Preferring Nothing to Christ

John 16:23-28

I tell you most solemnly,
anything you ask for from the Father he will grant in my name.
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.
Ask and you will receive, and so your joy will be complete.

In the Penny Catechism the treatment of prayer looks very straight forward:

What is prayer?
Prayer is the raising up of the heart and mind to God.

How do we raise our hearts and minds to God?
We raise up our heart and mind to God by thinking of God; by adoring, praising, and thanking him; and by begging of him all blessings for soul and body.

I am pleasantly surprised that what I learnt at seven holds as true now as it did then. Reading this as an adult I am struck by how this definition of prayer is wholistic and encompasses many of the things that define us as human beings made in God’s image. Prayer is about my whole self, my true self, in relationship with God. Jesus is our model for this. In prayer Jesus’ and Father’s will are one.

When Jesus tells his disciples ‘until now you have not asked for anything in my name’, I wonder if this is another way of saying ‘you haven’t asked for anything with your true self’? When we ask with our true selves we are given the assurance that ‘our joy will be complete.’ This is personal and graced. We cannot force this.

What do you most need and desire in Jesus name?

John 16:20-23 

You are sad now,
but I shall see you again,
and your hearts will be full of joy,
and that joy no one shall take from you.
When that day comes,
you will not ask me any questions.

When Jesus speaks to the disciples about ‘a joy that none can take’ from them, I wonder how they understood it? John sets this lengthy discourse around the table of the their last meal together. They have already shared together the ‘bread of affliction’ and Jesus now asks them to imagine a time when their hearts will be full of joy. I imagine the disciples in a haze that night.

Often when people warn us that something it going to be really hard it can be difficult for us hear them. I have certainly imagined certain situations to be much worse than they actually were. It’s a lot more subtle when people talk to us about joy. Real joy is something very personal. Though I have chosen a picture today of a girl jumping, my own experience of joy is much quieter. It has something to do with integration, with all the parts of my life fitting together. It’s not the absence of suffering. It’s more a feeling that joy and suffering can stand side by side.

If Christ is our pattern for life, love and glory, then joy and sorrow will always be woven together.

How do you hear Christ’s promise?

Matthew 28:16-20

Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations;
baptise them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teach them to observe all the
commands I gave you.
And know that I am with you always;
yes, to the end of time.’

Beginnings and endings matter a great deal in so many areas of our lives. In literature and theatre we are keenly aware of the power of the beginning and ending of a work. Some stories end with all the ends neatly tied up, but others can leave us with more questions than answers.

When we come to the final verses of Matthew’s Gospel we know that this is the definitive end of Jesus’ ministry on earth. The mountain top scene completes Matthew’s paradigm of Jesus as the new Moses. (The story of Moses ends with his ascent to the top of Mt. Pisgah, his being shown the Promised Land by God, and his death there in the land of Moab.)

But this is not the end of the story. The focus now is turned outwards. What began for the disciples as a personal relationship with Jesus, now encompasses the whole world. These verses are known as the Great Commission. Today we stand with the disciples and hear these words addressed to us. Wherever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances may be, the command is the same: Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations. Whatever form this takes for each of us, we are assured with Jesus is with us.

How can you respond to this Great Commission today?

John 16:12-15

When the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth…

When I was at Primary school I remember listening to the teacher as she sorted out a playground fight. Two 7 yr old boys were standing at the front of the class, eyes fixed on the the floor. ‘Now, who is going to be the first to tell me the complete truth?’ the teacher said. We knew what this meant. This was not to be the slightly ‘fuzzy’ truth quickly concocted to avoid punishment. What the teacher wanted was an account of events with no interpretations or excuses added. I remember a sense of relief when one boy was finally brave enough to answer.

Week after week our news is filled with situations that call for the ‘complete truth’. It’s becoming quite rare to find this. I think a part of me has even stopped expecting it. There are now elaborate rituals that must be gone through before the public can find out what really happened.

When Jesus tells us that the Spirit will lead us to the complete truth we know that this has a personal and communal dimension. Following Christ calls us to truth and integrity in all aspects of our lives. It can take courage to act from that place of inner truth. Sometimes others can model this for us and this gives us courage.

Who are the truth tellers in your life?

John 16:5-11

I must tell you the truth:
it is for your own good that I am going
because unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you.

It’s fairly easy to put ourselves in the position of the disciples: the prospect of Jesus going is sad and the promise of the Advocate coming is very much the unknown. Although the life and ministry of Jesus have prepared them for this moment, it would be quite natural for the disciples to want just a little more time with him.

Instead the promise of the Advocate now challenges the disciples to live from their shared conviction that Jesus is the Holy One of God. They’ll need each other if they are to be credible witnesses to the resurrection. It’s the Spirit who will be their guide and the power that binds them together.

We can sometimes be slow to recognise the workings of the Spirit in our own lives. It can often be easier to recognise the movement of the Spirit in others.

Where do you see the Spirit at work in those around you?

John 15:26-16:4a

You too shall be my witnesses,
because you have been with me from the beginning.

Growing up in the North East in the 70s and 80s I don’t think I ever heard the words ‘mission’ or ‘discipleship’ in relation to my own faith journey. Neither did I have any sense of having to ‘witness’ to my faith. I moved in almost entirely Catholic circles.

