Seventh Sunday of Easter, Cycle A

JOHN 17:1-11

THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER IS SORT OF AN IN BETWEEN TIME. IT RECALLS THOSE NINE DAYS BETWEEN THE ASCENSION OF JESUS INTO HEAVEN, AND THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. IT'S INTERESTING THAT OUR FIRST READING TODAY DESCRIBES THE EARLY CHURCH, MADE UP OF THE APOSTLES, SOME WOMEN, MARY THE MOTHER OF JESUS, AND HIS BROTHERS. I WONDER WHAT THAT WAS LIKE? PETER, WHO HAD BETRAYED JESUS, AND MARY, WHO STOOD AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS WHILE HE DIED. I WONDER IF PETER COULD LOOK MARY IN THE EYE? I SUSPECT MARY HAD LONG SINCE FORGIVEN HIM. AND SO THE SMALL BAND OF JESUS' FOLLOWERS ARE GATHERED IN PRAYER, WAITING.

BEING A CHRISTIAN IS ALWAYS ABOUT WAITING. I DON'T LIKE TO WAIT, AND I SUSPECT NO ONE REALLY DOES. IN SITUATIONS WHERE I KNOW I AM GOING TO HAVE TO WAIT, I ALWAYS BRING SOMETHING TO OCCUPY MY TIME – MY COMPUTER, A BOOK, MY CELL PHONE. TO SIMPLY WAIT SEEMS TO BE BEYOND MY ABILITIES.

BUT THE EARLY CHURCH BEGINS IN A WAITING STATE. JESUS HAS LEFT THEM, GONE TO HIS FATHER; AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE ADVOCATE HE PROMISED, HAS NOT YET COME.

WE ARE TURNED LOOSE INTO THE WORLD AS CHRISTIANS WITH OUR BAPTISM. I JUST FINISHED PARTICIPATING IN THE RCIA PROGRAM. THE PEOPLE WHO CAME INTO THE CHURCH HAD SPENT AN HOUR OR SO EVERY SUNDAY THINKING ABOUT THE FAITH; THEY HAD ATTENDED THE 9:30 MASS AND BEEN SURROUNDED BY THE REST OF US. ON HOLY SATURDAY THEY BRIEFLY MOVED TO THE CENTER OF ATTENTION, WHEN BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION AND FIRST EUCHARIST TOOK PLACE. AND NOW THEY HAVE JOINED US IN WAITING.

WHAT IS IT WE ARE WAITING FOR? WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT CAME UPON THE EARLY CHRISTIANS, IT MIGHT SEEM THAT THEIR WAIT WAS OVER. BUT IT WASN'T; WE ALL KNOW THAT THEY EXPECTED JESUS TO COME AGAIN SOON. IF WE GO BY WAY OF THE HISTORY OF THE SCRIPTURES, THE EARLIEST CHRISTIANS EXPECTED JESUS TO RETURN VERY SOON; LATER, AS THEY BEGAN TO DIE OF OLD AGE, SICKNESS, PERSECUTION AND ACCIDENTS, ST PAUL HAD TO REASSURE HIS FOLLOWERS THAT WHEN JESUS CAME AGAIN, NOT ONLY WOULD THOSE OF US WHO ARE ALIVE BE TAKEN UP, BUT SO WOULD THOSE WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP. EVEN LATER, THE CHURCH SEEMS TO HAVE SETTLED DOWN TO CHRONIC WAITING; JESUS WOULD COME AGAIN, BUT IT SEEMED MORE AND MORE LIKELY THAT IT WOULDN'T HAPPEN WHILE ANY OF US ARE ALIVE. THE LAST BOOK OF THE BIBLE, THE BOOK OF REVELATION, PUTS THE END OF TIME OFF IN THE DISTANT FUTURE SOMEWHERE.

DID YOU EVER HEAR THE LEGEND OF PRESTER JOHN? JESUS HAD SAID TO PETER, IN REFERENCE TO THE “BELOVED DISCIPLE”, SOMETHING TO THE EFFECT “WHAT IS IT TO YOU IF HE REMAINS UNTIL I COME AGAIN?” SO SOME PEOPLE TOOK THAT TO MEAN THAT JOHN, WHO MANY BELIEVED WAS THE BELOVED DISCIPLE, WOULD WANDER THE EARTH UNTIL THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS. PRESTER JOHN WAS THAT PERSON, KIND OF LIKE THE ANCIENT MARINER, CONDEMNED TO WALK THE EARTH UNTIL THE SECOND COMING. I DON'T THINK JESUS WOULD DO THAT TO ONE OF HIS APOSTLES, DO YOU?

