Come Holy Spirit and Fill the Hearts of Your Faithful

We have come to learn over the years that John’s Gospels defy literal translation and ask that we suspend our intellect and allow the words to become flesh in us and take them to our hearts so that we might intuitively feel their presence and know the Spirit of the Word. In our Gospel (John 14:23-29) Jesus says: I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

Have we ever seen the Holy Spirit? This is not a trick question. Let’s think for a moment. For me the images that come to mind are those characterizations from my youth: the Dove; tongues of flame or a freely blowing breeze. This week's reading provides another depiction. The Holy Spirit is an Advocate …one who stands up for you when you need it; one who speaks on your behalf; one who lends you a helping hand, takes your side, and won't leave you while you're down.
The Holy Spirit looks like Jesus. The Spirit is "another advocate" because Jesus is the first. The Spirit, Jesus goes on to say, will abide with us and is sent in Jesus' name to remind us of what he taught. In a very real way, the Spirit affirms Jesus’ presence in us and through us, and helps to keep his promise that he will not leave us orphaned. You know him, because he abides with and lives with us

An advocate is defined as one who upholds and defends a cause or person, and intercedes on the part of another. Yes, we've seen the Spirit many times in those who share the love of Christ, and stand up for one another. They are advocates. And unfortunately, there are adversaries to the first Advocate, in the Pharisees who in their zeal to resist change, imposed their will on behalf of their self-serving interests and condemn Jesus to death and put an end to his movement once and for all. 

John’s Gospel is as relevant today as it was when it was written two thousand years ago. There are advocates for the love of God in our midst…and there are adversaries. Padovano tells us that Jesus will never be found by those who reduce faith to words or doctrines or who limit religious behavior to moral exercises or spiritual behavior.

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Love One Another

David Steindl-Rast writes that for us “to understand images in the way that John intended, we must develop a sense for poetic language. These images speak to our intellect through our poetic sensibilities…Tuning in to this language means both taking them seriously and not taking them literally.” Marcus Borg goes on to say “it invites his hearers to see in a radically different new way. The appeal is to the imagination, to that place within us in which reside our images of reality and our images of life itself.”

On the other hand, we are taught to read literature as though it is newspaper. Time moves in chronological order and reality is flat and one–dimensional. The words on the page are assembled to communicate information in real time. The words are taken as they are written, lite. This is not the case when we read the Gospel, and especially John’s.

So when John begins the first chapter of his Gospel with In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God (verse 1)…And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, he announces the incarnation of God in his fullest humanity as the Word became flesh in Jesus, and in so doing also signifies that the Word becomes flesh in us. “The Word speaks to us in that place in which our personal images of reality and our images of life itself reside.”

So in (John 13: 31-35) Jesus comforts his apostles and says: “My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Andrew Prior writes: “I do not think we can overstate the love and the intimacy of the household of God and our place in it. What we can miss, however, is that it is not a geographical place at a certain time. It is a relationship in eternity into which we can enter; in which we can place our trust. We will not be left alone, or orphaned.”

We know that Jesus was killed for political reasons: he violated the “status quo” of the prevailing Jewish law that caused the Judeans, not all Jews, to want him removed. The Judeans were those who aligned themselves with Rome to maintain “control” of their “religion” and maintain their “status quo.” As such, their religious leaders collaborated with Imperial Rome to have Jesus “removed.”

Throughout his life, Jesus made it clear that he resisted the man-made rules of “organized religion” as it existed. I wonder what he would think about today’s organized religions? How are some of its members different from the Pharisees who also resisted change. History reminds us that Jesus was not the last to be persecuted for bucking the “status quo.” Leave things alone I’m comfortable with the way things are; hey, I read the scripture and preach the Gospel; isn’t that enough? But where is the Love that Jesus was?

Wills tells us that “Jesus opposed any religion that is proud of its virtue, like the boastful Pharisee. Any that is self-righteous, quick to judge and condemn. Any that wallows in gossip that destroys and divides the community in order to serve its own purpose and not God’s.” And can we relate Jesus’s words in our Gospel: As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another

No One Can Take Them Out of The Father's Hand

I grew up in New York City in the ‘50s. We lived in a two–family house in Brooklyn. I recall it as a carefree time of life. It was a time which while doors marked certain boundaries, we were not so afraid of others inappropriately crossing them. It was not always necessary to lock our doors. And when we finally did, my father kept a key in the milk box on the porch or left one with our upstairs neighbor. Our ability to come and go was safe. However, in later years when both my parents worked I as the oldest of my siblings, was entrusted with that key. Later concerns for safety appeared to be heightened and more attention was paid to doors and security. I know I was older and more aware of the news of the day but times were changing. We were a little less carefree and the world was not as safe as it was before.



