CHAPTER 12 — WHAT’S IN THE NAME?

When we use the name of Jesus, what does this mean? Paul tells us that we are to do everything in his name: 

"Whatever you do, whether in speech or in action, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col 3:17).  

Jesus himself told his disciples that anything we asked would be granted if we but asked the Father in his name (Jn 14:14). He said that whenever two or more are gathered in his name, he is present there among them (Mt 18:20). Are we to take these promises seriously? Do we but invoke the name Jesus and expect miracles to happen? Is there power in the name of Jesus of Nazareth? In the Acts of the Apostles, we read of seven sons of a Jewish high priest who tried to invoke the name of Jesus, as preached by Paul, over a man who was possessed by evil spirits. The man answered them,  

"Jesus I recognize, Paul I know; but who are you?"  

He sprang at them, overpowered them, causing them to flee naked and bruised from his house.

 

Clearly, there is more to the application of these Scripture passages than literal application. The key to understanding these verses lies in what the man possessed said. He knew Jesus and Paul, and, presumably, feared them. However, he had no fear of men who, despite using the name of Jesus, did not know Jesus. This makes sense when we remember the contexts in which Jesus made his promises and in which Paul admonished those to whom his letters were addressed. For Jesus was known and loved by his disciples, just as the receivers of Paul’s messages had come to know and love Jesus.

 

In order to use the name of Jesus, we must come to know and love him. It is not enough to know about Jesus. The would-be Jewish exorcists knew about Jesus, but, did they know him? So it is with us; do we know him? Over and over, in John’s Gospel, the evangelist seems to be trying to get this message across: the need for each person to know Jesus, and, through him, the Father.

 

In the first of his signs, Jesus changed ordinary water into choice wine, at a wedding (Jn 2:l-ll). This, according to John, revealed Jesus’ glory and led his disciples to believe in him. Belief in Jesus is the critical first step in coining to know him. And, belief in Jesus leads to eternal life: 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his. only son, that whoever believes in him may not die but many have eternal life" (Jn 3:13.).  

Further, 

"[T]he man who hears my word and has faith in him who sent me possesses eternal life" (Jn 5:24).  

To know Jesus is to hear his word and have faith in him. In addition, 

"If you live according to my teaching, you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:31-32). 

What is truth? That is what Pilate asked. Jesus told his disciples, although not Pilate,  

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14:6).  

To know Jesus is to know the truth, for he is the truth. To know him is to be his disciple. To be his disciple is to live according to his teaching. And, Jesus’ teaching is this: to love him and through him, God the Father, and to love one another. 

"I give you a new commandment; Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other, This is how all will know you for my disciples; by your love for one another" (Jn 13:34-35).

 

"He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me’, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and reveal myself to him. Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him; we will come and make our dwelling place with him" (Jn 15:21,23).  

What is Jesus’ commandment? 

"You will live in my love if you keep my commandments, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and live in his love. All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment; love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you" (Jn 15:10-14). 

For John, then, the name of Jesus means knowledge of Jesus, as a friend, as an obedient disciple. And the obedient disciple loves his brother and his sister. Faith in Jesus must manifest itself in love for one another. In the First Letter of John, this point is further emphasized: 

"Love, then, consists in this; not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and has sent his Son as an offering for our sins. Beloved, if God has loved us so, we must have the same love for one another" (1 Jn 4:10-11). 

And, 

"Whoever possesses the Son possesses life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not possess life. I have written this to you to make you realize that you possess eternal life – you who believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 Jn 4:2-13). 

For, 

"Eternal life is this; to know you, the only true God, and him you have sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3). 

To truly use the name of Jesus is to act in his name, to act in his person. At the same time, the Christian, doing and saying everything in the name of Jesus, possesses eternal life, life to the full. The second commandment states  

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain" (Ex 20:7). 

The Christian now acknowledges the Lordship of Jesus, and, with this, the commandment takes on even more profound meaning. For we are all called to use the name of Jesus, because we are all called to know him, to love him, and to serve him. Let us never us his name in vain; rather, let us come to know and love him with all our heart and mind and soul, to do everything in the name of Jesus.

CHAPTER 13

Introduction

CHAPTER 11 — JOURNEY FROM THE WILDERNESS INTO THE PROMISED LAND

Is the Fourth Eucharistic prayer, the celebrant prays: 

"Father, we acknowledge your greatness; all your actions show your wisdom arid love. You formed man in your own likeness and set.him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures… Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death, but helped all men to seek and find you. Again and again you offered a covenant to man, and through the prophets taught him to hope for salvation. Father, you so loved the world that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior." 

In this prayer, the Church alludes to the journey of the nation of Israel, to whom God offered the first covenant, on Mount Sinai. Further, the Church sees the journey of Israel as a foreshadowing of the Church’s own pilgrimage, indeed that of each individual Christian. In evoking the history of Israel, the Church reminds us that the journey of faith and holiness for each individual is. a struggle and prepares and nourishes the Christian for the long haul, by providing the Liturgy, the Sacraments, Sacred Scripture, and its teachings. For the committed Christian, the everyday struggle of life can be very burdensome and discouraging. Part of the frustration involves the lack of understanding of the Christian commitment by others, particularly other family members. Prayers for conversions, return to the Church, healing, and reconciliation sometimes seem to take a full lifetime to be answered. Even more frustrating for the Christian is the lack of apparent progress toward holiness in his or her own life. The particular flaws in one’s personality sometimes seem immune to correction; as Paul says: 

"What happens is that I do, not the good I will to do, but the evil I do not intend" (Rm. 7:19). 

The Christian may find a prayer like this emerging from within; "God, why don’t you go ahead and change me now? I detest this part of myself, this hideous weakness in my flesh. I’m ready, get it over with." Like the great saints, the pilgrim has reached that point of beginning to see the ugliness of sinfulness within, the enemy that is sin.

 

Why doesn’t God answer the prayer for "instant" change? If the contemporary person can get fast food, why not fast eternal food — instant healing and perfection and wholeness? The answer to this question is, in large part, wrapped in mystery: 

"’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,’ says the LORD. ‘As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts’" (Is 55:8-9). 

Nevertheless, in the history of Israel, one sees a hint of an answer. As recorded in the Book of Exodus, the watershed event of Israel’s history was deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, across the miraculously parted Red Sea. The deliverance was accompanied by a promise as part of the covenant of Mount Sinai – entry to a promised land, flowing with milk and honey. As is well known, of course, the newly freed slaves doubted God’s promise, and refused to cross into the promised land, for fear of the inhabitants. For this sin, Israel wandered in the desert- for forty years, until a new generation had replaced the doubters. Before the act of disobedience, however, God, speaking to Moses, said something of special relevance to the question at hand: 

"I will have the fear of me precede you, so that I will throw into panic every nation you reach. I will make all your enemies turn from you in flight, and ahead of you I will send hornets to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. But not in one year will I drive them all out before you; else the land will become so desolate that the wild beasts will multiply against you. Instead I will drive them out little by little before you, until you have grown numerous enough to take possession of the land" (Ex. 23:27-30). 

As the Fourth Eucharistic Prayer implies, there is recorded in the written history of Israel a growth in the knowledge of God, so that eventually a hope for salvation emerged. In addition, the Church recognizes that much of the Hebrew Scriptures can also be read in terms of their meaning for the Church today, and for even the individual, with appropriate discernment. The passage from Exodus appears to be a Scripture with value for those on pilgrimage today. Perhaps the trials and challenges of life, including the acceptance of one’s own shortcomings, are necessary before the promised land of holiness can be fully occupied. In other words, an immature, small nation of people, entering Canaan was not immediately capable of occupying the land: they had to grow into it. So it is for the Christian: the problems of life are to be dealt, with little by little; the enemies that are one’s own sinfulness and hurt must be vanquished one by one so as to be strong enough to prevent their return.

 

In the context of an inner interpretation of the passage from Exodus, the Christian can, perhaps, begin to more fully appreciate Paul’s Letter to the Romans, particularly the familiar passages 

"We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his decree" (Rom 8:28). 

The Christian can make all the human efforts possible to change, but ultimately the changes are in the hands of God, who in the fullness of time sent his only Son. Only he knows the right time for and the right of change each person needs.  

"This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Rise up, be off to the potter’s house; there I will give you my message. I went down to the potter’s house and there he was working at the wheel. Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his had, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Can I not do to you house of Israel, as this potter has done? says the LORD. Indeed, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel" (Jer 18:1-6). 

Let the prayer of each pilgrim be, "Lord, change me, mold me, reform me, in your time as you see fit, Jesus, according to the will of the Father. Amen."

 

CHAPTER 12

 

Introduction

 

CHAPTER 10 — MARRIAGE: INTIMATE LOVE AS A SIGN OF GOD’S CALL TO INTIMACY

The wedding by itself is not the totality of the sacrament of matrimony; the marriage itself is the sacrament. Matrimony, which begins with the wedding, is, by definition of the Church, a sacrament. Matrimony is, therefore, very important to God. From the beginning of the Scriptures, to the end, marriage is there: 

"The man said; ‘This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.’ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and the two of them become one body" (Gen 2:22-24).

 

"Let us rejoice and be glad, and give him glory! For this is the wedding day, of the Lamb; his bride has prepared herself for the wedding. She has been given a dress to wear made of finest linen, brilliant white" (Rev 19:7-8).

 

"Then I saw new heavens and a new earth. The former heavens and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw a new Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God, beautiful as a bride prepared to meet her husband" (Rev 21:1-2).