Choosing to enter a monastery changed things for me. In those months before entering I found myself explaining my counter cultural choice to all kinds of people. There was understandable bemusement as to why anyone would want to ‘shut themselves away.’ But the reality of monastic life was not that I was now hidden, but rather that I was saying publicly that in this place and with these people I will seek God and try to live the Gospel. This was and is my witness.

And now today I’m writing this post for my blog, Facebook and Twitter. There’s a dimension to my witness that I could never have imagined 30 yrs ago. With Twitter in particular, you never know who will scroll by and stop to read a tweet. You never know how the Spirit will move. In a world where many feel disconnected, I now have the tools to connect and, in a small way, spread the Gospel.

How can you use the tools which God has given you to spread the Gospel?

Image: antony-bec, Unsplash

John 14:15-21

At the heart of John’s Gospel we find the four inter-connecting themes of Light, Life, Love and Glory. Whenever we hear one, the other three are implicit. We can see these themes as keys which can help us to unlock the text.

At this point in Eastertide we have covered a good deal of theological ground. With the repetition of familiar texts in the weekday and Sunday liturgies we have hopefully had the opportunity to deepen our personal connections with the major themes.

Anybody who receives
my commandments
and keeps them
will be one who loves me;
and anybody who loves me
will be loved by my Father,
and I shall love him
and show myself to him.

So today when I hear the word ‘love’ I come to it with a whole tapestry of meaning. This love asks that I be attentive and helps me see the things of God (Light). It is the source of all I need to grow and flourish (Life). It promises that every joy and sorrow that I experience draws me deeper into the Paschal mystery (Glory). This dynamic begins and ends with God’s initiative.

How Can you respond to God’s initiative today?

John 15:18-21

If you belonged to the world,
the world would love you as its own;
but because you do not belong to the world,
because my choice withdrew you from the world,
therefore the world hates you.

These are not easy words from today’s Gospel. We naturally draw back from the word ‘hate’, especially in a Bible text. Persecution was a growing reality for the Early Church and this is reflected in its sacred texts. The backdrop of the Roman Empire with its cult of the Emperor etc provides us with one context for John’s use of the word ‘world’. It’s God reign and not Caesar’s that will bring redemption. It is to God’s kingdom that we give our loyalty and devotion.

At baptism our parents and godparents made a choice for us. They chose to have us welcomed into the Christian community and to share in Christ’s anointing as priest, prophet and king. It’s in this sense that we can say that we are ‘in the world and not of it.’

In Ch 4 of his Rule St Benedict urges his monks ‘Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else.’ The invitation here is to base your everyday choices on the Gospel. Commenting on this section of the Rule, Michael Casey, a Cistercian monk, says;

‘If I invest my energies in living a life characterised by humility, altruism, non violence, charity, forgiveness, truthfulness, indifference and detachment, it is unlikely that I will become rich or famous.’

It’s about choosing Christ at every turn.

How can you choose Christ today?

John 15:12-17

No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
You are my friends
if you do what I command you.

Few of us will be called upon to lay down our lives for our friends. Though we probably all hope that if a big sacrifice of some sort is asked of us we will have the courage to respond.

The memory of the pandemic is still fresh in our minds. In so many ways we have witnessed the love that is prepared to put others first. Some will have had little choice over their working conditions and others were prepared to take the risk. Many lost their lives. I hope that we will always remember this sacrifice.

At the heart of our Christian story we have not a philosophy or a set of principles, but a human being who embodied selfless service and self-emptying love. Christ is our pattern for every part of our lives. Often on the feast of a martyr we sing ‘The Martyrs Living now with Christ’, a hymn written by Stanbrook Abbey. This verse always stands out for me:

No one has ever measured love
Or weighed it in their hand,
But God knows the inmost heart
Gives them the promised land.

It’s God who knows the depth of our love and our willingness to give. It’s God who sees the bigger picture of our lives and how we try to image Christ.

Let us always remember the people in our lives who quietly and unobstrusively have shown us this self-emptying love.

Image: sj obijo, Unsplash

John 15:9-11

‘If you keep my commandments
you will remain in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments
and remain in his love.
I have told you this
so that my own joy may be in you
and your joy be complete.’

By this stage in Eastertide we have heard a good deal of John’s Gospel. There are some overlaps and repetitions between the weekday and Sunday liturgies. We’ve heard parts of today’s Gospel already. The themes of keeping Christ’s commandments and remaining in his love weave in and out of each other. Today the element of ‘joy’ is added.

I associate pure joy with small children and this in turn reminds me of this passage from the Tales of the Hasidim:

Said the maggid to Rabbi Zusya, his disciple: “I cannot teach you the principles of service. But a little child and a thief can show you what they are:

From the child you can learn three things:

— He is merry for no particular reason;
— Never for a moment he is idle;
— When he needs something, he demands it vigorously.

Being merry for no particular reason is one of the special gifts of childhood. The joy of one young child spreads so easily to others and to adults too. I remember as a child feeling that I might burst with joy and excitement. When you reach adulthood that joy takes on a different shape. It isn’t nearly as frequent and there might be some foreboding mixed in too.The idea Jesus might find his joy in us is something that I don’t spend nearly enough time thinking about. That Jesus wants our ‘joy to be complete’ speaks to me of the depths of the Paschal mystery: every joy and every sorrow that we experience unites us ever closer to Christ.

How can you live in Christ’s joy today?

Image: Senjuti Kundu, Unsplash

You can read the full extract from The Tales of the Hasidim here: https://www.jhom.com/topics/thieves/hasidic.htm