The gospel emphasises the link between love and obedience, and it speaks of the presence of God with the one who loves. It provides us with a partial view of the internal relationships within the Trinity. It also reports Jesus’ farewell wish of peace. Self-sacrificing love is the fundamental message of Jesus. Those who love as Jesus did will in turn be loved by his Father. This passage provides us a glimpse of the intimacy between Jesus and his Father. Jesus was sent by his Father and it is to his Father that he will return. Jesus proclaims the word of his Father and his Father sends the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Jesus’ words end on a note of assurance. He bequeaths his peace. This is more than a wish, it is a blessing that includes all of the benefits of the resurrection.
The small section of John 13 that we read this week lies at the heart of the Johannine Gospel message ‘Love as I have loved’. To be a Christian is to live and to love, with Jesus as the measure of what life and love look like. The Gospel mentions Judas and if we are to understand what Jesus means by love we need to remember that up until this stage in the Gospel Judas has been present. He is one of Jesus’ own who gather for his final meal. Judas has had his feet washed by Jesus and received from Jesus’ hand the morsel of bread. Jesus willingly gives of himself even to one who will betray him. This is Jesus’ definition of love – a giving of self even when that will not be reciprocated, even when that love will be rejected and betrayed.
The characterisation of Jesus as the Good Shepherd points to the relationship Jesus has with those who follow him, as well as the relationship he has with God. The image of Jesus as shepherd implies intimate knowledge on the part of both Jesus and his followers and unquestioning trust on the part of the followers. Jesus promises that he will give eternal life to his sheep, and that he will not allow anyone to take them away from him. He can promise eternal life, because he has power over death. Jesus consistently calls God Father, the Trinitarian designation that signifies distinction in divine union. It is clear that all that Jesus says and does is the actual embodiment of God’s will and not just behaviour that is in conformity with it. The shepherd who cares for the sheep is indeed one with God.
The disciples set out to fish at night and in the darkness they catch nothing. Then, when the dawn comes they see Jesus, named in this Gospel the Light of the world. Relying on the word of Jesus, the disciples’ efforts bear fruit and in the wonder of this bountiful result, the presence of the Lord is recognised. The breakfast by the lake recalls the earlier feeding miracle in John 6 where Jesus took five loaves and two fish and fed a great crowd. The miracle in John 6 and this meal are Eucharistic in their symbolism. Jesus is present in the midst of the disciples even though his presence is not immediately recognised. Jesus is the host inviting his disciples to eat the food he has prepared for them and for us. This lakeside feeding reflects the living experience of the Christian community. When they gather for Eucharist, they are in touch with the Risen Jesus who continues to guide and nourish them. Can we also recognise the Risen One present in our lives and nourishing us in the Eucharist?
The problem for Thomas is the problem that all later Christians face. Can we believe the Easter Gospel when we do not see the body of the Risen One? There is a Thomas within all of us, wanting to believe but sometimes finding faith difficult. Thomas’ response is not to reach out to touch Jesus, but rather to recognise now the fullness of Jesus’ divinity; ‘My Lord and my God.’ Only in John’s Gospel do we find such an absolute statement of Jesus’ divinity. The final words of Jesus in this Gospel reach past Thomas to us, as Jesus pronounces a blessing for those who do not see and yet believe. The evangelist also reaches across time to us when he writes, ‘These things are written that you may believe.’ The presence of Jesus, his words, and the words of this Gospel writer live on in the Christian communities of our time. Whenever Christians gather, Jesus rises in our midst. Not even our fears and doubts are sufficient barriers, for Jesus comes to frightened and disbelieving disciples. The Easter gifts of peace and the Spirit are now available to all and blessed indeed are those who believe.