 

"The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come!’ Let him who hears answer "Come!" let him who is thirsty come forward; let all who desire it accept the gift of life-giving water" (Rev 22:17). 

Jesus was insistent on the inviolability of the marriage bond: 

"At the beginning of creation God made them male and female; for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become as one. They are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, let no man separate what God has joined" (Mk 10:6-9). 

Paul gave this insight, into the meaning of the text. from Genesis: 

"’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cling to his wife, and -the two shall be made one.’ This is a great foreshadowing? I mean that it refers to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:31-32). 

In the Ten Commandments, marriage is referred to repeatedly: Father and mother are to be honored, while adultery and even lust for another’s wife are both forbidden, For Jesus, the Law is summarized by the great commandment: 

"You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all your mind," and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt 22:37,39).  

Thus sacredness of marriage is part of the great commandment.

 

Throughout much of the proclamations of the prophets, the image of marriage was used to describe the covenant relationship of God, Yahweh, to the people of Israel. When Israel rebelled, Isaiah described her rebellion as adultery. The promise of the restoration of Zion is the promise of adornment of a bride. 

"For he who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the Lord of hosts. Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, called God of all the earth. The LORD calls you back, like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, A wife married in youth and then cast off, says your God. For a brief moment, I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back" (Is 54:5-7). 

The alternating theme of adultery and forgiveness is repeated, almost incessantly in the prophets: 

"But you, draw near, you sons of a sorceress, adulterous, wanton race!" (Is 57:3)

contrasts with 

"No more shall men call you ‘Forsaken,’ or your land ‘Desolate,’ For the LORD delights in you and makes your land his spouse. As a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you; And as a bridegroom rejoices in his bride so shall your God rejoice in you’ (Is 62:4-5). 

The theme is continued in Jeremiah: 

"I remember the devotion of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, Following me in the desert, in a land unsown" (Jer 2:1).  

And yet,

"Your wickedness chastises you, your own infidelities punish you. Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the LORD, your God, And showing no fear of me, says the LORD, the God of hosts. Long ago you broke your yoke, you tore off your bonds. ‘I will not serve,’ you said. On every high hill, under every green tree, you gave yourself to harlotry" (Jer 2:19-20). 

The prophets of Judah and Israel not only were called to proclaim the word of God as it came to them, their lives, as well, were to be prophetic… The names of Isaiah’s children were themselves explicitly prophetic, and Jeremiah was instructed by God not to take a wife: 

"Do not marry any woman? you shall not have sons or daughters in this. place" (Jer 16:1). 

It was, of course, Hosea, whose very life was to be a profound witness of God’s love for his faithless people.. Hosea was instructed to marry a prostitute: 

"Go, take a harlot wife and harlot’s children, for the land gives itself to harlotry, turning away from the LORD" (Hos 12). 

Despite the infidelity of Gomer, his wife, to Hosea, and Judah and Israel to Yahweh, both are to be sought back, and forgiven: 

"So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart…She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt. On that day says the LORD, She shall call me ‘My husband,’ and -never again ‘My baal’…. I will espouse you to me forever; I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD" (Hos 2;16,17-18,21-22).

 

"Then the people of Israel shall turn back and seek the LORD, their God, and David, their king; They shall come trembling to the LORD and to his bounty, in the last days. The number of the Israelites shall be like the sand of the sea, which can be neither measured nor counted. Whereas they were called ‘Lo-ammi’ [not my people], They shall be called, ‘Children of the living God’" (Hos 2:1-2). 

In the last book of the Prophets, Malachi, the metaphor of marriage as the covenant between God and his people is even more explicitly emphasized, particularly the sanctity of the marriage bond: 

"Have we not all the one Father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with each other, violating the covenant of our fathers? Judah has broken faith; an abominable thing has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. Judah has profaned the temple which the LORD loves and has married an idolatrous woman. May the LORD cut off from the man who does this both witness and advocate out of the tents of Jacob, and anyone to offer sacrifice to the LORD of hosts! This also you do: the altar of the LORD you cover with tears, weeping and groaning, because hs no longer regards your sacrifice nor accepts if favorably from your hand? And you say, ‘Why is it?’ – Because the LORD is witness between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have broken faith though she is your companion, your betrothed wife. Did he not make one being, with flesh and spirit: and what does that one require but godly offspring? You must then safeguard life that is your own, and not break faith with the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, And covering one’s garment with injustice, says the LORD of hosts,’ You must then safeguard life that is your own, and not break faith" (Mal 2:10-16). 

Malachi concludes with prophecy of the day of the coming of the LORD, "the great and terrible day" (Mal 3;23), a day of judgment, 

"Against the sorcerers, adulterers, and perjurers, those who defraud the hired man of his wages, Against those who defraud widows and orphans; those who turn aside the stranger, and those who do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts" (Mal 3:5). 

Marriage is very important to God. The frequency with which marriage is used as metaphor, as simile, as symbol of God’s love for his people and of the covenant, of his promise; the fact that God commanded the prophets to live their lives, married or single, as prophetic in and of themselves; and the lack of distinction between marriage of man and woman and the covenant love of God and his people in so much of Scripture implies that marriage is more than symbol, metaphor, and simile. Marriage is to be a sign of God’s love. In marriage, God is truly with us and in us. Marriage is truly a sacrament, the visible sign of invisible grace. The fully Christian marriage says not "God’s love is like this" but proclaims "This is a manifestation of God’s love"… 

"The Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us" (Jn 1:14).

 

"A man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body" (Gen 2:24). 

In the Christian marriage, the Word — Jesus –becomes flesh in the love man and woman have for one another. Thus, separation of husband and wife becomes separation of man and woman from God. Just as  

"Christ loved the Church"  

and

"gave himself up for her to make her holy, purifying her in the bath of water by the power of the word, to present to himself a glorious Church, holy and immaculate without, stain or wrinkle or anything of that sort,’  

so  

"Husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies" (Eph 6:25-28).  

In Christian marriage, truly sacramental marriage, Jesus lives in union of Word, Spirit, and flesh. In one’s spouse, the individual sees an image of the beloved – Jesus – and says,  

"Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth! More delightful is your love than wine! Your name spoken is a spreading perfume… For the king’s banquet my nard [precious perfume] gives forth its fragrance. My lover is for me a sachet, of myrrh to rest in my bosom… as an apple tree among the trees of the woods – so is my lover among men. I delight to rest in his shadow, and his fruit is sweet to my mouth. He brings me into the banquet hall and his emblem over me is love" (Song 1:2-3, 12-13, 3:3-4). 

and the beloved responds, 

"Ah, you are beautiful, my love….Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come!" (Song 1:15,2:10-13).  

In marriage comes the experience of eternal life promised to those who believe in the name of Jesus, in the self-giving love of husband and wife there exists a foretaste of heaven to come. The intimate love of married man and woman foreshadows the intimate love of God for his people.

 

CHAPTER 11

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 9 — PARABLES

So much of Jesus’s teaching to the people and to his disciples took the form of parables. Stories meant to get across only one or two points, parables challenge the listener to try to understand, to try to see things differently, to see with new eyes. The parable often surprises, even shocks. The hearer asks, "How could Jesus say such a thing? What does he mean?" It is to the believer that Jesus offers understanding and, more importantly, acceptance of the words he speaks. The believer is called to intimate relationship with the Son of God, and, therefore, the believer is called to making that relationship real and effective, by living it everyday. It is through meditation on Jesus’ teachings, including especially the parables, that the Christian can come to know more fully his God and the depth of relationship to which the believer is called.

 

Consider perhaps the most familiar parables, of the prodigal son and the good Samaritan. The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) challenges our innate sense of justice. For those of us who have made efforts to be faithful in our work, in the way we treat others, and in our frugality, the behavior of the younger son is inexcusable. We find it hard to believe that his father would so willingly welcome him back. Like the elder son, we are likely to be disappointed, even angry, that we, the "faithful" ones do not get the reward the repentant sinner gets.

 

The younger son even gets more than he himself had hoped for. He had planned to work as a hired hand, rather than to be treated like royalty. There is in us who identify with the elder son — something akin to jealousy of our younger brother, perhaps, a secret desire -to have lived the kind of life he lived, while he was away from our father’s house.

 

Yet, the honest believer, one who has looked in the mirror, also sees something of the younger son as well. Have we really been so faithful and just, even if we have never missed Mass? Even if we have generous with our time and treasure and offer our daily prayers? If we find ourselves judging our younger brother, we are failing to see the gift- that God offers to us as well as him.

 

The younger son has come to know the depth of love of the Father — his great mercy. Even before the younger son confessed his sinfulness to his father, he had been forgiven: 

"While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight -of him and was deeply moved. He ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him" (Lk 15:20).  

The elder son has not yet come to know his father in as great a depth – to know his mercy. In the older son’s defense, it is clearly better to live the faithful life, rather than the dissolute life, for, as the father says,  

"My son, you are with me always, and everything I have is yours" (Lk 15:31). 

However, even the faithful believer is called to know the Father; it is not enough to merely work out on the land. The honest Christian will acknowledge something of both brothers within, the faithful elder son plodding along in joyless external observance, and the younger, squandering the inheritance in sinfulness. The call of the Father is to reconcile "the opposites in faithfulness to the third Son – Jesus – receiving the forgiveness ‘that leads to life and relationship with him, the ideal brother, and his Father.

The younger son learned something of the mercy of the Father, yet, can’t we assume that the morning after the big party that he, too, must join his older brother in the fields. We would hope that the elder son, too, would have learned something, to be as merciful to his brother as his father and to view his father in a different light.

