Unity – the goal and the way

 ‘…  that they may all be one. .… (John 17:21)

John 17:20-26 (Year C: Easter+7)

                                                       pic: Holy Cross Benedictine Abbey in Co Down, N Ireland.                                   

All on board for unity?

For this the Christ came into the world – that all may be one in God as God is one.  The idea of unity is easily misunderstood and misappropriated, though. Yes, unity is a good word most of the time for most people. People speak of unity, union and united as something positive, progressive and affirmative. A disunited family or country or organisation is seen as negative. Then at other times, the idea of unity is mixed up with conformity to some set of rules or ideas imposed by one person or community on another So, we need to distinguish between unity that is not based on a freely chosen unity of equals and unity that springs from a bond of affection, trust and mutual belonging even if one partner to that unity has a role of authority or leadership. 

To repeat, at the core of unity is mutual love or a bond of affection. This is why imposed unions either do not last or bear little fruit.

Things get rather complicated when within a ‘union’ applied to a country or jurisdiction some folks want to stay in the union and others do not or want to establish a different union. Ireland provides a historical and contemporary example of this phenomenon. Simple majority voting doesn’t resolve the issue because the three I’s of identity, interest and ideology ensure disharmony between different groups no matter where lines on a map are drawn. Something more creative and pragmatic is required at least in the here and now.

Theologically, the way we think about God and God’s relationship to the world shapes our notions of unity and diversity among people.  The opposite also holds true in so far as unity and diversity as applied and understood in this world and at this time can shape and influence our theology and the ‘doing of theology’.

The context for John’s long discourse in chapters 13-17 – sometimes referred to as Jesus Last Testament or Jesus’ own Priestly prayer – culminating in the very strong prayer for unity modelled on the unity of Father and Son (and the Holy Spirit) is a community threatened from within and from without. The early Johannine Christian community for which and from which John’s gospel was written was mistrusted, excluded and persecuted by religious and secular authorities (not that such a distinction meant much in those times). At the same time, the early communities were driven by controversies and conflicts over all sorts of issues including Jewish dietary laws, circumcision and the Sabbath. If all of this sounds irrelevant and bizarre for 21^st century Christians and others just think of what issues create the most controversy at the latest synod, conference, parish committee and theological commission!  Diversity of opinion, emphasis and, ultimately, values spills over into stand-up rows and shouting if not worse among disciples prayed for, died for and saved for by the One who gave his life that all may be one.

Line by line

What is this matter of ‘being one’? Let’s look at this passage from chapter 17 of John a little more closely:

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. (verses 20-21)

Those who have encountered the person of Jesus were commissioned and empowered to witness to the love of God in Jesus. ‘Through’ their word – their way of living, speaking and serving – they won many others to God’s love.  A forceful and convincing way in which this happened is that they were ‘one’ according to Jesus’ final testament and prayer as recorded in John 17.  Theirs was not a perfect human or divine community but a messy, evolving and at times fractured one. However, they held together as ‘one’ united in conviction, mutual support and the principle of ‘each for all and all for each’

The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one (verse 22)

The glory of God is in human beings fully alive as Irenaeus said. That glory is evident in the kindness, forgiveness and active service of millions in the world today. This is the basis of worthwhile unity and one that comes closest to that unity willed from all time for us and forever. We are blessed. Seize the day!

I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  (verse 23)

To know that we are loved is the reason and the spark for love among us and by us. The great tragedy of religion – including Christianity – is that its practitioners and promoters have not realised even a fraction of what God is really like – not some dreaded judge and bean counter but an infinite, inclusive and loving God. This knowledge and life involves mutual indwelling with God in us, us in God and each one joined together in God. Then we realise the true meaning of ‘religion’ as religare – a binding together. The closer we move to the Light the closer we draw to each other. This is the meaning of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and this is why to exclude others without just cause from this channel of grace is a grave scandal.

Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (verse 24)

It is a great source of strength and hope in our often troubled lives that we are:

• Known
• Desired
• Loved

By the One who was loved ‘before the foundation of the world.

Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me (verse 25)

Many in this world do not know love and do not know the Author of love. Though made in love, by love and for love they remain fixed in doubt, scepticism, sarcasm, defeatism, fatalism and distrust. They may, if they regard themselves as ‘religious’ in some way, remain cut off from love and continue to live on the surface impressions of true religion which by the very root meaning of the word means bound to others in love.

I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ (verse 26)

 What does it mean to be one?

Does it mean having the same ethnicity, politics and social status? Most certainly not!

