Sixth Sunday of Easter 2009

John the Evangelist has a rare gift for expressing profound religious truths in simple language, as is evident in today’s gospel passage. The setting is the Last Supper room where the Lord Jesus is sharing intimate moments with his apostles just before his arrest, passion and death. His words represent something of a final testament and hence all the more precious for that. Love, joy, friends are words which frame Christ’s farewell discourse. The unique love which he enjoys from eternity as the Father’s only Son is nevertheless a love which he wants his disciples to know and experience. In theological terms, Jesus is referring to the mystery of the Holy Trinity, which is love itself. That love far surpasses all human love; it is a divine love, of which we believers are privileged to be part. Words are inadequate to describe the mystery of God’s love which Jesus came to reveal to us. In the midst of the difficulties and tribulations of life we can often forget the joy which is so characteristic of the message of Christ. Here he speaks explicitly of his desire to see his disciples’ joy reach full completion. By his cross and resurrection he would defeat the ancient enemies of sin and death. In all that lay ahead of them they were to be joyful in heart, because their master’s victory would be theirs as well. In the complex world of the twenty-first century where we find ourselves we can feel overwhelmed by the pace of change and technological progress. The recent economic and financial setbacks can engender a sense of pessimism, even foreboding where the future is concerned. At such moments we need to ponder and cherish those words of Jesus, that he wants us to be filled with the joy he gives, a joy that is complete. Theologians speak of the mystery of God’s revelation, of how Jesus Christ brings us truths about God we could not otherwise know. The Lord in our gospel expresses this to his disciples in another way: we have now passed from being servants or slaves to an entirely new relationship with the Son of God. We have become his friends. And he has let his friends into the secrets of heaven! This is the wonder of the Christian faith which springs from the incarnation of God’s Son, speaking to us of divine things in language we are able understand. However, and here lies the challenge, our friendship with Jesus implies that we be friends with one another. In the Lord’s own words, Love one another as I have loved you. It’s a humbling thought to realise that there can be no love of God worthy of the name without an equal love for our neighbour.

+Michael Campbell OSA
Bishop of Lancaster

(from the Diocesan website)