 

In the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37), the importance of the cultural setting of the time cannot be overlooked. Like the parable of the prodigal son, however, we can benefit by putting ourselves, in the place of every character in this story. The priest and the Levite are much like the elder son, in their concern about outward appearances, and even worse in their consequent hypocrisy. So often are we, too, hypocrites, hoping that God won’t notice that which we do not want noticed by others. Externals seem so important to us.

 

We can identify with the victim, as well, in our own hurt, like the younger son, perhaps even something of our own sinfulness may have left us open for attack by robbers. Were we in too much of a hurry, avoiding the company of others, leaving ourselves unprotected? Even in this instance, perhaps, we may be guiltless, but were there other times in which, in justice, we deserved to be treated in such a way. And, how about the robbers? When are we, too, totally savage in our exploitation of others, rich or poor?

Can we identify with the stranger, the Samaritan? Do we reach out to the hurting, bind up their wounds, take them to the inn? There might even be times in which we are, truly, a good Samaritan, but we fail to acknowledge our own giftedness in this way. The parable ends there, or does it? For the Samaritan has promised to return. Do we fulfill our commitments, following through? It is often not enough to provide the one-time help, sometimes we need to continue our assistance. We need to become deeply involved; perhaps we are called to an intimate relationship with another human being, to share their hurts, to nurse them back to health, spiritual as well as physical. Love isn’t just a day; it- goes on and on.

 

In putting ourselves in the place of each person in the parables, we might try going further, and realize that the extent to which we can identify with all of them is an indication of the fragmentation that exists within us. Those parts of us which are robber, victim, priest and Levite, younger dissolute son and older joyless son, need to be integrated — made whole by the growth and ministry of the underdeveloped good Samaritan and loving father within us. The hurt and broken parts of us need to be nursed and healed; they are not to be ignored. The dissolute parts need to be confronted with personal responsibility while the joyless parts need to be stirred to joyful life. At the same time, the unsavory past we have lived needs to experience reconciliation with not only the Father in heaven, but the father within; we need to forgive ourselves. The robbers need incarceration and rehabilitation and, perhaps most important, the inner priest and Levite need to humble themselves. It is the priest and Levite, in effect, who are most needed to begin the healing process. The prideful part of the person needs to acknowledge the fragmentation, hurt, and sinfulness within. Until that happens, wholeness remains unattainable.

 

Each character in the parables is both within and without, to be encountered on the outside and within the private, secret places inside. Those who need Jesus are all around us and include us. We are to bring Jesus to others and accept him into ourselves. The parables of Jesus lead us to a vision of what is and what might be. We look into them as into a mirror which reflects the reality of sin, brokenness, and incompleteness in our lives, and yet, as a mirror that gives us a glimpse of what might be – of what

-can be. When we accept God’s mercy and offer it to others, we come that much closer to the kingdom in which we can truly relate to Jesus as brother and to his Father as our Father.

 

CHAPTER 10

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 8 — LORDSHIP

In our profession of faith and in our prayers, we proclaim that Jesus is Lord! He is the Lord of all creation, Lord of the Church, and, if we so choose, he is the Lord of our lives.

 

For those of us who have made real the commitment of our baptism and confirmation, so that Jesus is indeed Lord of our lives, there is a profound response to hearing his Lordship proclaimed. The human spirit is lifted as the divine Spirit carries the words to our ears, into our minds and hearts. Consider the extraordinary hymn which Paul included in his letter to the believers at Philippi: 

"Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, So that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father; JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!" (Phil 2:6-11). 

The passage begins with recognition that by the Incarnation, Jesus, the Son of God, humbled himself by becoming man, and was lowered even further by submitting to the awful humiliation of the Passion, cross, and death. The hymn builds to a crescendo, with the astounding climax of the whole Christ event; that all would, upon the fulfillment of creation, proclaim the Lordship of Jesus.

 

The individual believer might/ask himself or herself how they respond to this passage. Did they feel a participation, even identification, with the life of Jesus, as Paul has condensed it? Is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus a distant event, like the faded memory of a story from childhood? Or, is it close and immediate?

 

At the crescendo, is the believer immersed in the music, wrapped up in the profound harmonies and disharmonies of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice? And then, does the believer experience the rapid elevation as the extent and significance of Jesus’ exaltation is described? Not only does Jesus gain salvation for all believers, he also gains Lordship of all creation by his sacrifice.

 

For the believer who indeed does experience great inner movement with this hymn, it might be worthwhile to ask one more question: Why does the believer experience such an emotional response? That is, why is one so moved by the simple proclamation; "Jesus is Lord!"? There is for many believers this simple answer to the last question; "It is not so much that I believe Jesus did all these things and that God the Father exalted him as a result, as it is that this man, who did so much and suffered so profoundly, the Son of God, is also someone I know. I know Jesus personally; he is my friend, my best friend. He is not only Lord of all and Lord of my life, he is also my brother. He gave his own mother to me, and, wonder of wonders, he made me an adopted son or daughter of his own Father, the God of all creation."

 

For many people, to know a prominent person is s great honor. To be able to say, "my friend the mayor", or "I was just talking with the bishop the other day…" such a privilege is quite elevating, if not inflating. Yet most of us never reach the point in which we really know anybody truly "important" in the eyes of the world. However, the believers who know Jesus have a friend – a brother – who knows them better than anyone else knows them. He is a person who cares more about them that any other.

 

In contemporary America, the Lordship of Jesus is not exactly central to the outward visible life we all lead. It is difficult to see in the rush of everyday living, in the material focus of our culture, any interest in the spiritual. To live in this life and time and yet proclaim the Lordship of Jesus seems almost preposterous. It almost seems as if one must leave the world of the everyday in order to allow his Lordship to happen, so that the kingdom might indeed become visible. While Paul’s hymn certainly implies that the universal acknowledgment of Jesus as Lord is a future event, when the universe reaches fulfillment and God’s plan is complete, the fact is that the hymn says "Jesus is Lord", not "Jesus will be Lord" – that is, his Lordship is not to await the final revelation. No, his Lordship is NOW, in the everyday.

 

The kingdom is now, even though it remains unfulfilled. The kingdom is among us now. Can we see evidence of his Lordship? The kingdom which Jesus has begun is not an artificial kingdom, separate and distinct from the rest of creation. Rather, the kingdom is present within creation, and that our knowledge is imperfect, nevertheless, with the right kind of Spirit-opened ears and eyes we can hear the groans and see the need we all have for Jesus. The groans are everywhere, and not just in the obvious places – starving children, broken marriages, untreated illness, and the like – but in the everyday secular world.

 

In contemporary America, daytime and evening soap operas present cycle after cycle of people seeking after love, money and more money, and power. Yet, what these tales clearly illustrate, day after day, week after week, is an acute lack of peace and joy. The people of Dallas, Dynasty, and Santa Barbara are obviously very "wealthy", very "beautiful", very "successful", and very unhappy (no quotes). The popularity of these programs and their like (although none of them lasts forever) probably is a manifestation of the indistinct mirror into which we look, yet they are still unreal, are they not?

 

Consider another essential companion to American life in the eighties; advertising. The U.S. Army says; "Be all that you can be." A premium beer assures us, "You can have it all." The low-calorie beer drinker is reminded to make sure he asks for the right light. Not too long ago, the phone company urged us, over and over, to "Reach out and touch some one". Finally, a prominent soft drink was the one to buy because "It’s the real thing". What can be said to all this? Only in Jesus can you truly "Be all that you can be". And,

Jesus is the ultimate light. Jesus is the Lord of all creation, and he gives all of it to you; "You can have it all". Contemporary advertising identifies and cultivates our superficial needs, yet that which is on the surface is still telling us something about what is on the inside; the surface describes the shape of the vessel. Yet, satisfaction of the superficial appeal doesn’t, last forever. If we want to reach out- and touch someone, we now need to go through two or three different companies. Ma Bell is no more. And, what about "the real thing"? It, too, is gone, lost in "the confusion of competion for fickle tastes in soft drinks. Yet, the Real Thing, Jesus, lasts, and, he is from the beginning, what we have heard, what’ we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have reached out and touched – the word of life.

 

So often, Jesus warned us not to judge others; Paul refused to judge himself. Jesus told us to look for him in the hungry and thirsty, in the naked and the imprisoned. The groaning of all creation is there for us to hear and see their source. The groaning of our distractions with the things of this world, even our abject sinfulness as we neglect or worse, exploit, our fellow humans, is, in a way, the sound of the wind of the Spirit blowing across the opening of the vessel, trying to enter in more completely. Oh, to open the eyes of the blind to see what it is they are really groping for! Jesus said that the reason he came was to give believers life to the full. In other words, he brought not only eternal life, which begins when we enter heaven; he brought eternal life which begins now, because the kingdom is now. And what is eternal life?  

"Eternal life is this; to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3).  

To acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus, then, is to come to know him, and to know him in all of his creation. Then, one can proclaim from the depths of the heart, "JESUS IS LORD!"

 

CHAPTER 9

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 7 — THE PROPHETS OF TODAY: II

On the road to Emmaus… this vignette, in the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, of two downcast disciples encountering the risen Lord, has repeatedly captured the imagination of Christians since, as they have reflected on their own journeys away from life, until they encounter the man, Jesus, who brings them back to true life. As part of his revelation to the two disciples,  

"he said to them, ‘What little sense you have! How slow you are to believe all that the prophets have announced! Did not the Messiah have to undergo all this so as to enter into his glory?’ Beginning, then, with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted for them every passage of Scripture which referred to him" (Lk 24:25-27). 