Does it mean blind obedience within a hierarchical structure? Definitely not. God invites us to love him with ‘all our minds’ while not breaking unity where that is essential.

Unity is about a balance of respect, inclusion and sharing of common purpose and values. In matters of doctrinal belief it requires discipline on what is essential and freedom in everything else but everything charity. In matters of ‘church discipline’ it requires respect, tact and loyalty where essential combined with courage, flexibility and initiative where questioning and change is required. If people stood still in the 1^st century or in the 19^th century in matters of how to articulate their beliefs and work within the complex cultural and social environments of their time then the reality of gospel would be greatly diminished and denied to countless numbers of people. ‘For God so loved the world ….’ (John 3:16). 

We only have to think of the question of the role of women in the Christian churches to realise (i) how much distance has been travelled in recent decades and (ii) how much distance remains to be travelled.  The paradox facing many is that in order to maintain unity of the Christian family it is necessary to suffer disunity for a time and with some others in order to move forward. However, it is not the case that anyone can presume or take it upon themselves to innovate without a lengthy period of reflection, study, debate, consultation and deliberation. At the same time, there is an urgency of proclaiming the good news and witnessing to a world that views the messengers of this good news with some criticism and distrust.

The role of trust and courage

Trust needs to be rebuilt, gradually, on the basis of a genuine and sustained concern for the what is true and what is in the common good. We should be wary of those who claim certainty. In claiming certainty about the meaning of scripture or tradition we may risk ending up hijacking the message and basing our lives on a false premises of self-confidence. In practice, people who appear to be most certain are – if the truth be told – deeply insecure because they desperately do not want their comfort zones disrupted and opened up to critical scrutiny. Deep down they are unsure and they crave certainty in signs, miracles, proofs, cut-and-dry answers to set questions and creedal type formulae that admit of only one set of language and philosophical framework.  And lest we think that we are immune from all of this we should reflect on how our values are constantly challenged and how, perhaps, in the course of a lifetime we have had to review, modify or enlarge our understandings and views on various matters of personal, spiritual, theological,  social and political concern.

But unity comes with a price

Unity comes at a price – we have to be ready to listen to others including the wisdom of those who came before us and we have to be ready to use our own God-given reason and life-experience to ‘work things out’ in harmony with the scriptures and the broad thrust of tradition. But tradition – or if you like the lived experience of the Christian community – is not static. It evolves and is re-expressed in every era.

It may help and it should help to share this process of critical engagement with other whom we can trust in the various walks of life.

Jesus prayer for us that we might be one in the love of God-who-is-love. His Name or Word is revealed for what it is; ‘He-who-saves’ because God-who-is-love is alive and working and united with ‘He-who-saves). By choosing to live openly and courageously in this love there is every possibility that others will join us in a larger community of witnesses and believers. This is the point of chapter 17 of St John’s Gospel. Amen!

Ready for the next step

 ‘… so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.. .… (Luke 24:49)

Luke 24:46-53 (Year C: Ascension Thursday)

In defence of Thursday

Today’s feast of the Ascension is a day of ‘great joy’ to use Luke phrase from the gospel passage for Ascension Thursday. That Jesus ascended into heaven is a core belief in our weekly recitation of the creed. Exactly how and when and what of ascension is beyond our reach. We just believe that Jesus is risen and was brought up into glory not in some mere metaphorical or poetic turn of phrase but in a reality that goes beyond our sense of time and space.  The marking of the ascension on a Thursday leaving just nine days to the Feast of Pentecost and within the 40 days following Easter had and has deep liturgical significance which would not have been lost on the early Jewish-Christian communities with the proximity of the Festival of Weeks (or Shavuot) and the Passover which is seven weeks prior to the Festival of Weeks.

Unfortunately, Ascension Thursday has been ‘de-elevated’ in some places (if a pun may be pardoned) by amalgamation into the following Sunday. Even in secular France the feast of the Ascension Thursday remains a public holiday! There is no way that French trade unions would have anything less than a day of rest on a Sunday as well as a Thursday!

In some parts of the Anglican communion Anglicans are encouraged to receive holy communion this Ascension Thursday.

Time for a novena

In recent centuries, the idea of a ‘novena’ of prayer lasting nine days and nights fits with the period from the ascension to the coming of the holy spirit at Pentecost. Every now and again we need to step up the prayer side of our busy lives and join our prayers with others in the ‘upper room’ (Acts 1:13) so to speak. The days are longer now here in the Northern Hemisphere and there is nothing to beat a quiet moment as the sun is rising over the Irish sea on a mild and damp Irish May morning.