St John’s Easter story is closer to our real experience than many of the other Resurrection stories. Here we have no angels announcing ‘He is raised’; no Jesus present to change sadness into joy. Resurrection is more subtle in this Gospel. Mary and Peter miss the signs. They remain locked in grief still carrying the painful burden of Golgotha. It is the disciple named ‘beloved’ who first experiences resurrection in his openness to believe in God’s power to raise Jesus. Easter calls for faith. Those who know the loss and pain of death know too well the hard, long search to find signs of life. We don’t experience a sudden glorious moment of life returned. Like the anonymous disciple, we often stay some time within the tomb before finding grace to turn and enter into life. Such grace is found in simple signs of a love that does endure. Perhaps this is why ‘the beloved’ disciple first reaches Easter faith.
In this final Lenten Sunday we look again at the significance of Christ in our lives. We recognise him as our saviour, but we look more closely in order to discover just what kind of saviour he is. He has taken the form of a slave; he has been glorified with a name above all other names; he continues to suffer with us. We have not been saved through military might, but through the self-offering humility of Jesus. Though he was really in the form of God, Jesus came in the form of a slave. We have a saviour who was crushed for our iniquities, nailed to a cross as a convicted criminal, and there endured the sense of abandonment. In the face of this, we must ask a fundamental question: Why does God love us with such abandon? Our Saviour was lifted up and exalted precisely because he emptied himself of his divine prerogatives. He became one of us in order to show us how we are to live. Unlike conquerors who triumph by putting down their opponents, Jesus was raised up because he himself was first willing to be put down. Our Saviour first offered himself for us and continues to offer himself to us as an example to follow. As he was willing to empty himself for our sake, so we are told to empty ourselves for the sake of others. The Passion narrative leaves us up in the air. It leaves us in a better position than the disciples because we know the end of the story!. Jesus’ disciples were downcast by what they felt was the defeat of Jesus, however we know that out of this darkness, light and hope will emerge!
There is hypocrisy in the actions of the scribes and Pharisees. These were the scholars of the Jewish Law, perhaps the equivalent of today’s lawyers. Firstly, they only bring along one of the guilty parties, the woman, while the male partner is free from public condemnation. Secondly, their concern is not really with this woman. She is a pawn in their real purpose, which is to find something against Jesus. In this, they have no real respect for the Law they claim to uphold. And finally, as Jesus points out, they too are sinners. Why might this story be so important for the early Christian communities, so that even though there is uncertainty about its location there can be no doubt about its inclusion within the good news Jesus offers? Perhaps John’s or Luke’s community needed to be reminded that for all our Christian ideals and desires, we are all frail followers of Jesus, but sin is no barrier to discipleship. The only barrier is the despair that comes from self-condemnation and a failure to trust in God who refuses to condemn. Jesus does not condemn the woman even as he encourages going and striving to live without sin. As the journey of Lent moves to its end, let us place our confidence in the loving mercy of God.
Two groups are singled out in the gospel, tax-collectors and sinners. Tax-collectors were hated because they worked for the despised Roman occupiers and exacted their wages from their compatriots. People whose occupations prevented them from regular observance of the Law were considered sinners. These were the people who came to hear Jesus. The Pharisees and scribes, who dealt with the Law, criticised Jesus for the company he kept. The parable has a double focus. While it is clearly about the mercy God shows repentant sinners (the younger brother), it also contrasts God’s openness with the closed-mindedness of those who consider themselves faithful (the older brother). The picture of the father shatters the traditional patriarchal image and offers us a radically different picture of fatherhood, a picture that was totally incomprehensible to both sons.
One major theme emerges from this week’s readings: incomprehensibility of God. We see it in the mysterious divine name, which distinguishes the God of Israel from all others and yet leaves us in the dark as to its meaning. We see it as God communicates with us through inanimate objects and the people in our lives. Finally, we see that God both pardons iniquities and decides to root out unfruitful branches, and we are confused by such inconsistency. In the midst of this ambiguity we have one sure source of stability – Christ. It is Christ who reveals the nature and meaning of the divine name; it is Christ who intercedes for us before God. Christ, the one who set his face toward Jerusalem, there to suffer and die, is the great messenger through whom God is revealed.