Sentence

‘Those who love me will keep my word.’ Jesus promises, ‘and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ John 14:23

Collect

O God, you have prepared for those who love you joys beyond our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love for you, that, loving you above all else, we may obtain your promises that exceed all we can desire;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Readings

This week:

Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-19
1 Peter 3:8-22
John 14:15-21

Next week:
Acts 1:6-14
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
1 Peter 5
John 17:1-11

A Thought to Ponder

Easter 6 – John 14:15-21

“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 always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you will know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”

In legal terminology, an advocate defends the accused on trial. For the writer of the Fourth Gospel, Christ is the first “Advocate,” who comes to liberate humanity from the slavery of sin. The second “Advocate,” promised by Jesus in today’s Gospel, is the Spirit of truth, the Church’s living, creative memory in which the mystery of God’s love, revealed by and in Christ, lives for all time.

The Spirit of truth, “whom the world cannot accept,” illuminates our vision and opens our hearts to discern the will and wisdom of God. The Spirit/Paraclete “advocates” for what is good, what is right and what is just, despite our scepticism, rejection and blindness to the things of God.

The Risen Christ challenges us, in the gift of the “Spirit of truth,” not to approach truth in terms of profit, power, comfort or convention, but to embrace the truth of God’s justice and compassion present in our world.
Throughout his Gospel, the writer of John’s Gospel never allows love, as taught by Jesus, to remain at the level of sentiment or emotion. Its expression is always highly moral and is revealed in obedience to the will of the Father. To love as Jesus loved – in total and selfless obedience, without conditions and without expectation of that love ever being returned – is the difficult love that Jesus expects of those who claim to be his disciples.

The Spirit of truth is the creative, living memory of the Church. Through that “living memory,” the Church enters into the mystery of Christ himself. Jesus, the wise Rabbi, the compassionate Healer, the Friend of rich and poor and saint and sinner, the obedient and humble Servant of God, is a living presence among us to give us hope, strength and light as we struggle to balance and direct our lives until he calls us to the new life of his Resurrection.

© Connections/MediaWorks