After Jesus was recognized by the two, as he broke the bread,  

"they said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning inside us as he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?’" (Lk 24:32). 

Like the woman at the well (Jn 4), isn’t it probable that what the two disciples experienced on the road was not just an understanding of Scripture and how it related to the experience of Jesus, fulfilling prophecy, but as it related to their own experience in life, with a recognition of their own places in salvation history, as Jews and as individual human beings?

 

At Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles could see readily the significance of the descent of the Spirit. Forty days earlier, on the day of the resurrection and, incidentally, the day of Emaaus, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them, 

"’Recall those words I spoke to you when I was still with you: everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and psalms had to be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures’" (Lk 24:44-45). 

Peter saw the outpouring at Pentecost with eyes open to the meaning of the Scriptures: 

"[I]t is what Joel the prophet spoke of: ‘It shall come to pass in the last days,’ says God, ‘that I will pour out a portion of my spirit on all mankind: Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. Yes, even on my servants and handmaids I will pour out a portion of my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy’" (Acts 2:16-18). 

We are still in the last days, the time of uncertain duration between the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost and the return of Jesus at the end of time. Fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy in our own day is also to be expected: 

"Do not stifle the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test everything; retain what is good" (1 Th 5:19-21);

 

"Seek eagerly after love. Set your hearts on spiritual gifts – above all, the gift of prophecy" (1 Cor 14:1).  

Within the Church, we might ask whether we are seeking after prophecy, and accepting it when we find it — among the sons and daughters, the young men and the old men. And, what of the servants and the handmaids – those outside the formal Church? During his public ministry, some of the strongest professions of faith in Jesus came from non-Jews and from Jews of little or no standing. The woman at the well was Samaritan, living in an adulterous relationship, and a woman. Yet she returned to her village saying,  

"Could this not be the Messiah?" (Jn 4:29).  

The centurion told Jesus, 

"I am not worthy to have you under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will get better" (Mt 8:8).  

Jesus responded with amazement,  

"I assure you, I have never found this much faith in Israel" (Mt 8:10).  

Consider the woman with the hemorrhage:  

"’If only I can touch his cloak,’ she thought, ‘I shall get well’. Jesus turned around and saw her and said, ‘Courage, daughter! Your faith has restored you to health’" (Mt 9:21-22). 

Something in their experience of Jesus, led them to respond to him in faith, hope, and love. They were, by their actions, making almost conscious prophetic statements. Jesus’ words and actions bore witness to him, along with the encounters of so many of the outcast, powerless, and sinful people with him. So, too, did even the demons: 

"What do you want of us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – -the holy one of God!" (Mk 1:24). 

To his opponents Jesus had a different kind of response: 

"The Pharisees and Sadducees came along, and as a test asked him to show them some sign in the sky. He gave them this reply; ‘In the evening you say, ‘Red sky at night, the day will be bright’; but in the morning, ‘Sky red and gloomy, the day will be stormy.’ If you know how to interpret the look of the sky, can you not read the signs of the times?’" (Mt 16:2-3). 

Upon his final entry into Jerusalem, the cry of the crowd of disciples was challenged by the Pharisees: 

"’Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He replied, "If they were to keep silence, I tell you the very stones would cry out’" (Lk 19:39-40). 

Should not the Christians of today be actively looking for the prophetic in the signs of the times, listening for stones that shout? The leaders of the Church have been calling for that recognition, in the murder of the unborn, the oppression of the poor, the plight of the starving, the discrimination against minorities and women. The Lord hears the cry of the poor and calls us to respond to them. Yet, the kind of response that we think we must make is largely external and structural. There is also the inner change that we are called to, the change of heart. Can we hear this in the voices of today, as well – in the words of the servants and handmaids? 

"Yes, we know that all creation groans and is in agony even until now" (Rom 8:22). 

Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, let us attune our ears to hear the groaning and open our eyes to the light dawning upon us.

 

CHAPTER 8

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 6 — EMPTY

Jesus began his public ministry proclaiming the good news: 

"This is the time of fulfillment. The reign of God is at hand! Reform your lives and believe in the gospel!" (Mk 1:15). 

Change is the key word that describes the response Jesus calls for. Yet, change is very difficult for each person. So often, in fact, it seems as if only the overpowering effect of circumstances seems to prompt the necessary response. Only when a situation becomes so intolerable or when all other options have been played-out does the possibility of change finally seem to be accepted. Thus, the attitudes that say "I can’t change" or "I won’t change" are themselves what must be altered. In stubbornness or in ignorance, change seems to be the last refuge of the person suffering from awareness of his or her own mortality. And, it is in the suffering that the person finally becomes aware of the deep needs within that are crying for change. Often denied or overlooked, these needs finally assert themselves in crisis, compelling the person to finally confront the need for change.

 

In the first three Gospels of the New Testament, there are a number of encounters of people with Jesus that are remarkable in their drama and depth of feeling. There is, for example, the episode of the woman with a hemorrhage, sandwiched in the middle of the cure of Jairus’ daughter: 

"Now when Jesus had crossed back to the other side again in the boat, a large crowd gathered around him and he stayed close to the lake. One of -the officials of the synagogue, a man named Jairus, came near. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and made this earnest appeal: ‘My daughter is critically ill. Please come and lay your hands on her so that she may get well and live.’ The two went off together and a large crowd followed, pushing against Jesus.

 

There was a woman in the area who had been afflicted with a hemorrhage for a dozen years. She had received treatment at the hands of doctors of every sort and exhausted her savings in the process, yet she got no relief; on the contrary, she only grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and put her hand to his cloak, ‘If I just touch his clothing,’ she thought, ‘I shall get well.’ Immediately her flow of blood dried up and the feeling that she was cured of her affliction ran through her whole body. Jesus was conscious at once that healing power had gone out from him. Wheeling about in the crowd, he began to ask, ‘Who touched my clothing?’ His disciples said to him, "You can see how this crowd hems you in, yet you ask, ‘Who touched me?’ Despite this he kept looking around to see the woman who had done it. Fearful and beginning to tremble now as she realized what had happened, the woman came and fell in front of him and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you. Go in peace and be free of this illness.’

 

He had not finished speaking when people from the official’s house arrived saying, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher further?’ Jesus disregarded the report that had been brought and said to the official? ‘Fear is useless. What is needed is trust.’ He would not permit anyone to follow him except Peter, James, and James’ brother John. As they approached the house of the synagogue leader, Jesus was struck by the noise of the people wailing and crying " loudly on all sides. He entered and said to them; ‘Why do you make this din with your wailing? The child is not dead. She is asleep.’ At this they began to ridicule him. Then he put them all out. Jesus took the child’s father and mother and his own companions and entered the room where the child lay. Taking her hand he said to her, ‘Talitha, koum,’ which means, ‘Little girl, get up.’ The girl, a child of twelve, stood up immediately and began to walk around. At this the family’s astonishment knew no bounds. He enjoined them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat" (Mk 5:21-43).

 

In this passage are compressed some of the greatest human emotions; a large crowd awaiting more miracles, more words from the Teacher, more of his presence; a lonely, very ill woman, at the end of her resources, grasping for one last chance; and a religious leader, his family, and friends awaiting the death of a little girl, then mourning her apparent death. All three Synoptic Gospels record both these episodes in the same way, although with various details; the healing of the woman happens as Jesus advances towards the little girl. It is curious as to why the three Gospels each preserved these two episodes together; a number of other miracles and encounters are each recorded by the three evangelists, although in various sequences. Yet, the healings of the woman and the girl remain interweaved. Perhaps one explanation for the preservation of their linkage can be sought in remembrance of one of the more common images of Old Testament prophecy: 

"My grief is incurable, my heart, within me is faint. Listen! the cry of the daughter of my people, far and wide in the land! Is the LORD no longer in Zion, is her King no longer in her midst? Why do they provoke me with their idols, with their foreign nonentities? ‘The harvest has passed, the summer is at an end, and yet we are not safe!’ I am broken by the ruin of the daughter of my people. I am disconsolate; horror has seized me. Is there no balm in Gilead, no physician there? Why grows not new flesh over the wound of the daughter of my people? Oh, that my head were a spring of water, my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night over the slain of the daughter of my people!" (Jer 8:18-23)

 

"Let my eyes stream with tears day and night, without rest, Over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound. If I walk out into the field, look! those slain by the sword; If I enter the city, look! those consumed by hunger. Even the prophet and the priest forage in a land they know not. Have you cast Judah off completely? Is Zion loathsome to you? Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed? We wait for peace, to no avail; for a time of healing, but terror comes instead" (Jer 14:17-19). 

When Jairus says "My little, daughter is critically ill", his words go beyond the daughter of his flesh. As leader of the synagogue, we might infer that the evangelist also means daughter Israel, too, is critically ill. This conclusion is strengthened with recognition that the woman had suffered twelve years without relief, and Jairus’ daughter is a girl of twelve. Both are suggestive of the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

The first passage from Jeremiah could well describe much of the personal feelings of Jairus as he helplessly watches the deteriorating condition of his daughter. Incurable grief and a fainting heart, as he hears the cry of the girl. "Where is the Lord?" he cries, and, indeed, Jesus is at the time not in Galilee. Broken, disconsolate, filled with horror, where is the physician? At the same time we imagine the condition of the girl – and the woman, too. The incurable wound, the hemorrhage which will not heal, perhaps consumed by hunger.