Ascension may seem like a going away of Jesus and the leaving behind of a band of disciples – like a family bereavement.  But, it is a bereavement with a difference because those left behind are not alone as they anxiously and joyously await the coming of the holy spirit. They may be still terrified and they may not know how long or in what way this ruah or holy spirit that was promised will come. But come she will (the Hebrew word for spirit or breath is ruah which is feminine – in Irish Gaelic it is anáil or breath which is also feminine). What seemed like a terrible loss and tragedy is about to be turned into opportunity and sending out again but this time in the power of the holy spirit who prepares the disciples for a life of challenge and difficulty – joy notwithstanding.

Ascension in the scriptures

It is clear that what happened in the Ascension was in the context of Easter and the following event of Pentecost. The details given in Matthew, Mark and Luke are patchy. There is a distinct abruptness to each of the three gospels as if the writer(s) was/were cut short and inserted a few sentences about Jesus speaking with his disciples and giving them a commission to go forth and spread the good news and then – suddenly – he was gone. He was lifted up and taken away in a ‘cloud’ (Acts 1:9) reminding us of the very divine presence in a cloud by day (and a fire by night) in Exodus 13:21.

Speaking of ascending and descending is very much rooted in scripture.  There are plenty of stories about people ascending up to heaven (e.g. Jacob’s dream of angels ascending and descending in Genesis 28:12, Jesus’ conversation with Nathanael in John 1:51, Elijah being taken up in a ‘whirlwind’ to heaven in 2 Kings 2:11).  In many different cultures of the ancient world people had a three-tier idea of the universe: the heavens up there, hell down there (an excessively hot place!) and the earth right here where we stand and prepare to move upwards. Over time, other categories were stitched on such as limbo and purgatory to meet various theological conundrums (necessity being the mother of invention!).

The evangelist John speaks of Christ lifting all peoples up when he is lifted up from the earth (which means on the cross but it could also refer to his glorification through his death, resurrection and ascension).  In a mysterious way, the act of departure and being lifted up from the earth in the ascension is necessary to complete the work of the Holy Spirit and her outpouring on the disciples.

‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself’(John 12:32)

Being lifted up from the pits..

In common parlance we uses expressions such as ‘that experience was an uplifting one’ or ‘he is feeling a bit down at the moment’ etc. However, there is another side to being lifted up or being on high. You have guessed. It is being brought down and finding yourself in the pits. A verse in the ‘Apostle’s Creed’ which is said to echo Ephesians 4:8-10 (but only very indirectly) speaks of Jesus descending into hell after his death after which ‘on the third day’ he rose again. This is also linked to another passage found in Psalm 67:19:

‘You have gone up on high; you have taken captives, receiving men and women in tribute, O God, even those who rebel, into your dwelling, O Lord.’

The idea of God descending into hell is challenging! But that is what the tradition says (and most Christians subscribe to all three catholic creeds – Nicean, Athanasian and the (simple) Apostle’s Creed even if the precise scriptural basis for descending into hell is less than clear.  Let’s face it – a lot of people live through hell – whether in some part of the Middle East or next door to us or even this side of the door.  Hell can take many forms and we should never underestimate the depths of bodily, mental, spiritual and psychological hell that people are living through, near and far, as we share these thoughts.  We can be sure – through faith – that God-who-is-love has descended to these places of hell. Like the testimony of Elie Wiesel about the child crucified by the Nazis in a concentration camp:

Behind me, I heard the same man asking:"For God's sake, where is God?"And from within me, I heard a voice answer:"Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."

We may find ourselves somewhere in the depths but this too will pass. We can stay firm in prayerful partnership with others as we await the coming of the holy breath of God covering us in power as Luke puts it. In that way we are ready for the next step or steps.

Be not afraid

 ‘… Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.… (John 14:27)

John 14:23-29 (Year C: Easter+6)

Under peace

How do we know our religion makes sense in the long-run of life? By now, readers may be expecting the next sentence to be on the lines of saying “when we love as God loves”. True, very true. But that, actually, is not the answer on this occasion. The answer is that love brings forth peace and it is that peace which guards our soul and the soul of others. In the Irish (Gaelic) language we do not say that someone is ‘in peace’ but someone is ‘under peace’ (faoi shíochán).  At the end of the eucharist the priest says: ‘imígí faoi shíocháin’ meaning ‘go in peace’ or, literally, ‘under peace’.  The substitution of adjective is subtle but significant. Peace – like many other stages of being or mind are said to be ‘upon’ us. We do not say that someone is happy, sad or at peace but that someone is ‘under’ sadness or anger is ‘upon’ someone or someone is ‘under’ peace. Peace covers us like a veil just as joy, sadness and other emotions are ‘upon us’.

