Wednesday of Week 7 of Easter – Gospel

Commentary on John 17:11-19

Today Jesus continues his prayer for his disciples. He prays for their continued loyalty to the gospel message and for unity among them.  He has kept them true to his name. One was lost, although that was foreseen from all time.

They have accepted the message of Jesus and, because of that, they will be hated by the world as Jesus himself was hated.  Because, like Jesus, they do not identify with the values and priorities of the world.

At the same time, Jesus makes it very clear that he is not asking that they be removed from the world’s environment, only that they be protected from its evil influences. It is only by being in the world that they will be able to communicate the gospel message. Armed with truth and the integrity of Jesus himself, he is sending them into the midst of the world. That is where they are to do their work.  They were, as he said elsewhere, to be “the salt of the earth” and the “yeast in the dough”.

Jesus prays that they be consecrated in truth, the truth of God himself.  This truth does not consist of a set of dogmas.  Rather it consists in the living out lives of perfect integrity and wholeness, in perfect harmony with the will of the Father and the Way of Jesus, and dedicated to bringing that truthfulness and integrity to the world.  The disciples do this by living lives of love, a love expressed in service to the well-being of all. They have the full backing of Jesus, who says:

…I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Let us then pray today:

• for the unity among us which Jesus prayed for in his disciples;
• that we may be ready for the hostility and the indifference of the world;
• that we may realise, if we want to give witness to the gospel, we must be fully inserted into the world by which we are surrounded.  To be ‘holy’ is not to escape and distance ourselves physically from that world, which is what many are tempted to do or even think is the right thing to do*;
• that we may be people of complete integrity, filled with truth and sincerity, so that what people see in us is what we truly are and wish to be: disciples of Jesus.

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*Notwithstanding this, there are cloistered and contemplative communities who, while physically separated from the ‘world’, devote their time and energy to pray for that world.

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Wednesday of Week 7 of Easter – First Reading

Commentary on Acts 20:28-38

Just to remind ourselves, we are still with Paul on his Third Missionary Journey.  And today we have the second part of his farewell discourse to the elders of the church at Ephesus.  In the first part Paul had spoken mainly about himself.

In today’s reading, he begins by reminding them that they are to carry out the responsibility implied in their title.  As “elders” (Greek, presbyteroi) they are called to watch over the flock entrusted to them.  They have been appointed “overseers”.  The elders are called “overseers” (Greek, episkopoi, from which come words like ‘bishop’ and ‘episcopal’) and told to pastor (“shepherd”) the flock—demonstrating that the same men could be called “elders”, “overseers” or “pastors” depending on how their role in the church was seen. This community is the “church of God”, acquired with his own blood.  As God in himself does not spill blood, we can take it to mean that the work of the Father and of the Son are seen as one; what Jesus does, including the shedding of his blood, is an expression of everything his Father wills.

Paul envisages fierce attacks on the community after he has gone:

…savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Even from among themselves, people will arise who in “distorting the truth” will try to cause divisions among some of the Christians.  So he begs them to take to heart all the teachings he gave them over a period of three years.

Paul next reminds them that he is not in debt to them.  He never asked for money or clothing from anyone.  His needs and those of his companions were served by his own hands. This is something he has mentioned more than once with some pride and satisfaction.  On the contrary, his concerns have always been for those who are weak and in need. And he quotes the words of Jesus:

It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Incidentally, this saying is not quoted in any of the Gospels, but of course, there must be many of Jesus’ sayings which did not get recorded in writing.

The passage concludes with the highly emotional departure scene with prayers and tears and much kissing and embracing.  They believed they were never more to see the father of their church. In fact, they were to meet briefly once more.

There certainly is a good deal here for our own reflection.  We have to be ready for our Christian communities today to come under attack, even when—or specifically because—we are living out the gospel values. We have to admit, too, that there are often divisions among us and that we can twist the words of the gospel to suit ourselves and our own interests.

We need to ask to what extent we really do take care of the weaker ones among us.  We cannot separate the needs of the body from that of the spirit.

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