 

The woman, Mark tells us, had exhausted all of her savings in seeking assistance from the physicians of her day, with no balm, no healing. No doubt the leader of the synagogue, too, had exhausted all of his resources, including the prayers of the people, to no avail. The woman, finally, had to give up her pride – which we can be sure of; she didn’t want Jesus to know. When he detects the healing power going forth and confronts her, her response is one of fear and trembling. Jairus was forced to go beyond the ritual and the tradition in order to seek healing. He fell at Jesus’ feet, something totally improper for a religious leader to do. He, too, humbled himself to the man who lacked traditional authority.

 

How often do we seek that which we need most and try to secure it through our own efforts? A fairly common question we hear -these days applies to those of us active in ministry: Are we working for the Lord, or are we doing the Lord’s work? So often, like the story of Mary and Martha, we appear to be more interested in somehow earning our way into the kingdom, or paying for the right through our weekly offering, rather than seeing that what Jesus requires more than our work and our savings is a commitment of ourselves, to him – to be open to change.

 

In the time of Jeremiah and in the time of Jesus, we can speculate as to how many daughters and sons of Israel recognized the existence of an incurable wound and their need for healing. Did the leader of the synagogue himself realize what he was saying about his daughter applied to Israel as well?

"I opened to my lover – but my lover had departed, gone. I sought him but I did not find him? I called to him but he did not answer me. The watchmen came upon me as they made their rounds of the city? They struck me, and wounded me, and took my mantle from me, the guardians of the walls. I adjure you daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my lover – What shall you tell him? – that I am faint with love" (Song 5:6-8). 

To hear the Good News is to acknowledge the need for good news – that one already knows the bad news – of the existence of the mortal wound of sin in the heart of the individual and in the soul of humankind. In the blindness that seems to accompany each person through life is the lack of awareness of the incurable wound, the persistent hemorrhage. The vibrant daughter within lies on her couch, slowly and painfully dying while the outside remains unaware until the pain and grief become more than one can bear,  

"When Israel was a child I loved him, out of. Egypt. I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, Sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet, it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love? I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer" (Hos 11:1-4).  

To change requires one to humble oneself, even as the LORD describes his ministry to Israel through the words of Hosea: "I stooped to feed my child". As Paul says: 

"Your attitude must be that’ of Christ; Though he was in the form of God, he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and took the form of a slave, being born in. the likeness of men. He was known to be of human estate, and it’ was thus that he humbled himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross! Because of this, God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name above every other name, So that at Jesus’ name every knee must bend in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God the Father; JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!" (Phil 2:5-115).  

Interestingly, at the close of this marvelous hymn, Paul also writes:

"So then, my dearly beloved, obedient as always to my urging work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation, not only when I happen to be with you but all the more now that I am absent." (Phil 2:12).

Most other English translate the Greek equivalent of "work with anxious concern to achieve your salvation" as "work out your salvation with fear and trembling". The woman with the hemorrhage, after humbling herself to touch his clothing, is described as "Fearful and beginning to tremble…" (Mk 5:33). Humility and its accompaniment, fear and trembling, are necessary for us to come more closely to the Lord, to have our incurable wound healed. Even though,  

"Fear is useless. What. is needed is trust" (Mk 5:36),  

we need not be afraid to show our fear and trembling to the Lord, for in the showing of it, we show forth our faith:  

"Daughter, it is your faith that has cured you. Go in peace and be free of this illness" (Mk 5:34).

 

CHAPTER 7

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 5 – WHO ARE THE PROPHETS? WHERE ARE THE PROPHETS?

As part of his prophetic vision, the prophet Joel saw that the office of prophet of the Lord would at some future time be no longer limited to a few chosen men, but, rather, would extend to all: 

"Then afterward I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind, Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; Even upon the servants and the handmaids, in those days, I will pour out my spirit" (Jl 3:1-2). 

Peter, at Pentecost, saw in the descent of the Spirit the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. Sons and daughters are to prophesy — all will have the opportunity to share in the gifts of the Spirit. But, where is prophecy? Who among us — we who call ourselves Christian; who is prophesying? In what way can all be led to speak in the name of the Lord, to know the mind of God? While there are certainly many ways in which prophecy may occur, it seems apparent that most Christians do not see themselves as prophets. It can be suggested, however, that each Christian can come to know the mind of God and to speak in his name. Indeed, this is implied by Paul:  

"Seek eagerly after love. Set your hearts on spiritual gifts — above all the gift of prophecy… I should like it if all of you spoke in tongues, but I much prefer that you prophesy" (1 Cor 14:1,5). 

There is one aspect in the way that the individual comes to know the mind of God which can lead to prophecy, a way that may be one of the most important for it occurs in the living experience of the individual person. We particularly find examples of this in the prophets of Israel and Judah.

 

Ordinarily, we think of prophesy in Old Testament terms, emerging from a grand mystical vision. Isaiah’s vision (Is 6:1-8, quoted in the second chapter) is an excellent example, as is Jeremiah’s call (Jer 1:4-10, also quoted in chapter two). The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel begins with: 

"In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens opened and I saw divine visions" (Ez 1:1).  

Ezekiel sew a huge cloud with flashing fire, from the midst of which something gleamed like electrum; figures, resembling four living creatures, each with four faces – of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle; wheels on the ground, with the sparking appearance of chrysolite; and, above the firmament over their heads something like a throne, looking like sapphire, on which was seated one who had the appearance of a man, surrounded with splendor like the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day (Ez 1:4-27). 

"Such was the vision of the likeness, of the glory of the LORD" (Ez 1:28). 

Despite the unusual, even extraordinary manner in which the prophets first encountered God, it is apparent, from study of their prophecies, the times in which they lived, and their own lives, that the prophetic visions were not unconnected with their personal lives. Israel and Judah were in constant danger from surrounding neighbors, a danger magnified by their lack of faithfulness to God. The prophets saw this in a particularly clear way, and an inner prompting experienced in visions and words resulted in their prophetic proclamation. They also saw in the everyday event a message from God, for his people. They had a visionary ability to go beneath the surface, to see a deeper reality. Jeremiah was especially gifted in this way: 

"This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Rise up, be off to the potter’s house; there I will give you my message. I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. Whenever the object of clay which he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making of the clay another object of whatever sort he pleased. Then the word of the LORD came to me: ‘Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?’ says the LORD, ‘Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel. Sometimes I threaten to uproot and tear down and destroy a nation or a kingdom. But if that nation which I have threatened turns from its evil, I also repent of the evil which I threatened to do’" (Jr 18:1-9).  

The prophet often found himself doing strange things: 

"The LORD said to me; Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water. I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on. A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus; Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Parath; there hide it in a cleft of the rock. Obedient to the LORD’S command, I went to the Parath and buried the loincloth. After a long interval, he said to me; Go now to the Parath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there. Again I went to the Parath, sought out and took the loincloth from the place where I had hid it. But it was rotted, good for nothing! Then the message came to me from the LORD: Thus says the LORD; So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem. This wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts, and follow strange gods to serve and adore them, shall be like this loincloth which is good for nothing. For, as close as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so had I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the LORD; to be my people, my renown, my praise, my beauty. But they did not listen" (Jr 13:1-11). 

It is not clear that the prophets always understood the nature of their actions, until later: 

"In the year the general sent by Sargon, king of Assyria, fought against Ashdod and captured it, the LORD gave a warning through Isaiah, the son of Amoz: Go and take off the sackcloth from your waist, and remove the sandals from your feet. This he did, walking naked and barefoot. Then the LORD said; Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall the king of Assyria lead away captives from Egypt, and exiles from Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered. They shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Ethiopia, their hope, and because of Egypt, their boast. The inhabitants of this coastland shall say on that-day, ‘Look at our hope! We have fled here for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria; where can we flee now?’" (Is 20:1-6). 

Once the prophet, responded to the call of the LORD, the commitment was complete, and an inner law began to operate, requiring that the prophet not only proclaim the word of the Lord, but live it. Jeremiah was commanded not to marry, not to have children. Disease, famine, and sword were coming, and the dead would live unlamented and unmourned (Jer 15:1-4). Hosea was commanded to marry a prostitute, whose unfaithfulness to him would mirror the unfaithfulness of Israel to their God. Yet, by Hosea’s persistence in his marriage, Yahweh’s faithfulness to Israel despite her "harlotry" would be signified. Even the names of the children of Hosea have prophetic meaning; Jezreel, the site where bloodshed is to begin the end of the dynasty of Omri, in Israel; Lo-ruhama, "she is not to be pitied", and Lo-ammi, "not my people." Yet, the latter two names are to be changed, instead of "Lo-ammi", the name is to be "ammi", meaning "my people"; instead of "Lo-ruhsma", "Ruhama", meaning, "to be pitied". God’s faithfulness to Israel would eventually bring his beloved back.

 

The prophetic call was a life to be lived, not merely words to proclaim. Yet, given the profound message the prophets were required to give, warning of the retribution to come from unfaithfulness, it would seem that only the prophet who had committed himself to faithfulness to God would have the courage to proclaim his word. The price was, at times very high: 

"Yes, I hear the whisperings, of many; ‘Terror on every side! Denounce! let us denounce him!’ All those who were my friends are on the watch for any misstep of mine. ‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail, and take our vengeance on him.’" (Jer 20:10).  

And, for Ezekiel: 

"Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, by a sudden blow I am taking away from you the delight of your eyes, but do not mourn or weep or shed any tears. Groan in silence, make no lament for the dead, bind on your turban, put your sandals on your feet, do not cover your beard, and do not eat the customary bread. That evening my wife died, and the next morning I did as I was commanded" (Ez 24:15-18). 