Before the start of this chosen passage for the sixth Sunday in Easter-time one of the apostles asked Jesus:

Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?

This is how God reveals himself – as direct, personal and compassionate love. To find a home in us love must generate love. We love because we are loved. Realising this is the work of a lifetime because a lot of things stand in the way of realising this including ideas, assumptions and various notions planted early on in our awareness and sub-awareness. Bad theology and distorted ideas of God also play their part in blocking a realisation of God’s love within us and among us. Peace is the fruit of love and being loved. We need some measure of peace – as God gives it and not as we presume it – to become aware of the divine spark of love in us.  This takes time and patience and involves a daily practice of compassion towards ourselves and towards others. We do not ‘earn’ some favour from God but our actions stem from grace and build on grace. We are nothing without this grace.

Those who turn to him in their hearts

The lines of the Psalm (84:9) come to mind:

I will hear what the Lord God has to say, a voice that speaks of peace, peace for his people and his friends and those who turn to him in their hearts.

There are many things that we tend to worry about more or less and now and again – relationships, finances, health, perceived threats, the past, the future, the present, death, life, what lies beyond etc. It would be unrealistic to think that we can free ourselves of worry. Everyone has their gethsemane moment and, somehow, emerged intact at the other end of such moment or moments.

There is a famous and familiar piece prayer from St Teresa of Avila which many millions across the world find helpful as they plod along or wait for sleep at night or jump out into a new day:

Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things are passing away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things
Whoever has God lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.

Some questions

• Do I really listen to God’s Word in my mind and heart?
• Do I allow this Word to shape my thinking and my behaving?
• Am I at fully at home in the Sacrament of God’s Word?
• Would others say that I bring more peace than the opposite of peace in my day-to-day living?
• When I shake someone’s hand at the liturgy each Sunday do I mean what I say and say what I mean to that person (sometimes a complete stranger – although less likely nowadays as churches empty out here in Europe).
• Do I extend the ‘sign of peace’ in words and gestures once I leave the church porch?
• Is my home, my place of work or my place of social engagement in the community more/less/the-same on some measure of ‘peace’ as a result of my presence?
• What difficult personal price am I prepared to reach a lasting peace that is just, assertive of my rights and those of others and liberating for those who do not know peace in their lives at this time?

A religion that makes sense is one that enables us to find peace at the end of life. It also means finding peace today within ourselves and, if it be at all possible, with others. And if none of this seems possible we can still hang in there in hope and love and trust. After all we believe that Grace carries us in its arms.

When we love we find peace and under this peace we taste heaven even now.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:7)

The litmus test

 ‘… By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.… (John 10:27)

John 13:31-35 (Year C: Easter+5)

Incriminating evidence

Were you or I to be tried before a court on a charge of being Christian would the prosecution have sufficient evidence to win the case?  In this extract from the gospel of John where Jesus imparts his final and lengthy talk to his disciples over a stretch of no less than five chapters we are struck by one consistent message: love. It is the very essence of God and how this world is brought from and back to God in Jesus.  Three key points stand out in this particular extract:

1. The time left to us is short
2. We are given a ‘new commandment’
3. By this the world will know God (and be saved).

Without love ‘faith’ is useless. It is no faith at all because faith is much more than an intellectual affirmation in one’s head of some doctrine . Rather, ‘faith’ is a covenantal relationship with God and through God with others and through others with God.

The time left to us is short

‘I am with you only a little longer’ (verse 33) clearly warns the disciples that the time is indeed short – within hours according to the narrative of john. For us the time is short as well because we do not know the hour or the day when we make the transition to the next phase of life.  Wasting time over what is not constructive and re-creative and preventing others from being fully alive needs to be weeded out. For sure we only have the ‘Now’. In this ‘Now’ as I write this and you read this (whoever you may be) we are and live and have our being in the one who goes beyond, and yet not far from, our human imaginings and instantaneous cravings and needs.

