First reading: Acts 15:1-2,22-29
Psalm: Ps 67:2-3,5-6,8
Epistle: Revelation 21:10-14,22-23
Gospel: John 14:23-29

—Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.—

Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Indeed He is risen! Alleluia!

Context

When my wife puts her hand on the doorknob, her coat over her arm, my children look up from what they are doing to ask: “Who will take care of us?”

The questions of children for their mothers are astonishingly the same as the questions the disciples were asking Jesus.

Today’s Gospel must be seen in the context of the questions the disciples were asking, very much like children. The Gospel according to St. John devotes 5 chapters to Jesus’ discussion with His disciples at the Last Supper. During the verses immediately preceding today’s Gospel the disciples ask:

“Where are you going?”
“Can we go with you?”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Why are you leaving?” and
“Who will take care of us?”

Complex answers?

Good mothers would never leave their children hanging. Their first and most natural instinct is to care for their children and to reassure them. Likewise, Jesus did not leave His disciples hanging. He gave them real answers to their questions, and today especially to, “Who will take care of us?”

“Who will take care of us?” — “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” [John 14:16]

But, this answer seems complex and sometimes we don’t quite get its meaning. Like children, we want simple answers and most of all reassurance that all will be ok. Today we should reflect on that reassurance. Our trust in Jesus, our love for Him and His word, and the presence of the Paraclete make everything more than ok; they guarantee our assurance.

Trust:

Reassurance starts with trust.

Infants work to shape their view of the world and their place in it right from birth. A strong foundation of trust, built in a loving and caring environment, is the first step in their reassurance, and leads to their becoming loving and generous adults. Children learn about love by being loved. Today we honor mom for her part and key role in teaching us to love. Children learn in the environment of community—”the family, mother and father, siblings, the extended family and Church.

We often equate success with independence, but those lessons from home, from the family and Church, are not about independence. Rather they are about being interdependent —“ being part of a community.

Children watch the model practiced by family, and this forms their understanding of the world. Their mannerisms and speech, their ability to love and to trust, all depend on what they see and hear at home and in the family of Church. This gift we give our children is the sense of reassurance, that they are cared for and protected in the world and beyond the world.

Mom is at the door and she is leaving. If her children do not have a sense of trust and community they will panic. There will be screaming and shouting, and most of all dread fear. However, if they have learned trust they know that mom won’t leave them alone and unprotected. They know that she loves them —“ and because of this they are reassured.

In the community of faith reassurance starts with the way Jesus built up the community of the disciples by showing them love, care, and compassion. The disciples received love right from its source. Jesus taught them to stand together as a community of believers, interdependent. They watched Jesus’ model, and this formed the disciples’ understanding of the world, their mannerisms and speech, their ability to love and to trust. All was and is built on Jesus’ way. Jesus reassures us. He tells us that we are in good hands within His community, within His way. He asks that the life of the Christian community teach and enable trust among all its members.

Keep my Word

Reassurance depends on love. Like moms everywhere, Jesus asked His children to: —keep my word—

Loving Jesus and keeping His word are completely connected. They are the requirement for our receiving the reassurance we crave.

What is essential in loving Jesus and keeping His word is not merely obedience. A child might detest the words that he is hearing and yet obey. A child might even detest his parents, but to avoid punishment, he obeys them.

In contrast to this, Jesus is talking about keeping His word in the sense of holding it dear. “Holding Jesus’ word dear,” implies that we hold a positive attitude towards that Word and the Word-giver. That is, we want more than anything to hear and obey Jesus out of love for Him and His word.

The result that flows from loving Jesus and keeping his word is that we are the protected; that we have reassurance. Jesus promised that by loving Him and keeping His word the Father will love us. The Father and Son will come to us. And, the Father and Son will make a dwelling with us. Loving Jesus and keeping His word draw God to us, and if God is with us none can stand against us.

I will send the Paraclete

Finally, reassurance depends on presence.

When mom is going out she might reassure her children by telling them that the babysitter is coming over. Now I’m sure that the babysitters mom chooses are capable, but every so often mom mentions that one babysitter —“ and her children leap up from what they are doing and rejoice. That babysitter reads to them, romps with them, acts out plays and makes chocolate chip cookies; she nurtures their young lives like a loving parent, and as long as she is with them they are not afraid.

I don’t know about the Holy Spirit being compared to a babysitter, but if you can imagine Jesus as a mother, then it may not be so hard to imagine the Spirit in this other role. The Spirit is after all the One who cares for the church in the interim between Jesus’ departure and return, the One who comforts, teaches, reminds and, yes, sometimes even romps with the sons and daughters of God.

The Holy Spirit is the presence that gives us reassurance:

—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.

The Greek word for the Advocate is Paraclete, literally —one who stands by our side.— Jesus didn’t leave us alone or hanging, but left the Spirit to be by our side, to be present, to reassure.

Who will take care of us?

To answer the disciples’ question then, “Who will take care of us?” requires us to engage in trust, to love by holding Jesus and His word dear, and to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete who is at our side. This effort is cooperative, interdependent, requiring us to be on the inside of community, part of family, part of Church.

When we think of our mom, we think of that key person who played such a magnificent role in our life. She prepared us for this way. She brought us to the Church. She taught us trust and how to live in the community of family. She taught us to love Jesus and to hold His word dear. She stood by our side — and by that model we can recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing. Teaching us in this way she prepared us for that most magnificent of events.

Where are we going?

St. John’s Revelation describes the new and heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem that will be present here on earth. By our trust, our love, our living in community, and with the guidance of the Paraclete, we are ever approaching this place.

I want you to think of this place, the place you are from —“ NY Mills, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, and imagine it as this heavenly city. Can you see the new Utica descending from heaven with gleaming walls —“

It gleamed with the splendor of God.
Its radiance was like that of a precious stone,
like jasper, clear as crystal.

And in this new city you will find God as the only temple, and its light will be from God with Jesus, the Lamb as its lamp. This is the road we are on. This is the promise for those who trust, for those who love Jesus and His word, who recognize the Paraclete standing at their side. This magnificence is what we will see, what all of our ancestors will witness when they rise. This is what our mothers want for us. We will all share together in the reassurance that will be forever. Amen.