While gates and doors provide protection and security, they are the means for going in and out of a home or place. They also serve as boundaries to permit entry and exit. In today’s Gospel (John 10: 27-30 ) Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is portrayed as a caretaker and passage way to eternal life. Our frame of reference for a shepherd does not likely fit with the image of the shepherd in the time of Jesus. Is there any more powerful artistic depiction of Jesus the Good Shepherd in our Christian heritage? For me it is the famous painting of Jesus with the lamb draped over his shoulder that was hung on the wall in one of my grade school classrooms, and was one of the stained glass windows in the church. Yet, when Jesus lived and John writes his Gospel, shepherds were among the most disreputable and mistrusted outcasts of society. We might consider replacing the image of the loving guardian strolling peacefully in the sunshine among his flock, with the marauding motorcycle gangs of our century or cowboy outlaws of the 19th century. They were drifters with no fixed address and because of their occupation, they were perpetually unclean and, by definition, in violation of Jewish law. These outcasts are the very people John’s gospel is talking about.



Needless to say John shocks his audience by comparing Jesus to a shepherd and then later calling this very shepherd “good.” He challenges his listeners to look past their assumptions of where God is located and who God belongs to and who can belong to God. We and the people of John’s time are asked to see God in those who are outsiders, who exist on the fringe of the community, who are despised and even a little feared. The readers of John’s story are told to look for God among the despised.



When Jesus proclaims that “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” he characterizes his role as a loving protector. We are told that there was no actual gate in sheep-folds and that the shepherd would stand, sit or lie down in the opening which allowed entry and exit. In this way the shepherd could serve as protector of his sheep. He knew his sheep and they knew him. John purposely contrasted Jesus, the Good Shepherd, with disreputable religious rulers of his time who exploited their congregations.



Jesus clearly spells out his role as the Good Shepherd and his Father’s steward when he says I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one

 

Business As Usual..." I'm Going Fishing"

Following the recent events in the upper room with Thomas, the disciples return to their "former" lives; they’re going fishing! I guess I’m puzzled as to how after all that they've been through, they decide to go back to fishing. Sure, it’s their livelihood and yes, it may be their way of processing the dramatic events that they have experienced, and yet, it almost suggests, it’s back to “business as usual.”

Needless to say John has his reasons for telling us this story as he describes the appearance of a “stranger” on the shore who inquires as to how they’re doing with their fishing (John 21:1-19). They respond with some frustration, "not so well." The stranger calls out to “try another side” and see what happens. Maybe their “old habits” and practices were just not working anymore?

Whatever it was that prompted them, they ventured back out and resumed fishing and met with huge success. Their nets were overflowing. They caught 153 fish. Curious as to why that odd but specific number! Some have guessed it may imply the community of believers. Or, it may just be the number of fish that were caught.

Perhaps John is relating this story to remind us not to fall back into old  habits and ways of doing things.  In relating his encounter with Peter, Jesus reinforces his teaching regarding God's will for us to love and care for one another, not just in word but in deed.

We are being asked to abandon our old habits that get in the way of our spiritual  growth and leave our “comfort zones” and create new habits and a new life. Jesus is calling us to actively live our faith by being mindful of the needs of our others and live his teachings in a God-centered life

Father Don Caron explains that they were, after all, fishermen. Psychology tells us that people under stress undergo a process of regression that sends them back to entrenched attitudes and behaviors. Jesus seemed perfectly willing to start over with these men who had abandoned him, and to confirm that they had been chosen, not in spite of their life experiences, but because of them. Some commentators have suggested that 153 was the number of "the nations of the earth," but the only historical citation for it is found in a much later source (which doesn't prove that this thinking could not have been current when John wrote the gospel). If that is its meaning, then it would be consistent with the command to make disciples of all nations. (Comments on RR Blog, April 12, 2013)