WHOEVER LOVES ME WILL KEEP MY WORD

            John 14:23-29

            We are approaching the end of the Easter period and in today’s gospel Jesus is preparing the disciples for the day he will no longer be with them, the day they will be on their own to carry out His mission on this earth. Jesus prepares his disciples for this day because he is counting on them to tell others about the love of God the Father. Jesus is not only preparing them for His journey, his ascent into heaven, but as well as their journey out into the world as they will proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom.

            How did Jesus prepare his disciples for this event? There are a few verses in our gospel text that shed some light on this preparation. We have this verse which says: "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." Jesus is telling the disciples that God will send the Spirit which will bring to their remembrance all that He had taught them. For part of their preparation for his journey to heaven and their own journey out into the world is to find strength, to find expression, to find wisdom through the words of Christ. It is through the word, the remembrance of all what Christ had taught them that they will be empowered to cope with the departure of the master and empowered for their mission. Through that word they would find also the command to love one another, to uphold one another in faith.

            Saying that “whoever loves me will keep my word” means that the emphasis is on the communal dimension of love and fellowship with God and one another centered on the word of Christ. There is emphasis on the unity of the community as they are bound together in Christ through the Holy Spirit. In fact, as Jesus has already declared and now he is elaborating, the very mark of being disciples of Jesus, the very nature of this community that claims to follow Jesus and keep his words, is defined as love for one another.  That is which identifies us as Christians: love for one another. This love and unity among us is reinforced by the presence of the Holy Spirit who teaches and calls to remembrance who we are as Jesus' followers. We are not alone trying to make our own way; we are not orphans. We are guided by the presence of God in the Advocate just as Jesus promised. And if we receive the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, we will experience the peace of God.

            The farewell gift of Christ is his peace, not as the world gives; but as God does. There is no guarantee that the presence of the Holy Spirit will eliminate disagreements among those in the church. But there is a clear sense here that if a community is not governed by love through the work of the Holy Spirit, there will be no peace of the kind that Jesus gives. The peace of Christ is his permanent presence among us to give us strength to stand firm in times of hardship and trouble. It is love that unites us in a bond of fellowship with others.  We were created in love, for love, to be in a community of loving persons, just as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are united in love. Jesus speaks to his disciples of the inseparable bound of love between himself and the Father, and of their love for humankind. In Jesus we see the fullness of God's love to us.  Jesus promised to give us the best of gifts, the Holy Spirit as our Counselor and Helper to bring us safely through the challenges and adversities we must face in this life. Are we opened to him? How does the Holy Spirit help us?