there is no thief in the night or talk of Jesus coming a second time to reward the faithful and punish the unfaithful in John’s gospel.  John simply offers the picture of Jesus’ comforting presence that continues beyond the resurrection appearances.  There is also no ascension in John. 

On the other hand, the liturgical tradition that I grew up with and thought about many times was also going through the minds of the shapers of the liturgy.  The words I was raised on in my church still echo in my head, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.  Grant this, O Lord, unto us all.”  When you really think about these words, they are not comforting. They are exclusionary. As of 1978, those words were stricken and were deemed to be false and not true to the gospel.  It was and still is, for some people, a cataclysmic idea.  If you expressed this idea in my seminary class, you were at the least, looked upon with suspicion and you had better not express this idea openly.  John represents a Christian tradition that is not exclusive, but inclusive.  Jesus does not discriminate.  His life is one of treating all of society on an equal plane, discounting no one, not even a Samaritan woman or a Gentile. In spite of our temptation to make Christianity like a club in which some are in and some are out, it is not a club and the exclusionary rules of a club do not apply.

Because of our tendency to wander from the path, the question is posed to us every day: how do I follow Jesus?  How can I be the presence of Jesus, i.e., of God to others?  The answer to that question, we are told is this, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  God’s love is the source of life and as Jesus walked in love, so we are also expected to walk in love.  Jesus’ whole life is one of a demonstration of God’s love.  There is no more perfect example to lie before us than that of Jesus’ love for all people.  God’s love is personified in Jesus.  Jesus, despite betrayal, rejection and abandonment of even his closest friends, continues to love to the very end of his life in the flesh.  This chapter tells us that it extends also into eternity.  Nobody can quench the love of God in Jesus because Jesus is sending another advocate.  The phrase seems to imply that Jesus is an advocate as well as the Holy Spirit that Jesus promises to send.

The word in Greek that translates as ‘advocate’ here means one who is called to assist someone in need.  The sense is somewhat like that of a lawyer.  A lawyer is to stand by your side when you are on trial and is to be your aide.  In this setting, as well as that of other Christian and non-Christian uses of the time, it appears to be more of a general sense, one who appears in another’s behalf, a mediator, intercessor, or helper. It seems most appropriate that Jesus is the one who intercedes for us by way of context, but here, the ‘another advocate’ is identified as a separate entity. It appears, in fact that the Holy Spirit is the designated one who functions in this sense.  The Holy Spirit is the one who is the comforter and will abide with us when Jesus is no longer in sight. As to whether this is a first or second coming or just the interlude when Jesus goes to the cross is ambiguous and maybe even purposefully ambiguous.  The point is this: Jesus promises to never leave us, even though his presence with us in the flesh is long gone.

We are still here and are bidden by Jesus to continue his work on earth.  His presence is our comfort and our strength to do it.  He is in us just as he is in the Father.  His spirit resides in the Holy Spirit promised to all who believe in him.  As we wind our way through the gospel of John, we see the Jesus of hospitality at the wedding at Cana where water is changed to wine.  We see Jesus informing us that God loves the whole world when he spoke with Nicodemus.  John the Baptist says of him that Jesus gives the Spirit without measure.  Jesus tells the Samaritan woman details of her life, yet withholds judgment, telling her that he will give her living water.  Jesus heals a man unable to walk for 38 years.  Jesus feeds the hungry.  Jesus causes a man blind from birth to see. Jesus taught and Jesus preached.  In spite of Jesus’ constantly being challenged, ridiculed, and rejected by those he came to give both physical and spiritual life, he continued to the end to bear the burden of that rejection, to be chastised, and reviled in so many ways.  These are the sorts of things that Jesus expects of us if we indeed love him.  Doing, preaching and teaching these things and teaching others to do the same is keeping his commandments.  This is how Jesus lives and abides in us.  This is how we live a resurrected life.

The story is told about a judge who lived in a southern town, where prejudice pervaded every corner and crevice of the community.  He was approached by the pastor of his congregation to participate in the annual foot washing service on Maundy Thursday.  He was invited to wash the feet of his own former slave.  They both thought it best if it was not announced beforehand.  When the time came, he called her up.  In front of the whole gathered congregation of over 500 in attendance, she came forward and he tenderly and lovingly washed her feet.  No words were exchanged. He figured there would be some backlash and there was.  Daring to love others always carries with it that risk of becoming vulnerable before the opinions and actions of others.  Instead of the negativity of some, it inspired others to continue to work to break down the long standing prejudicial treatment of many. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  Amen.