A new commandment

‘I give you a new commandment, that you love one another’ (verse 34)

But what is new about that commandment? After all, the commandment to love and love our neighbour is found in many places across the entire Bible and the lived experience of the Hebrew people (for example in Leviticus 19:18). We could easily miss the point of what is new here. No, it does not mean that all the other religious ‘rules’ are redundant (some were and are because it all depends on how they serve the Law of Love). Neither does it mean that the commandment is new because Jesus or John or his community of disciples said so to annoy the Jewish authorities at the time. Rather, it is new because it is RECIPROCAL. John’s gospel if full of notions of growth, communion and mutuality.  That A loves B is one thing. That A loves B and B loves A is something else. The totality of individual loving acts and dispositions is greater than the sum of each individual part. In plain language, loving one another gives rise to a communion of persons where Christ dwells and a whole new reality is possible because of this. Love is THE sacrament of church (a gathering together) and without it there is no real church.

The litmus test

And so the litmus test to prosecute Christians is more than just a test of their love individual by individual (and this in turn is what matters infinitely more than squabbles over words, furniture and rituals though everything has a place and a season).  The killer punch that the prosecution can use to knock out any defence is that the reality of a community of love is so strong that we are faced with the real thing. No mistaking that! ‘ Writing a century after the gospel of John was written the North African theologian Tertullian (some of the best Christian theology, at that time, was coming out of Africa and Asia) wrote in The Apology (39:7):

See, they say, how they love one another, for themselves [pagans] are animated by mutual hatred; how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves will sooner put to death.

And so, in today’s society we need to incarnate social love so that it is embedded in the very norms, institutions and culture of states, organisations and families. It starts in the here and NOW. Christianity is a social religion founded on love because God is a community of love of one in three.

Following Jesus' call

‘… My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.… (John 10:27)

John 10:22-30 (Year C: Easter+4)

Add caption

Today’s sheep seek new pastures

What is John trying to tell us in today’s Gospel passage?  He is suggesting that the question of discipleship is – in the first place – about relationship.  There is no point in talking about a ‘call’ or a path of service in the Christian community without relationship. Relationship defines us as who we are in relation to others and in relation to our God. The image used by John is one of sheep following a Shepherd because they belong to Him and they are known by Him and they know Him.   Language about sheep may be off-putting to our 21^st century, urban and individualist mindsets especially as people quite rightly associate ‘groupthink’ with images of ‘sheepthink’.  In former times and not so long ago people in advanced economies were born into a particular social class, tribal identity or religious denomination.  One was raised, schooled, socialised, matched and despatched according to pre-determined scripts.  The odd person who broke these conventions and crossed boundaries was very often shunned, condemned or excluded as much by silence as by any explicit show of contempt.

We need to humbly access the scriptures but as thinking and struggling 21^st century beings recognising the pervasive influence, even today, of social, tribal and religious culture. The essence of being a disciple and a follower of Jesus, today, is in being part of a movement of the Holy spirit that works with people and transform people. This means accepting where people are at while showing a way forward.

Four verbs spring up in the one verse 27 of the 10^th chapter of John (at least in the English-language version of the Bible I am using):

-          To belong

-          To hear

-          To know

-          To follow

To belong

We read that those who hear the voice of the Shepherd already ‘belong’ to him.  For a change John is being very concise in his reporting of what Jesus said to the ‘Jews’ by way of response to their questioning. At the risk of labouring a point, to belong to Jesus as his ‘sheep’ is not to be confused with belonging to a particular tribal, ethnic, social or cultic group. Neither is the question of belonging a matter of some divine lottery where God, arbitrarily, elects from all eternity some to be his sheep while others not belonging are predestined to go to hell.  Such distorted and reactive theology does not help and does not sit with that other saying attributed to Jesus in John 3:17:

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

To hear

But, the idea of following and being called together is key to understanding a call in the Gospel of John. While each one must listen and be still and wait, the question of calling is essentially a communal one and no better place to start from than the Gospel of John full as it is with ideas of communion, reciprocity, faith understood as relationship and life understood as togetherness in the very life of a God who is community in three persons. 

In times past the fourth Sunday of Easter, which is still referred to as ‘Vocations Sunday’, coincided with the last school of term when Leaving Certificate/A Levels or Intermediate Certificate/O Levels or the rest were preparing for what lay ahead. ‘Vocations Directors’ were extra busy.  In an average Irish boys’ secondary school it would have been unusual if at least a few in the class were not seriously thinking about ‘a vocation to the church’. Of course, in the years following Vatican Council II in the Roman Catholic church teachers, priests and others were anxious to emphasise that ‘vocation’ is for everyone in the royal priesthood of Jesus and that everyone was called to holiness of living – a point long emphasised in the churches of the reformation.

