Today’s Gospel (John 16:29-33) is the final portion of Jesus’ Last Supper farewell discourse (John 14:1-16:33), and it describes that the disciples finally came to believe in Jesus’ divine Christological nature (John 16:29-31). However, Jesus sternly foretold that the disciples would abandon him as he would begin his journey of passion to the Cross, though the Father never forsakes him:
Behold,
the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his
own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is
with me (John 16:32).
With these words, Jesus drew a contrast between the
Father and his disciples.
Even Peter told that he would never run away from
Jesus and would die with him (Matthew 26:33, 35//Mark 14:29, 31//Luke 22:33;
cf. John 13:37), Jesus knew that he was not able to die with him as foretold of
his three-time denial (Matthew 26:34//Luke 22:34//Mark 14:30). Jesus were aware
that his disciples would scatter away from him upon his entry on his path to
the Cross, as to fulfill Zechariah 13:7 (Matthew 26:31).
Jesus indicated that it would be not just Peter but
other disciples, as well, to deny him – though they finally came to believe in
him for his origin in God in heaven. This challenges us to examine not just
whether we believe but rather how strong our faith is. This also reminds that
the disciples’ belief in Jesus for his divine origin was not yet strong enough
to be unshakable, because they had not received the Holy Spirit, who can only
come upon us, after the completion of Jesus’ threefold glorification: his
death, resurrection, and ascension (cf. John 16:7).
As he became more keenly aware of the imminence of
his death on the Cross, Jesus drew his strength enough to endure his path of
passion to the Cross from his homoousios with the Father, his hypostatic union
with Him (John 10:30, 38). Even when Jesus he, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani ?”(My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?)(Matthew 27:46), citing Psalm 22:2, on the Cross, the Father did not
forsake him as He remained in him, as he in Him (i.e. John 10:38; 14:10-11, 20;
cf. 17:21). While he was truly condemned by the world and abandoned by his own
disciples, being crucified on the Cross, Jesus cried like a condemned criminal
to die, citing David’s cries to God to save him, facing tormenting enemies.
Jesus was forsaken by the world as a criminal because he shouldered all the sin
of the world as the Agnus Dei, qui tollis
peccata mundi (John 1:29), so that we may be saved. Not just to pigeonhole
on Psalm 22:2 but to read the entire Psalm 22 of David, you can see that Jesus
did not cite this Psalm because he felt the Father had forsaken him to the world’s
condemnation but to reflect his confidence in the Father’s saving power. For
example, David expressed his confidence in God in these words:
All
the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord; All the families of
nations will bow low before Him (Psalm 22:28).
When he cited Psalm 22:2, reflecting a cry of a
condemned criminal, Jesus remained confident as David expressed his confidence
in God victoriously salvific power in Psalm 22:23-32. Though he was condemned
by the world as a criminal to die, also to fulfill Isaiah 53:3-10, in citing
Psalm 22:2, Jesus never doubted the fact that the Father remain with him to
vindicate him to fulfill Isaiah 53:11-12; Psalm 16:10-11, so that God’s mighty
saving power, which vindicates the Son, raiding from the dead, would be made
known in all nations by the power of the Holy Spirit through his apostles later
(Matthew 28:19-20), as David remained confident with God’s saving power from
his enemies (Psalm 22:23-32).
Not even a moment, Jesus ever doubted the Father’s
constant presence with him.
In fact, earlier in public, Jesus already made it
clear that the Father’s constant presence with him as he revealed himself as His
ambassador:
The
one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what
is pleasing to him (John 8:29).
Even though Jesus was on earth, while the Father
remained in heaven, it did not mean that Jesus was separated from the Father.
Even he was on the Cross and cited Psalm 22:2, it does not mean that Jesus felt
being cut out of the Father just because the world condemned him for being the
Messiah.
As his hour to be condemned by the world – to start
his threefold glorification: his death by being lifted-up on the Cross,
resurrection by being lifted-up from the world of the dead, and ascension by
being lifted-up from the earth, knowing that he would be soon abandoned and
denied by his disciples, Jesus may also have wanted to contrast the truth that
the Father never forsakes him, by reiterating John 8:29 by saying:
But
I am not alone, because the Father is with me (John 16:32b).
In concluding his farewell discourse, Jesus said to
the disciples:
I
have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will
have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world
(John 16:33).
This rather makes the farewell discourse chiastic as
Jesus began the discourse with these words:
Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me
(John 14:1).