ANYWAY, WE ARE WAITING. THERE IS A BRANCH OF THEOLOGY CALLED “ESCHATOLOGY”. WE STUDY WHAT THE SCRIPTURES TELL US ABOUT THE END OF TIME, ABOUT THE SECOND COMING. WE READ ABOUT THE NEW JERUSALEM, WHICH WILL REPLACE ALL HUMAN HABITATIONS. WE READ ABOUT HOW THE KINGDOM WILL BE AT THE END OF TIME WHERE THE POWERFUL WILL BE PULLED DOWN AND THE POOR ELEVATED, WHERE THE RICH WILL BE HUNGRY AND THE LOWLY WILL BE SATISFIED. ESCHATOLOGY LOOKS FOR SIGNS OF THIS GLORIOUS FUTURE IN OUR PRESENT. AND OUR CHURCH, THAT IS, YOU AND I, ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE EMBODIMENT OF ESCHATOLOGY, THE EVIDENCE OF THE PRESENCE OF THE KINGDOM EVEN NOW. JESUS SAID THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS WITHIN YOU .. AND YET IT ISN'T REALLY, IT ISN'T COMPLETE.

THAT'S THE POINT OF CHRISTIAN WAITING. BETWEEN BAPTISM AND DEATH, WE WAIT; WE WAIT FOR JESUS TO RETURN; WE WAIT FOR THE KINGDOM TO BE REALIZED IN OUR MIDST; WE WAIT FOR THE PEACE HE PROMISED, THE HOUSE WITH MANY MANSIONS THAT HE WENT TO PREPARE FOR US. BUT WE ALSO TURN INWARD BECAUSE HE HAS PROMISED THAT WHAT WE WAIT FOR IS ALREADY IN US. AND WE CERTAINLY HAVE THE EXAMPLE OF THE SAINTS WHO DISCOVERED THIS IN THEMSELVES, AND BEGAN TO BRING ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IN THE WORK THEY DID. SOME DID GREAT WORKS OF CHARITY; SOME FOUNDED RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS TO MAKE REAL WHAT THEY SAW IN THEMSELVES; SOME LIVED AS HUSBANDS AND WIVES, TOGETHER CREATING THE KINGDOM IN THEIR FAMILIES, TRULY A SUBLIME ACT OF LOVE, TO RAISE YOUR CHILDREN IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. AND THERE WERE THE MARTYRS, WHO WENT TO THEIR DEATHS WITH SONGS ON THEIR LIPS – THEIR WAITING WAS OVER! THEY TRUSTED IN THE LORD WHO HAD HEARD THE DYING THIEF ON THE CROSS GIVE WITNESS TO HIM, AND PROMISED THAT THAT DAY HE WOULD BE IN PARADISE WITH HIM.

OUR WAITING SHOULD NOT BE FILLED WITH DISTRACTIONS. IT'S SO EASY TO FORGET THAT WE ARE WAITING; THERE'S TELEVISION, SPORTS, WORK, HOBBIES, ALL THE DAY TO DAY THINGS THAT MAKE US FORGET WE ARE WAITING. AT THE SAME TIME, WAITING SHOULD NOT BE EMPTY; WE CAN'T JUST SIT AROUND TWIDDLING OUR THUMBS. WAITING, TO BE PRODUCTIVE, SHOULD BE OCCUPIED WITH BRINGING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN INTO BEING AT LEAST FOR OURSELVES AND OUR LOVED ONES.

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,OR THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS MENTIONED ABOUT 100 TIMES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. IT SEEMS COMPLICATED; BUT IT ISN'T. IT'S LEARNING TO LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY; IT'S LEARNING TO COMMIT TO MAKING DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS; IT'S LEARNING TO DIE TO SELF AND LIVE FOR OTHERS. IT ISN'T COMPLICATED, BUT IT'S NOT EASY, EITHER. IT IS BASICALLY THE PROCESS OF BECOMING ANOTHER CHRIST.

JESUS TALKS A LOT ABOUT GLORY IN TODAY'S GOSPEL. WHAT IS GLORY? THE HEBREW WORD, KABOD, MEANS HEAVINESS, WEIGHT; THE GREEK WORD, DOXO, MEANS BRILLIANT LIGHT. WHEN WE HEAR JESUS SPEAK ABOUT GLORY, WE MIGHT DEFINE IT AS MAKING SOMEONE'S PRESENCE FELT. HEAVINESS CONVEYS SOMETHING SUBSTANTIAL, ENDURING; AND BRILLIANT LIGHT FOCUSES US TO TAKE NOTICE. IF WE GLORIFY JESUS IN OUR LIVES, WE MAKE HIS PRESENCE FELT BY US AND BY THOSE AROUND US. JESUS GLORIFIED THE FATHER, AND THE RESULT WAS THAT THE FATHER WAS MADE KNOWN TO THE DISCIPLES AND THEIR FOLLOWERS, YOU AND I. AND THE WAY FOR EACH OF US TO SPEND OUR WAITING TIME IS TO GLORIFY JESUS BY BRINGING ABOUT HIS KINGDOM. HE HAS PROMISED THAT WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED, HE WILL BE THERE. LET US RESOLVE DURING THIS TIME OF WAITING TO MAKE HIS PRESENCE FELT, TO GLORIFY HIM.