Remember, as he was speaking of his departure, which is his ascension, on the night before his death, Jesus said:
If
you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He
will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth,
which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you
know it, because it remains with you and will be in you. I will not leave you
orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me,
because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my
Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes
loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to
him (John 14:15-21).
These words of Jesus tell us that he comes to us,
being in us, as we in him, as we love him, by keeping his commandments. He
comes to us and to be with us, being in us, as another Advocate, the Holy
Spirit, the Spirit of truth (John 14:16-17), while Jesus himself is the
Advocate (1 John 2:1). On that day, on the day when Jesus comes to us in the
Holy Spirit, as another Advocate, namely, Pentecost, we realize our oneness
with Jesus as his with the Father (We in him and he in us, as he in the
Father)(John 14:20; cf. 10:30, 38; 14:11; 17:21).
Our oneness with Jesus, as his with the Father, by
our observance f his commandments, is characterized with love that unites Jesus
with the Father, extended to unite us with him. And Jesus reveals himself to us
as we love Jesus by obediently observe his commandment.
And, Jesus also said:
The
Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach
you everything and remind you of all that I told you
(John 14:26).
Jesus continues to reveal himself, the truth, as he
is the truth, as well as the life and the way (John 14:6), he reveals himself
through the Holy Spirit, another Advocate, the Spirit of truth, after his
ascension.
And as peace be an integral element of the Holy
Spirit (Galatians 5:22), Jesus leaves us with his peace so that we do not let
our hearts be troubled with anxiety (John 14:27).
So, basically, Jesus expounded this through his
parable of the vine-branches unity (John 15:1-17).
In the parable, Jesus said:
Remain
in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless
it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the
vine, and you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear
much fruit, because without me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).
If
you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it
will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, and you bear much fruit
and become my disciples (John 15:7-8).
Jesus ,who is the way and the truth and life (John
14:6), is in us, as we in him (John 14:20), as in the Holy Spirit, another
Advocate (John 14:16-18). And this is because we remain in him as the branches
remain in the vine to bear fruit abundantly.
Then, Jesus further said:
As
the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my
commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and your joy may be complete (John 15:9-11).
Now Jesus reveals that remaining in him by observing
his commandments as he remains in the Father for keeping the Father’s
commandments means to remain in his love, as he remains in the Father’s love.
This is also how his joy is in us so that our job may be complete. Jesus now mentions first three elements of
the multifaceted fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22): love (John
15:9-10), peace (John 14:27), and joy (John 15:11), as indication of his
presence with us and in us, as we remain in him, when he comes to us (John
14:18, 28) as another Advocate, the Holy Spirit (John 14:14-17, 26).
And now, Jesus focuses on love in his commandments:
This
is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than
this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends
(John 15:12-13).
Here, among all the commandments that Jesus has
given, Jesus picks and focuses on his new commandment: love one another ,
exemplified by Jesus’ servant leadership demonstration (John 13:34). In reiterating
this new commandment, Jesus takes it to its highest level – bringing love to
its highest level: agape of
self-sacrifice, that he as the Good Shepherd is commanded by the Father to do
(John 10:11-18).
In concluding his parable of the vine-branches
oneness, Jesus said:
It
was not you who chose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear
fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may
give you. This I command you: love one another
(John 15:16-17).
Now that Jesus reveals clearly of his intent in
calling us to remain in him, in his love by keeping his commandments, while
making his words kept in us: to send us on our apostolic mission to bear love,
as fruit of our mission work, as the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Remember, he is departing, as he is going to the
Father (John 14:12b) by ascending. So, he wants us to carry out his works on
our apostolic mission even on a greater extent (John 14:12a). For this reason,
Jesus promises to be with us (John 14:18, 28), through another Advocate, the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth (John 14, 16-17, 26; 15:26).
In today’s Gospel Reading (John 15:26-16:4), Jesus
really directs his Last Supper farewell discourse (John 14:1-16:33) to our
commissioning before his departure through ascension and new birth into
apostolic life on Pentecost, as this is the week to celebrate the feast of the
Ascension of the Lord on Thursday (but on this coming Sunday in the US).