Nevertheless, the prophet’s faithfulness to his call and trust in his God bring him through: 

"But the Lord is with me, like a mighty champion; my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph. In their failure they will be put to utter shame, to lasting, unforgettable confusion" (Jr 20:11). 

The principal prophets lived during times of war, fear of war, and enslavement; hundreds of years later, after the death of the last of the Old Testament prophets, the situation for the remnant of Israel, the Jews, was still not so very different. Subject to another foreign power, Rome, the Jews and their neighbors, the Samaritans, looked for deliverance from their oppressors, and the poor continued to suffer their poverty just as they always had. In this environment came a new prophet, John the Baptist, who, despite the gap since the last prophet –  Malachi – was recognized by many of the Jews as very much a prophet, like the men of old. And, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and the rest, John not only proclaimed a message, he lived it:

"When John the Baptist made his appearance as a preacher in the desert of Judea, this was his theme; "’Reform your lives! The reign of God is at hand.’ It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said; ‘A herald’s voice in the desert; ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.” John was clothed in a garment of camel’s hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist. Grasshoppers and wild honey were his food. At that all Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins, When he saw that many of the Pharisees and Sadducees were stepping forward for this bath, he said to them; ‘You brood of vipers! Who told you to flee from the wrath to come? Give some evidence that you mean to reform" (Mt 3:1-8). 

Jesus spoke about John: 

"’What did you go out to the wasteland to see – a reed swaying in the wind? Tell me, what did you go out to see – someone luxuriously dressed? Remember, those who dress luxuriously are to be found in royal palaces. Why then did you go out – to see a prophet? A prophet indeed, and something more! It is about this man that Scripture says, ‘I send my messenger ahead of you to prepare your way before you.’ 1 solemnly assure you, history has not known a man born of woman greater than John the Baptist, yet the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than he. From John the Baptist’s time until now the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. All the prophets as well as the law spoke prophetically until John, If you are prepared to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who was certain to come. Heed carefully what you hear’" (Mt 11:7-15). 

Even before his birth, John had received the spirit, of prophecy, and became one of those consecrated to the Lord, to be the forerunner of the Messiah, Yet, he saw in his call more than proclamation by word – he saw the need for the complete living out of his call — even to the point of losing his head. The greatest of the prophets, the greatest man born of woman, is the way Jesus described John; he lived out his life in accord with his call.

 

How many of us who call ourselves Christian can claim that we have lived out our call as completely as John? Yet, Jesus said, as was noted in a previous chapter, "the least born into the kingdom of God is greater than" John (Mt 11:l2). John, like the Old Testament prophets, received the weighty call of prophet, with the strength to live out that gift without seeing its complete fulfillment. Each of the prophets saw a deeper meaning in their own lives, in the life of all of Israel and Judah. This is, perhaps, the essence of the call of the prophet; to see, to hear, to live, and to proclaim the truth.

 

The call to greatness for the least born into the kingdom, then, includes the prophetic call. In a sense, the call to be a witness is itself prophetic: 

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). 

One of the earliest examples of Christian witness predates Pentecost, at least as it is recorded in the New Testament; the incident of the Samaritan woman at.the well (John 4). 

"He had to pass through Samaria, and his journey brought him to a Samaritan town named Shechem near the plot of land which Jacob had given to his son Joseph. This was the site of Jacob’s well. "The hour was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink.’ (His disciples had gone off to the town to buy provisions.) The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew. How can you ask me, a Samaritan and a woman, for a drink?’ (Recall that Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) Jesus replied; ‘If only you recognized God’s gift, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him instead, and he would have give you living water.’ ‘Sir,’ she challenged him, ‘you do not have a bucket and this well is deep. Where do you expect to get this flowing water? Surely you do not pretend to be greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it with his sons and his flocks?’ Jesus replied; ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never be thirsty; no, the water I give shall become a fountain within him, leaping up to provide eternal life.’ The woman said to him, ‘give me this water, sir, so that. I shall not grow thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.’

 

"He said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and then come back here.’ ‘I have no husband,’ replied the woman. ‘You are right in saying you have no husband!’ Jesus exclaimed. ‘The fact is, you have had five, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. What you said is true.’

"’Sir,’ answered the woman, ‘I can see you are a prophet.. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but’ you people claim that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship God.’ Jesus told her: ‘Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Your people worship what you do not understand, while we understand what we worship; after all, salvation is from the Jews. Yet an hour is coming, and is already here, when authentic worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth. Indeed, it is just such worshipers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him; ‘I know there is a Messiah coming. (This term means Anointed.) When he comes, he will tell us everything.’ Jesus replied, ‘I who speak to you am he.’

 

"His disciples, returning at this point, were surprised that Jesus was speaking with a woman. No one put a question, however, such as ‘What do you want of him?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’ The woman then left her water jar and went off into the town. She said to the people; ‘Come and see someone who told me everything I ever did! Could this not be the Messiah?’ At that they set out from the town to meet him." (4:4-30). 

The woman, we come to learn, has had quite a life; she is probably she is probably somewhat of an outcast, coming to the well alone, in the midday, instead of with the other women. Yet, she seems also to be well educated, and, by her questions and discernment, she betrays a deep sense of discontent-. What is it about the dialogue between the woman and Jesus which leads to her radical conversion? He challenged her by his ”unorthodox manner, asking for a drink, then himself offering her mysterious living water. He points out her deception in having had five husbands and a non-marital relationship. She recognizes him as a prophet, and mentions her longing for a Messiah, an office which he claims, promising a new mode of worship, in Spirit and Truth, yet without minimizing the differences between Jew and Samaritan. This exchange was enough for the woman to enter the town and ask the people, "Could this not be the Messiah?" for he "told me everything I ever did!" (Jn 4:29).

 

In the time Jesus, spent with the woman at the well, how could he have told her everything she had ever done? Even supposing that there is much more to the conversation than that which is recorded, how could all the events, of a presumably middle-aged woman’s life be enumerated? Was the woman merely exaggerating what Jesus, said? Her witness must have been persuasive as: 

"Many Samaritans from that town believed in him on the strength of the woman’s word of testimony; ‘He told me everything I ever did’" (Jn 4:33).  

There is a reminder here of the first encounter of the disciple Nathanael with Jesus: 

"When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he remarked: ‘This man is a true Israelite. There is no guile in him.’ ‘How do you know me?’ Nathanael asked him. ‘Before Philip called you,’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ ‘Rabbi,’ said Nathanael, ‘you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.’ Jesus responded: ‘Do you believe just’ because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than that.’" (Jn 2: 47-50). 

In the cases of both the woman at the well and Nathanael, their responses to their first encounter with Jesus seem out of proportion to what actually happened. About Nathaniel, Jesus even said as much.

 

Could the woman at the well have meant something deeper by "He told me everything I ever did"? We can imagine that the series of relationships that the woman had had must have been accompanied by a lot of pain – compounded by each succeeding marriage and apparent rejection by the community. In the affirmation she received from Jesus, first in his simple willingness to talk with her, and then his ability to lift each one of her statements out of the everyday into the eternal, is it possible that the woman saw her own life in a way she had never seen before? By his "telling her everything she had ever done", it may be that she herself saw for the first time what she had done with her life. Suddenly, her own life had significance and meaning. Like the prophets, the woman began to make sense of being a Samaritan and a daughter of Jacob. The Samaritans, while considering themselves descendants of Jacob (Israel), nevertheless were also the descendants of numerous of Israel’s neighbors and conquerors, to the point that the separate identity of the ten tribes of Israel had been essentially lost. In a figurative sense, then, the Samaritans were the products of numerous marriages, forced and voluntary, of Israel with assorted husbands, just as the woman had had many husbands and lovers.

 

Finally, after so many marriages, Israel even lost its identity, submerged in the mixture that became Samaria. The woman, like Samaria, lacked even the status, of a forced marriage. She had no husband and was living in an unholy relationship. For the woman, and many of her fellow townspeople, the time of illegitimate relationship with other peoples and other gods was over, for Jesus had come and shown them their own value and worth. The woman, then, by the witness of her life and the change she experienced through her encounter with Jesus, became a prophet to her own people. Her own life made sense for the first time, and she had come to begin to know the mind of God.

 

Is perhaps the primary call of the prophetic Christian to come to recognize where God has worked in his or her life and then to allow for the inevitable transformation that results?  

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jer 1:5).  

God knows his people better than they know themselves. He knows their abilities better than they know them: 

"Say not, ‘I am too young’" (Jer 1:7).  

Perhaps we need to recognize that part of our call to be prophet involves getting to know ourselves through Jesus, as the woman at the well did. Then we, the latter-day sons and daughters, will prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions of what God calls us to be and do. By living the Christian life, that life becomes prophetic in itself. We come to know its meaning, deep in the well within us from which the living water comes.

 

CHAPTER 6

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 4 — WITNESS

Just before he ascended to the Father, Jesus gave his disciples the great commission, to tell the world about him and what he had accomplished, butnot before they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit: 

"On one occasion when he met with them, he told them not to leave Jerusalem; ‘Wait, rather, for the fulfillment of my Father’s promise, of which you have heard me speak. John baptized with water, but within a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. "While they were still with them they asked, ‘Lord are you going to restore the rule to Israel now?’ His answer was: ‘The exact time it is not yours to know The Father has reserved that to himself. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth.’ No sooner had he said this than he was lifted up before their eyes in a cloud which took him from their sight" (Acts 1:4-9). 

Many years later, the author of the First Letter of John emphasized the importance of his own witness – his experience of Jesus. In a way, his letter was a continuing response to the commission Jesus gave: 

"This is what we proclaim to you; what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked upon and our hands have touched – we speak of the word of life. (This life became visible? we have seen and bear witness to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life that was present, to the Father and became visible to us. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that, you may share life with us. This fellowship of ours is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ" (1 Jn 1:1-3). 

