Fifth Sunday of Easter (A) John 14: 1-12
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” – John 14:1
Our Gospel reading for this Sunday is also one of the options for a Funeral Mass. One does not need to be a Biblical scholar to understand this. The words of Jesus speak directly to the grief and loss of the mourners, offering consolation and a solid basis for hope. As such, these words bear a fresh meaning for us as we deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a quarter of a million people have died around the world so far due to the effects of the coronavirus. Many of then died without the presence of family or clergy. For each one, there are relatives and friends who suffer grief at their death and who wonder what more they could have done to help. There are many more who fear the coronavirus and lock themselves away.
Besides the effects of the virus itself, there are the effects of the chemotherapy that most nations have chosen to deal with it. Lockdowns have taken away millions of jobs and caused serious uncertainty and fears about the immediate future. Some people must shelter-in-place with those who would physically, emotionally or sexually abuse them. Many people are deprived of the social contacts they need for emotional support and joy. People of faith are deprived of the support of their faith communities, the experience of praying physically together as one body, and being spiritually nourished by sacrament and ritual. We are seeing signs that the worst of the pandemic may be over, but some leaders are reluctant to issue the “all clear” signal until there is no risk of infection whatsoever (which will never happen). Many in the media and in politics play upon our fears and seek to offer us scapegoats to blame. Few are truly willing to listen to the grief and fear and pain itself that so many feel now. Without a willingness to listen to and accept the pain, true healing cannot happen.
The Church offers this Gospel reading not only to those of us who mourn the death of a loved one, but to all. We are all affected by the pandemic and the lockdowns. These have captured most of our attention now. That may be unavoidable. However, this can distract us from other areas in our lives that also need attention. Our faith, hope and love are tested in other ways. We have experienced other losses that perhaps we have not fully grieved or even acknowledged yet.
We now turn to our Gospel reading to see what it can offer us.
The setting is the Last Supper. Jesus knows what will soon happen – to Him and to His disciples. He is preparing them for it. Yes, He had warned them before of His suffering and death. The disciples heard the warnings. And yet, we all know how easy it is for human beings to put aside dangers as though they will never really happen to us. To other people, perhaps, but not us. The disciples had seen how Jesus had frustrated His opponents time and time again. They may have carried the hope that this would happen this time as well. They are about to be hit with a reality for which they are unprepared.
This reality is not only the suffering and death of Jesus itself, as difficult as that would be. It wasn’t only about seeing their Master suffer and die. That would be hard enough. But the disciples knew, as everyone else did, that death is an unavoidable part of life. They had, no doubt, grieved loved ones who had died before. What Jesus was preparing them for was even more painful than this.
The disciples has also come to believe, by this time, that Jesus was, and is, the Messiah, the Christ. In the Israel of this time, there were many ideas running about as to who and what the Messiah might be. All were agreed, however, that when the Messiah would appear, he would overcome all his enemies and win the ultimate victory in God’s name.
Jesus’ disciples were about to see a Messiah betrayed, arrested, condemned to death, and crucified. This was even worse than the very real pain of seeing all of this happen to someone they loved. It was also a tremendous test of faith. Jesus’ enemies wanted to not only get rid of Him but to discredit Him in front of everyone. That is why they worked quickly, arresting Him by night (when everyone would be inside eating the Passover meal), condemning Him, and getting Him crucified before most of His followers knew what was going on. There was a general belief in Israel at the time that a crucifix person was cursed by God. So, Jesus’ enemies could say, how could this man be the Messiah if He is on a cross, condemned ro die, and thus seemingly cursed by God? It was a conspiracy designed to destroy faith in Jesus.
Jesus knew this was coming. He urged His disciples to not let their hearts be troubled. John’s Gospel uses this word “troubled” to describe Jesus’ reaction to the effects of evil or death (see John 11:33, 12:27, 13:21). Jesus exhorts them to keep on having faith in Him. It will look, to merely human eyes, that Jesus’ enemies are having their way. It will look like utter defeat. But, Jesus tells His disciples, this death will be the ultimate means by which He will glorify the Father and be glorified by the Father. It will also be the means by which all who believe in Him will share in His divine life and be part of His family, His Body.
What Jesus is promising His disciples in John 14 is not something that will happen only after their death. It is something that will be offered to them immediately after Jesus’ death and resurrection. They will all be welcome in His Father’s house, which has many rooms. They will all be made a part of His own family of faith. All of this will reach its climax after their physical death, but it begins as soon as they believe in Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. All who believe in Jesus will receive the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, now. They will belong to God’s family now. In spite of all outward appearances, the Kingdom of God will be in them, and they in it, now.
All of this happens in a way that defies merely human wisdom. We read this in our second reading, from 1 Peter: Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Here, Peter is reflecting on Psalm 118: The stone rejected by the builders has become the cornerstone. Jesus Himself, rejected by the leaders of His own people, is the cornerstone. He is the foundation of the People of God. Not only that. He is the Word made flesh. All things were created through Him and for Him. What appeared to be His defeat is actually His greatest gift of love to us all.
It is so important for us to keep all these things in mind now. The sufferings caused by the pandemic itself and by the lockdown test our faith and hope and love, to say nothing of our energy and motivation. So much that we took for granted seems to have vanished or to at least be less dependable than it was. It may seem like a kind of obstacle or stumbling stone to our faith as we ask ourselves how this could happen and what it could mean.
Jesus often exhorted His disciples to not be afraid. This does not mean that we, as followers of Jesus, will never feel any fear. It does mean that we will be given the grace to keep fear from dominating us and determining what we see and do. We will remember that even death does not have the last word. We need not fear even death because of Jesus Christ. That does not mean that we act irresponsibly. It does mean that we have the grace to choose what is in harmony with God even if there is a risk, for we cannot have life without risks of some sort. It means that we do all we can to help those who are most vulnerable or most in pain at this time. We weep with those who weep. Yet we never weep as those without hope. For God has made our tears His own, and has given them the power to convey joy as well as grief.
May the Lord being us renewed faith, hope, love and joy, so that we may be that city set on a hill, that light of the world, to bring the love of God into our troubled world!