In these mature times a young woman or man of 18 years would be sent away for help if they dared seek entry to a seminary, monastery or convent as the case may be.  For sure there has been a huge crisis here in the Western world with parishes amalgamating, religious houses closing, churches being turned into grotesque pubs and houses of training and formation been sold off to hotels or other institutions.  Yet, there is a flourishing of many different forms of ministry ‘at the edges’ and among people who traditionally were excluded either by reason of custom or some convoluted and questionable theological system of ideas. We see, today, large numbers of lay women, for example, following courses in theology and/or pastoral care for priest-less parishes. We see people in their fifties and even older turning up to vocation workshops and other events to explore a possible calling.

This is the context for Vocation Sunday 17^th April. The Church of England recently posted the following on its website here:

The young are called; the elderly are called. There is no retirement from the Christian pilgrimage. …...Women are called and men are called…..God 'has no favourites' ….We are all called no matter what our occupations may be.  There is no special status in the Kingdom for those in 'top jobs' or 'important responsibilities'

On this side of the Irish Sea there are encouraging signs of life in at least one diocese of the Church of Ireland where scores of lay people of all ages and conditions of life are preparing to become ‘evangelists’. Apparently, a sustained and intense period of prayer over many months and years has yielded fruit. One should never despair.

To know

But how does anyone ‘know’ their calling?  We are where we are by reason of God’s plan. Even if we think we have messed up and are in the wrong place or situation we must recognise (‘know’ or ‘relate to’) the mysterious hand of God who writes straight on our crooked lines.  To know our calling means allowing the flow of life in our given situation to lead us.  The first step in ‘knowing’ is honestly accepting our ‘not knowing’. Full immersion in the sacrament of the present moment with all its unknowing is the gateway to knowledge of grace. We are never alone. Others arrive at the right time and in the right way to nudge us and confirm our inklings.  Others might also be sent to try us by putting obstacles in our way and opposing the very idea of a particular path.

To follow

The hardest bit is saying ‘yes’ (with an honest and open heart). The not so hard bit is following. However, at a certain point of following fresh trials arrive in the form of significant doubts and obstacles including our own brokenness.  ‘It was all an illusion’ a voice whispers to us various plausible objections and reasons to go no further.  In the end, if the Shepherd calls you He calls you and nobody including yourself can stop you. And he calls you not because you are intelligent, holy or meritorious but because He has placed particular gifts in you for sharing with others.

To hear, know and follow God’s call in the depth of your heart is freedom, joy and life. It is marked in the beginning at baptism and never leaves us until our last breath.

Cast your nets

 ‘…Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some… (John 21:5)

John 21:1-19 (Year C: Easter +3)

                                          Pacman

No picnic

Chapter 21 of the gospel of John is like an addendum – an important one at that.  Unique to the fourth gospel we encounter the Risen Christ on the lakeshore. Yet, it bears an extraordinary resemblance to the pre-resurrection story of the miraculous catch of fish found in Luke 5:1-10.  Back in Luke 5 we hear of the first call of disciples in the context of fishing where they had worked all night and had caught nothing.  Then in another pre-resurrection story found in Matthew 14:22-23 we read of Peter walking on the water while there was a storm on the lake.  In each story, Peter plays a vital role based on God’s initiative and the this disciple’s response in faith/trust. To some extent every Christian disciple can see a Peter character in themselves.

There is a tender, compassionate and tragic conversation between Jesus and Peter in which three professions of loyalty and love seal Peter’s fate and matches his betrayal three times earlier when the cock crowed on the morning of Good Friday.    The passage ends with a very telling and simple point – ‘Follow me’ (v. 19).

Even if the addition of John 21 was a measured attempt to reinstate Peter after his disgraceful betrayal on Good Friday the closing chapter of John offers a daunting challenge to anyone who might follow the example of Peter.  Essentially, the resurrection story is that all will end well in the all-ness of time but for the foreseeable future following Jesus is no picnic especially if someone has a role of leading entrusted to them.

The sea of Tiberias

John is given to numbers – seven disciples by the Lake that day,100 metres from the shore, 153 fish, three affirmations as well as times and seasons – night, daybreak, as well as food sharing – a breakfast of bread and fish.  The resurrection stories we hear in the four gospels have a common thread – human endeavour, pain and struggle are followed by a surprise visit, an experience of peace and joy, and then a sign and a commissioning. John, in the very final chapter of the fourth gospel, tells of the disciples fishing on the ‘Sea of Tiberias’ or the Sea of Galilee which is approximately two thirds of the size of Lough Neagh in Ireland. This area plays an important role in the life and ministry of Jesus. This is where the first disciples were called and where many of Jesus’ early miracles were performed.  It is also where many of the early followers of Jesus made their living.   Water is never far from these stories whether at the baptism of Jesus or the calming of the storm on the sea or in this post-resurrection scene. 