As the hour for Jesus to suffer and die drew nearer
and more imminent, once again, Jesus expressed his desire for his disciples not
to be troubled with fear and anxiety, as well as, anticipatory grief and grief,
by keeping their faith strong – though he knew that they just finally came to
believe that he truly came from the Father in heaven but their belief was not
yet firm enough to remain in him. What makes his concluding remark (John 16:33)
stand out, compared to his opening remark (John 14:1), is that he reasoned why
the disciples need to stay strong in faith by assuring of the victorious effect
of his resurrection, which he had already foretold (i.e. Matthew
16:21;17:23;20:19) and further explained (John16:16-24).
Today’s First Reading (Acts 19:1-8) describes how
Paul “upgraded” the growing faith community in Ephesus from the level of the
time of John the Baptist to the level of
the post-glorification of Jesus during an early phase of his third mission
journey (Acts 18:23-21:37), just as Aquila and Pricilla did so to Apollos in
Ephesus (Acts 18:24-28), after Paul had already left there to complete his
second mission journey (Acts 18:21).
Paul first came to Ephesus towards the end of his second missionary journey with Aquila and Pricilla, after making his Nazirite vow in Cenchrea, which is near Corinth, as sailing back to Syria (Acts 18:18-19). It seemed that Paul had wanted to visit Ephesus earlier on his second journey, but the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Jesus) prevented Paul, Silas, and Timothy, from going to preach in the Asia Minor province, in which Ephesus is (Acts 16:6). But, this time, Paul was able to visit Ephesus, a major city in the Asia Minor province. Paul debated with the Jews on Jesus in the synagogue but his stay in Ephesus this time was rather short (Acts 18:18:19-20). Before leaving Ephesus, Paul promised the faithful there, “I shall come back to you again, God willing”(Acts 18:21). It is where Paul left Aquila and Pricilla (Acts 18:19). By leaving Aquila and Pricilla in Ephesus, Paul must have trusted this faith-filled couple to take care of the matter of the nascent church there. And this led to bring Apollos on board to Paul’s missionary team through Aquila and Pricilla’s care (Acts 18:24-28).
As he began his third mission journey (Acts
18:23-21:37) from Antioch and came back to Ephesus, throughout the region of
Galatia and Phyrygia, where he had visited before, to strengthen the disciples,
while Apollos moved from Ephesus to Corinth (Acts 18:23; 19:1).
In the Gospel Reading today (John 16:29-33), we
learned that the disciples finally came to believe Jesus’s Christological divine
origin in the Father to make sense with all the signs performed by him and with
his threefold glorification but their faith (belief) was not firm enough to
withstand against fear and anxiety because they did not yet receive the Holy
Spirit. And through today’s First Reading (Acts 19:1-19), we learned that the
faith of the Ephesians was insufficient in its power until Paul returned to “upgrade”
it by bringing the Holy Spirit in the mighty name of Jesus.
Are you a believer on the level of the time of John
the Baptist time , the level of ante-baptism Jesus, or a believer on the level
of the post-glorification Jesus, the level of Pentecost?
If you are on the level of the time of John the Baptist
time, your faith is not fortified with the words of Jesus and confirmed with
the Holy Spirit.
First, John the Baptist came to set the stage for
Jesus’ public ministry. While he was baptizing with the water from the Jordan
River, John the Baptist was expecting Jesus to come. And he made it clear of
the coming of Jesus and the baptism with the Holy Spirit after Jesus’
appearance.
So, Jesus came to John, made himself appear in the
public to be baptized to be officially commissioned for his public ministry, as
commanded by the Father. As he came out of the water in his baptism, the Holy
Spirit descended on him to anoint, and the Father sent His message to confirm
His Son’s earthly mission’s beginning, reminding that he is His beloved Son.
Jesus himself also made reference to the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, figuratively, not just as to reiterate but to expound on
what John the Baptist foretold (John 14:16-18, 26-29; 15:26-27; 16:7-15). And,
now in this Paschal season, having past the solemn feast of Ascension, the
feast of Pentecost is drawing nearer to be baptized, once again, with the Holy Spirit,
because Jesus remains in us, as we in him, and just as the Father remains in
him, he in Him. Therefore, as the Father never leaves Jesus, neither Jesus
leaves us orphans, because another Parakletos
(Advocate) to assure of the constant presence of him with us and in us as the Parakletos.
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