Once again, Jesus spoke of another Advocate that he
had already spoken of (John 14:16-17, 26):
When
the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth
that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning
(John 14:26-27).
The Advocate, another Advocate (John 14:16, 26), is
how Jesus the Advocate (1 John 2:1), comes to us upon his departure in
ascension (John 14:18, 28), as we remain in him and he in us (John 14:20; 15:4-5),
in his love (John 15:9-10).
Ever since he chose us, found us worthy for his
picks, Jesus has been with us, through his words and his Corporis et Sanguinis, namely, in the Sacrament o the Holy
Eucharist (cf John 6:45-59), as reflected in the two pillars of the Holy Mass:
the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. It is like moving on to the Concluding Rite
at Mass, getting ready to be sent with these words: Ite Misa est – go now as dismissed. We are getting ready to be
commissioned and sent out with the Holy Spirit to make testimonies to Jesus the
Christ.
Now Jesus reminds us warningly that we are to be
sent out on apostolic mission in the world that is rather hostile, rather than
being hospitable to us because of our oneness with Jesus. But, Jesus has told
everything this far (John 14:1-15:27)so that we may not let fear trouble us
(John 14:1, 27) and fall away (John 16:1). Jesus did not tell this warning
before as he was with us in person (John 14:4) but now tells us as he is about
to depart in ascension to the Father. Yet, he leaves his peace to us (John
14:27), as he, the Advocate (1 John 2:1), comes to us (John 14:18, 28)as anther
Advocate (John 14:16), who is the Spirit of truth (John 14:17; 15:26) to
continue teaching and reminding us (John 14:26).
So, though we may face deadly persecution (John
16:2-3), we do not let fear cut us from Jesus, our true vine (cf. John 14:1,
27; 13:15:6). We will continue to remain in Jesus, our true vine, as the
branches fruitful of love, the primary element of the fruit of the Holy Spirit
(Galatians 5:22), by steadfastly observing his commandments, especially his
commandment to love one another, as we love him (John 15:9-12), and we keep
this commandment even it may require to lay down life for others (John 15:13).
For this world that is ignorant of or hostile to
Jesus, we continue to do works of love that Jesus has started and is to
commission on us to be sent for with the Holy Spirit.
In today’s First Reading (Acts 16:11-15), Paul and
his companions, Silas and Timothy, are moving from Asia Minor to Macedonia as
Paul’s second mission journey continues on. Paul was thinking to continue his mission
through Asia Minor. But the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, prevented him
(Acts 16:6-7), to go further in Asia Minor. Given what Jesus said in John
14:16-18, 26, 28), it is indeed Jesus, in essence, directing Paul’s mission
journey. And, Jesus’ messenger appeared in Paul’s vision in Troas through a
Macedonian man, pleading to Paul to come to help Macedonian people (Acts
16:9-10). Because the Holy Spirit
teaches (John 14:26) and guides (John 16:13), and Jesus comes to us in the Holy
Spirit (John 14:18, 28), it was Jesus, in essence, to guide Paul’s second
mission to Macedonia. And Paul obeyed.
So, Paul, Silas, and Timothy arrived in the Roman
Province of Macedonia, on the other side of the Aegean Sea from the Roman
Province of Asia Minor. After spending
some time in Philippi, a Romanized city, named after the father of Alexander
the Great, Philipp II. It was where Roman soldiers stationed. From there, Paul
and his companions came to Thyatira and met Lydia.
Like Cornelius of Caesarea (Acts 10:1-8,17-48),
Lydia of Thyatira was a Gentile with strong faith, ready to receive the Holy Spirit,
and was baptized and become Christian with her husband (Acts 16:14-15). Lydia
and her husband were the first Europeans to be baptized and therefore became
Christian.
Remember, Paul, together with Silas and Timothy, has
brought Jesus and his words to Europe, from Jerusalem through Asia Minor, to
bear more fruit of love, so that more and more to be brought to him (John
12:32), to remain in him and to remain in his love (John 14:20; 15:4-5; 9-10),
regardless of where they are found by a missionary, because God does not
discriminate people open to receive Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:34;
Romans 2:11).
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