Taking time out back on home ground

The disciples were struggling. They were shell-shocked after the terrible events leading up to Jesus’ execution.  They were still coming to terms with the experience of meeting the Risen Jesus. But, they also needed to eat! And, Peter needed to get out there and get on with their work. There was no point in remaining holed up in some cave or room back in Jersalem which, by now, would have been a dangerous place for followers of rabbi Jesus.  The fishermen that Jesus called were back on home ground away from the trauma of Jerusalem and yet, in a strange way, back to where it all started one day when they were fishing. What human feelings of loss, nostalgia and thankfulness must have been their’s as they were constantly reminded of those early days in that very place full of memories and signs and extraordinary happenings and inner joy they had never known before.

Discouragement on the journey

Back to now. They fished all night and caught nothing. Sounds familiar? (see Luke 5:1-11).  We, too, can labour all day and all night and see little return or impact from what we do.  Those charged with leadership and particular service in the Christian community may experience long periods of feeling useless, ineffective or, worse still, weighed down by guilt leading to despair. Why is there no yield? Why will nobody listen? Is it my fault? Is ‘their’ fault? Why do we seem, in places, to be dying as a community clinging to structures and customs like ship-wrecked persons clinging to flotsam as the boat slips down?

When all seems lost, dark, pointless and arid we are challenged to put our trust in the unseen Lord, the ever present Friend and the silent Guest who watches us – as it were – from the shore.  But, they did not recognise this Friend at first. They needed to go to spiritual specsavers!  Alas, the Spiritual Specsaver was there in front of them and as soon as he was recognised Peter characteristically dived into the water.  Far be it from anyone to presume on a ‘miraculous catch’ here and now or any other time.  But, if we hold on in faith and hope to our call as we understand and follow it and as others have affirmed it then we can be confident that God will direct us in some good way. As someone tweeted the other day within the constraint of 140 characters:

Don’t give up on the things that God has placed in your heart; keep pushing and praying He will direct you

Someone stands near us

‘Just after daybreak’ (v. 4) when the Sun had come up in the East the Son of true Light who is risen stood on the shore. And he stands on our shore.

What awaited the disciples when they came ashore was a hearty breakfast of bread and fish. Bread is at the centre of Jesus’ teaching and ministry and in the sacramental life we touch and see water, bread, wine and oil and much more besides. There is no limit to the creativeness of God revealed in Jesus. And we may note that the fish cooked that morning was supplied, at least in part, by the disciples earlier when they cast their nets.  We bring our gifts to the table because our ‘gifts’ have been ‘gifted’ by others or Another.

There is something hugely significant in the final words addressed to Peter (v. 18):

But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.

And John adds the observation that Jesus (v. 19):

.. said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.

Here, there is a clear prophecy of what lies before Peter in terms of martyrdom and suffering.  But, we can also apply this in a somewhat modern setting characterised by much longer life expectancy because the reality of growing old and been led somewhere in the care of others is the experience of not a few as families deal with dementia and other gradually incapacitating conditions.  While we do not know what lies ahead for each of one us we can be confident of God’s presence and love for each one of us no matter what happens. He is there, always, for us just as he stood on the shore watching and inviting and hosting and re-affirming and sending us out.

Thinking and Believing Today

 ‘…Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe … (John 20:29)

John 20:19-31 (Year C: Easter +2)

(Sometimes this is called ‘Low Sunday’ after the ‘High’ of last Easter Sunday. In some traditions this Sunday is referred to as ‘Mercy Sunday’ marking a special celebration of Jesus’ mercy.)

‘Thinking’ and ‘believing’ go together. However, since the age of enlightenment people have pushed the boundaries of thinking and human reason to a point where, in the fullness of time, and here in Europe belief in a supernatural being has been relegated to the domain of private opinion and choice.  This is a pity because ‘reason’ and ‘faith’ can and do complement each other. As pointed out last Sunday the act of, and will to, believe that Jesus rose from the dead and is now alive among us and within the hearts and minds of each one is central to Christian belief and practice. Without this cornerstone our faith would be in vain and we, of all people, would be most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19).

