6th Sunday of Easter – A
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Joh 14, 15) We hear these words in the middle of the great departing speech of Jesus, meant to comfort his disciples before he leaves them. But here we could almost doubt whether this speech is actually a speech of comfort, or rather an exhortation. Christ says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Joh 14, 15) and he will ask for the gift of the spirit, and again he says, “he who loves me will be loved by my Father.” (Joh 14, 21) It sounds as though the gift of the spirit, and God’s love for us, depends on our love for him, depends on our keeping the commandments. But what about when we make mistakes, if we at some point do not keep Jesus’ commandments, if we fail to love? Will we then be no longer loved by the Father? And this is supposed to be a joyful message? What is up with this?
While not entirely off the mark, this would be a misunderstanding of the Gospel message. The Gospel surely presents us here with a call to love, a call that can be, and often is challenging. But above all, it presents us with a gift. In this incredibly complex web of loving and being loved, giving, and receiving, a friendship is depicted that exceeds all description. Jesus is telling us: God is not a vending machine, in which we throw requests from time to time to get something from him. He is not a fundamental energy of love, that is simply there and radiates blindly, without any interaction. God is a personal lover, and offers us not only his love, but also friendship. This is the great message of the Gospel: we are invited to be friends with God himself! And friendship is always a mutual relationship, which must be accepted, nurtured, and cared for.
Friendship means meeting each other wherever we are, sharing experiences with each other, spending time together. If I were to never chat with my friends, never do anything with them, never communicate with them, our friendship would gradually dissolve. Here Jesus makes a truly great promise. He promises that this meeting with him and his Father is possible, even after he has gone from us. “He who loves me… I will manifest myself to him.” (Cf. Joh 14:21(He will remain with us, and we shall even see him. “
„The world will see me no more, but you will see me.” (Joh 14:1 In normal circumstances we meet him in the daily contact with one another. We will all, every one of us, be surprised and astonished how truly, how literally Christ meant, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mat 25, 40). We meet Christ through faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit, who “remains with us and will be in us” (Cf. Joh 14, 17), as we have heard today in the Gospel. We also meet him in prayer. In so many encounters and opportunities to meet our Lord Jesus daily, all we must do is try. Try to meet Jesus in all the simple and profound moments of our day.
In even a more special way, we meet Christ in the Eucharist. Here, the words of Jesus’ comfort are fulfilled in a special way: “You will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”