This second passage touches deeply those of us who believe and have experienced the love the Father offers us through his only Son, Jesus. It also makes real the first passage, from the Acts of the Apostles. Like the disciple whom Jesus loved, particularly when he entered the empty tomb behind Peter, we have not seen, yet we believe. But, like the other disciples, we have still seen Jesus, in a very special way, in the Eucharist: 

"[T]he Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread, and after he had given thanks broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ Every time, then, you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes!" (1 Cor 11:23-26).  

Can we, as followers of Jesus, join with Paul and John in not only professing our faith but proclaiming that which we have seen, that which we believe, that which we have experienced?

 

To repeat, Jesus, just before his ascension to the Father, said to his disciples, 

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you; then you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, yes, even to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). 

Later, at Pentecost., Peter spoke to the crowd of devout Jews of every nation: 

"This is the Jesus God raised up, and we are his witnesses" (Acts 2:32). 

We need to understand these scriptures as applying not only to the apostles, but to each of us – every one – who comes after them. Once we have become part of his Church, his people, we  

"are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people he claims for his own to proclaim the glorious works’ of the one who called" us "into his marvelous light" (1 Pet 2:9). 

We who live over nineteen hundred years since Jesus walked the earth have not only his real presence in the Eucharist as witness, we also have the gift of his Spirit: 

"To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good…You, then, are the body of Christ. Every one of you is a member of it" (1 Cor 12:7,27).  

It is the gift of the Spirit that provides witness of the Son of God’s presence with us: 

"The way we know we remain in him and he in us is that, he has given us of his Spirit. We have seen for ourselves, and can testify, that the Father has sent the Son as savior of the world. When anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and; he in God" (1 Jn 4:13-14). 

We emphasize the importance of faith, hope, and love as the preeminent, yet mysteriously hidden, virtues in living the Christian life. Still, the testimony of these scriptures is that. in acting in faith, hope, and love, we experience the love of God, we have the opportunity to exercise his gifts, and we begin to see things as they really are. We, like John the Baptist, are called to be witnesses to the light which has come into the world. But, how can we be witnesses unless we truly see the light, unless we have indeed encountered God? And, even more importantly, how do we encounter him; how do we encounter his Spirit?

 

The answer to this question is both open and closed. To begin with, we can quote that most familiar passage from the Gospel of John: 

"Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16), 

and ask ourselves what. Jesus means by "eternal life". The Gospel answers this question in part, 

"I came that they might have life and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10).

This is very important; eternal life is not just in the future; eternal life is now! God desires we live our life with him now, not beginning in heaven, after the death of our earthly bodies. Well, then, what is this eternal life, which is to begin now? 

"Eternal life is this; to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3). 

In other words, then, we can know — we are to know – Jesus now; in fact, from the other Gospels, we can say that it is necessary that we know him in order to be welcomed into the heavenly kingdom:

"None of those who cry out, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of God but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. When that day comes, many will plead with me, ‘Lord, Lord… Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you’" (Mt 7:21-23). 

Eternal life, salvation, the experience of God, and knowing God are in a very real way much the same thing. We are called to know Jesus and his Father, by which we obtain eternal life. What must we do to come to know him? Again, from the Fourth Gospel we read: 

"He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and reveal myself to him" (Jn 14:21). 

And, 

"Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him; we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him (Jn 14:23). 

In these passages we begin to get a glimmer of light – the answer to the question we are asking. To know Jesus, to be his. witness, and to come into eternal life, we are to obey his commandments. And, what are his commandments?  

"You will live in my love if you keep my commandments, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and live in his love. All this I tell you that my joy may be yours and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I have love you, There is no greater love than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (Jn 15:12-14). 

In a similar way, the Synoptics record Jesus as saying: 

"’You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind,’ This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well" (Mt 22:37-39). 

Our experience of God comes when we express our faith in his Son, Jesus, and begin loving and acting in love towards Jesus and our neighbor. It is further clear that the choice to love is just that – a choice, a decision. It is, nevertheless, a fact that choosing to love is not easy. It involves a willingness to forgive, to deny oneself, to become wedded to the truth, and to become truly free: 

"If you live according to my teaching, you are truly my -disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (Jn 8:31-32). 

The decision to love, the choice Jesus calls us to make is difficult, for we are called to follow him. Yet the decision is not made entirely under our own power; Jesus told his disciples, 

"It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit" (Jn 15:16),  

reminding us of the way in which the prophets were called: 

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you" (Jer 1:5); 

 

"The LORD called me from birth, from my mother’s womb he gave me my name…You are my servant, he said to me, Israel, through whom I show my glory" (Is 49:3).  

Jesus gives us, his disciples, power to believe in his name, profess our love for him, and show our love for our neighbor: 

"I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete–to be with you always; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, since it neither sees him nor recognizes him; but you can recognize him because he remains with you and will be within you. I will not leaved you orphaned; I will come back to you" (Jn 14:l6-18). 

Again, 

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes down on you,’ then you are to be my witness…" (Acts 1:8). 

We who have been baptized with water and baptized with the Spirit (at confirmation) have received the gift of the Spirit. We have the power to profess and live out our faith in and love of Jesus: 

"The love of God consists in this; that we keep his commandments – and his commandments are not burdensome" (1 Jn 5:3). 

When we begin reading and listening to his Word, taking seriously the sacraments we have and are receiving, making real the commitments to him which we have professed, we begin to experience God. And, our experience is one of freedom, progressive deliverance from our sinful tendencies as we confess our faults, and growth in love of the previously unlovable – especially ourselves. We begin to see ourselves as indeed brothers and sisters of Jesus and sons and daughters of his Father – our Father, our Abba. This becomes our witness: a life lived in freedom from sin, the light of truth, and the love of the Creator of the Universe, through his Son. Jesus becomes real – because he is real. We become real because he loves us. We bear fruit as we become the people he created us to be. This is our witness; we allow God to make of us what we are to be.

 

CHAPTER 5

 

Introduction

CHAPTER 3 — THE MYSTERY OF THE BELOVED DISCIPLE

More than the other three Gospels of the New Testament, the Gospel according to John celebrates the divinity of Christ, his preexistence and unity with the Father, his intimate love for each person – each of us – and his desire that we love one another: 

"I give you a new commandment; Love one another. Such as my love has been for you, so must your love be for each other. This is how all will know you for my disciples; your love for one another" (Jn 13:34-35). 

He especially desired that we love him so as to receive his love and the love of the Father: 

"He who obeys the commandments he has from me is the man who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and reveal myself to him… Anyone who loves me will be true to my word, and my Father will love him; we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him" (14;21,23). 

The desire that we come into an intimate relationship is also conveyed in the Gospel: 

"This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer speak of you as slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is about. Instead, I call you friends since I have made known to you all that I heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me; it was I who chose you…" (15:12-16). 

These characteristic verses from the Gospel according to John are both beautiful and challenging; however, there may be something even more powerful in this book which conveys for us a deeper sense of the relationship each Christian can have with Jesus – Jesus the man and Jesus, the only Son of God the Father.

 

There is a great mystery in the Gospel according to John. Tradition says that John the Evangelist, the inferred author of the Gospel, was also John the Apostle, brother of James, son of Zebedee, one of the original Twelve. Curiously, however, this is not crystal clear in the text of the Gospel. There is, as many scholars have noted, no reason for us to necessarily doubt that John is the source for the Gospel; rather, the more basic mystery has to do with that person we assume is John.

 

John the Apostle is traditionally inferred to be the beloved disciple, a mysterious person repeatedly referred to in the Gospel, particularly in the last few chapters. In the last chapter of the Gospel, we read that  

"the disciple whom Jesus loved…is the same disciple who is witness to these things; it is he who wrote them down and his testimony, we know is true" (Jn 21:20,24).  

The mystery is; if John was the beloved disciple and he or one of his disciples wrote the Fourth Gospel, why wasn’t John explicitly identified as the beloved disciple in the Gospel? John’s humility is one possibility. However, the early Christian community for whom the Gospel was written would have known who wrote the Gospel, and it doesn’t seem very humble to refer to oneself as "the disciple Jesus loved." If a disciple of John wrote the Gospel (on the authority of John, his master), again, we might ask why John, if he is the beloved disciple, was not so identified? Is it.possible that the evangelist had something else in mind? Is there a special reason why the author refers to a "beloved disciple" without naming him? To pursue this, let’s consider the other references to an unknown disciple in the Gospel. In the first chapter: 

"The next day, John (the Baptist) was there again with two of his disciples. As he watched Jesus walk by he said, ‘Look! There is the Lamb of God!’ The two disciples heard what he said, and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned around and noticed them following him, he asked them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi…where do you stay?’ ‘Come and see,’ he answered’" (Jn l:35-39). 

Later we learn that one of the two disciples of John the Baptist is Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. And, we recall that it was Andrew who first told Peter  

"We have found the Messiah" (Jn 1:41).  

The other disciple remains unidentified, yet Andrew’s statement to Peter indicates that both he and the other disciple recognized Jesus as the Messiah. 

Who was John the Baptist? As emphasized in the Fourth Gospel, he was sent by God 

"as a witness to the light…by proclaiming, ‘The one who comes after me ranks ahead of me, for he was before me’" (Jn 1:6,15).  

He quoted  

"the prophet Isaiah, ‘I am a voice in the desert, crying out; Make straight the way of the Lord!’" (Jn 1:23).  