The evangelist, John, is about to finish his book with a bang. In the space of one half of the second last chapter (or was it the last until chapter 21 was added?) we hear about the resurrection, the primary role of women in witnessing and telling of the resurrection, the struggles of doubting Thomas, the call to mercy and a ministry of forgiveness, the sending out on mission, the few words spoken by Jesus in the period after his resurrection and, finally, the statement of purpose in this gospel of John:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

‘that through believing’ we might have life in the name of Jesus. That’s it. Grace, Response through faith and eternal life in the time to come as well as here and now. Very simple! But, does any of this make sense in a 21^st century world someone asks? 

Making sense of if today

We need to enter into a respectful and learning attitude towards the world that has, in many ways, moved beyond the core beliefs and practices of orthodox Christianity (taking the word orthodox in its widest application to all Christians who profess Jesus as both Saviour and as God).  We are, after all, asked to love God with all our faculties including our minds (Luke 10:27):

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.

With all our mind and not just part of it …. Tragically, some Christian folk distrust the mind as something separate and subordinate along with that other untrustworthy thing called the body. Yet, all of these faculties, which form part of the whole are to be cherished and used lovingly to bring glory to God and freedom to humanity. Instead we fall into the trap of incomplete human development. A form of this is a type of belief and practice that is born out of fear and ignorance. When confronted with a world of ideas, relationships and evidence we may retreat into the ‘certainties of our age’. Now the certainties of our age can take many forms. I will refer to only three of them that seem particularly relevant to this Sunday’s reading:

• Scientific reductionism
• Biblical literalism
• Absolute and unqualified ecclesial infallibility across the board.

Ecclesial infallibilism

Let’s get the third one of the way first.  Finding solace and refuge in religion many a ‘convert’ elevates ‘mother church’ or some leader in same to a pedestal and status that is not consistent with faith as living, growing and personal relationship.  Put another way, ‘the church teaches’ or ‘the pope says’ are convenient ways of avoiding painful, sometimes bitter but always fruitful struggles on the part of thoughtful and grounded disciples. The hard work of thinking through, reviewing, changing, adapting but above all listening to others and to one’s heart and mind does not come easy for some of us.

Biblical literalism serves a very similar role to that of ecclesial infallibilism – it elevates some version or other of sacred scripture to a position of exact, legal and rational interpretation that admits of no living tradition, experience and depth. Everything is set in stone (sometimes literally) so that each one must follow a blueprint and believe in the exact same formulations. Now, unity of doctrine and practice on the ‘essentials’ is a good and necessary thing any time in the history of church. However, we need to go back to the sources with informed minds and open hearts. Even ‘the devil can cite scripture’ as William Shakespeare has it in The Merchant of Venice.  The sad reality today whether in Lahore, London or Limerick is that this insight of Shakespeare is very true. Of course, any serious scholar will quickly spot that the biblical literalists are selective in which passages or extracts they cite to advance their particular theological project or schema.

And, then, there are the scientific reductionists. These come in different forms and guises from the half-informed scientist or would-be-scientist as well as the people who live and move in a very incomplete world lacking in trust and imagination.  In many ways classical scientific reductionism is dead and along with it 20^th century ‘scientific socialism’ (the very term insults both socialism and science).  Thanks to science we are, perhaps, more aware than was the case in previous generations that our knowledge is limited and that there is much that we do not know or cannot know.

One characteristic binds together the ecclesial infallibilists, the biblical literalists and the scientific reductionists together is fear and deep insecurity masquerading as certainty. They know they are right (and by inference others are wrong) because they have it on high authority from a book, a pronouncement or a some scientific tract – so they claim. However, the pretenders to certainty remain locked behind closed doors as the 10 disciples were (where was Thomas?) because they had not still met the Risen one and had not yet fully received his Holy Spirit for the mission at hand.

A 21^st century Thomas

In a way Thomas – who was chided for lack of faith – was a very pre-modern character for us today.  He didn’t take the word of his ecclesial comrades because he wanted to ‘see the evidence’ for himself. Neither was he prepared to entrust himself to some biblical certainty in the prophets.  Ultimately, it was for Thomas a personal encounter with the living Christ – but crucially in the company, life and mutual love of others –  that made all the difference. And though we may not be able to see or touch or reason in the way our ancestors in faith did we are no less vulnerable to the challenge of faith in a world crying out for the risen life of Jesus.  Grounded in the here and anchored to the present moment we, too, can taste this risen life to such an extent that we cry out ‘My Lord and my God’. There we will find that peace (v. 19), that joy (v. 20) and that freedom (v. 23) that stands out in this story of the resurrection.