The disciples who first followed John, and then Jesus, were primarily disciples of a man proclaiming the need for repentance, for straightening out their lives. The implication is that in order for them to recognize the Messiah, prior repentance -was required. Between the encounter of the disciples of John the Baptist with Jesus and the Last Supper, there is no reference to a single unidentified disciple, although frequent reference is made to the disciples collectively. For example, the disciples were present at Cana when Jesus, at the urging of his mother, changed water into wine (Jn 2:1-11). They were also active participants at the miracle of the multiplication of loaves (Jn 6:1;21).

 

At the Last Supper, a number of extraordinary events occurred. Jesus told his disciples, 

"’I solemnly assure you, he who accepts anyone I send accepts him who set me.’ After saying this Jesus grew deeply troubled. He went on to give this testimony; ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples looked at one another, puzzled as to who he could mean. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, reclined close to him as they ate. Simon Peter signaled him to ask Jesus whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, ‘Lord, who is he?’" (Jn 13:20-25}.  

In the drama of the Lord’s passion, we might overlook the significance of this event. Imagine this man, the disciple Jesus loved, on closer terms with the Lord than Peter, the preeminent disciple. By invitation, the beloved disciple, who may have been the unidentified disciple of John the Baptist, had the place of honor at the banquet. How could he have earned such a distinction?

 

Later, after Jesus was arrested in the garden: 

"Simon Peter, in the company with another disciple, kept following Jesus closely. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, stayed with Jesus as far as the priest’s courtyard, while Peter was left standing at the gate. The disciple known to the high priest came out and spoke to the woman at the gate and then brought Peter in. This servant girl who kept the gate said to Peter, ‘Are you not one of this man’s followers?’ "Not I,’ he replied" (Jn 18:15-17). 

The unknown disciple in this passage, who may also be the beloved disciple, has prerogatives that Peter does not have. He has the ability, to enter within the gates of the enemy and to stay close to his Lord, Jesus. It is Peter who denies the Lord.

 

After Jesus has been handed over by Pilate and nailed to the cross, the Gospel according to John describes the scene: 

"Near the cross of Jesus there stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Seeing his mother there with the disciple whom he loved, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, there is your son.’ From that hour onward, the disciple took her into his care" (Jn 19:25-27).  

Of all his male disciples, only the disciple Jesus loved is described as present near the cross. We don’t know where the others were; perhaps fear kept them away – fear which was overcome by the beloved disciple. Presumably, the women had less to fear, given the cultural biases of the time.

 

Then, on Sunday: 

"Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away, so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple (the one Jesus loved) and told them, ‘The Lord has been taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!’ At that, Peter and the other disciple started out on their way toward the tomb. They were running side by side, but then the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He did not enter but bent down to peer in and saw the wrappings lying on the ground. Presently, Simon Peter came along behind him and entered the tomb. He observed the wrappings on the ground and saw the piece of cloth which had covered the head not lying with the wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the disciple who had arrived first at the tomb went in. He saw and believed, (Remember, as yet they did not understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) With this the disciples went back horns" (Jn 20:1-10). 

Four times in this passage, reference is made to the other disciple; first as "the other disciple (the one Jesus loved)", twice as simply "the other disciple", and finally as "the disciple who had arrived first." It is as if John is adamant about not identifying him; it would have been so much simpler to give this man a name.

 

There is something unusual about this disciple. Simon Peter saw everything that the other disciple saw, yet the disciple whom Jesus loved believed. Peter did not yet understand. What is the significance of this?

 

Later after Jesus’ resurrection, the Fourth Gospel tells of an episode involving the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias: 

"Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going out to fish.’ ‘We will join you,’ they replied, and went off to get into their boat. All through the night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak Jesus was standing on the shore, though none of the disciples knew it was Jesus. He said to them, ‘Children, have you caught anything to eat?’ ‘Not a thing,’ they answered. ‘Cast your net off to the starboard side,’ he suggested, ‘and you will find something,’ So they made a cast, and took so many fish they could not haul the net in. Then the disciple Jesus loved cried out to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’" (21:3-7). 

Again, the unknown disciple demonstrates a capability which none of the other disciples had; he recognized the Lord before the others could.

 

What is it that distinguishes the beloved disciple from the others? How could this man have the prerogatives and capabilities the others lacked? What did he have that they did not have? The answer to these questions may be found in the preceding chapter: 

"On the evening of that first day of the week, even though the disciples had locked the doors of the place where they were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood before them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. At the sight of the Lord the disciples rejoiced, ‘Peace be with you,’ he said again. ‘As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ Then he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven them; if you hold them bound, they are held bound.’ It happened that one of the Twelve, Thomas … was absent when Jesus came. The other disciples kept telling him, ‘We have seen the Lord.” His answer was, ‘I will never believe it without probing the nailprints in his hands, without putting my finger in the nailmarks and my hand into his side.’ A week later, the disciples were once more in the room, and this time Thomas was with them. Despite the locked doors, Jesus came and stood before them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said; then to Thomas; ‘Take your finger and examine my hands. Put your hand into my side. Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe!’ Thomas said in response, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus then said to him, ‘You became a believer because you saw me. Blest are they who have not seen and have believed’" (Jn 20:19-23). 

This is one of the most affirmative and reassuring passages in Scripture. In it we learn that despite never having seen the risen Lord, we today are still blest because we believe. We know that Jesus, speaking through John’s Gospel, means us. But John may be also referring to more than us; he may be referring to the beloved disciple. The one Jesus, loved did not see Jesus, in the empty tomb; he did not see, but he believed. His belief came without seeing the Lord’s hands and side. We, too, have not seen the hands and side of Jesus, but we, too, believe. Is there a subtle but profound message here? Is it possible that the disciple Jesus loved is not only John, but me…and you…we who believe? Is it possible that the author of the Fourth Gospel has introduced the awkwardness of referring to an unknown disciple so as to encourage us to put ourselves in his place?

 

When we believe, we become the disciple Jesus loved. We can go backwards to remember…

 

Imagine, the Lord, this most remarkable person we have loved, has suffered, died, and has been buried since Friday, and now, early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, emotional Mary, comes to tell us Jesus’ body is gone from the tomb. With Peter, first among the disciples, we run to the tomb. Our hearts pounding, we speed up, we can’t wait to see, to see… what? We run so fast we leave Peter behind. At the tomb, it is just like Mary says. We lean over and peer in. But we wait for Peter, he must go in first – he is our leader, first among the disciples. We follow, we see the wrappings, we don’t understand, but we believe! Our Lord is alive! And, more than that suddenly the breadth of our belief increases; Our Lord is son of man and Son of God, the Most High! Glory, alleluia, we rejoice, even in the presence of Peter’s doubt.

 

Imagine, earlier, that last Friday, how could this be, all our dreams crushed, pierced, beaten, crucified. Our tears, our inner pain is almost unbearable. What can we do, as we force ourselves to look at this awful humiliation? Our master, our teacher, our leader~-naked, covered with bruises, his open wounds, those horrible nails piercing his wrists and feet, that crown of cruel vicious thorns on his head. And we look over at his mother, and we feel her pain, too. What had he ever done to be treated this way? Yet we know we can’t imagine the depth of her pain and passion. What will become of her? What will happen to the other women and disciples? What will come of us all? Then, on death’s door, he speaks to us. He tells his mother that we are his son! What is he saying? That makes him our brother! That’s our brother up there! And she is to be our Mother. At least we know he wants us to stay together, whatever the future holds – all of us, to care for her and welcome her concern for us. Then we watch him, our master, our teacher, our leader, our brother, die this horrible death. We see blood and water pour from his side as the soldier pierces him.

 

We remember earlier in the week, that last supper with him. He invites us to recline next to him. We have the place of honor, for he loves us. We lean back and place our head against his chest – his heart. As we remember, we now realize that our head is against the heart of the Son of God – the God of the universe has called us to be that close, that intimate with him!

 

Then, we remember that first call to repentance that John the Baptist made. Something within us responded? we saw within ourselves the depths of our own sinfulness – our unfaithfulness to our God, our selfishness and overwhelming sense of unworthiness. We remember the water of baptism; and then, that bright sunny day when we first saw him, this man Jesus, and we followed him. It was the beginning of our relationship with him; a beginning that we can never regret, for it was the start of real life; everything before fades into unreality compared with the journey we began that day.

 

So it is for we who believe – we have not seen, yet believe. We are truly blest and we are loved. We are the disciple Jesus loved, each one of us. It is we who have his Spirit within us who are the beloved disciple: 

"I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete–to be with you always; the Spirit of truth" (Jn 14:16-17).

 

"When he comes, however, being the Spirit of truth he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but will speak only what he hears, and will announce to you the things to come" (Jn 16:13).

 

"This testimony has been given by an eyewitness, and his testimony is true. He tells what he knows is true, so that you may believe (Jn 19:35).

 

"It is this same disciple who is the witness to these things; it is he who wrote them down and his testimony, we know, is true" (Jn 21:24). 

Each one of us has the place of honor at the Eucharistic banquet, reclining against his heart. We are present at his death and at his resurrection. We have a mother who is his mother; he who loves us makes us his brother. Ultimately, we realize we are sons and daughters of his Father.

 

We are the unknown, the anonymous, the beloved disciple. John’s Gospel is our story; we, as we come to love Jesus, become witnesses and our testimony, too, is true. The Fourth Gospel is the Book of Signs and Glory for us, to help us to believe, to be blest, and to be loved by him… by Jesus.

 

CHAPTER 4

 

Introduction