The words of the Master flowed more freely once the restraint of the traitor had been removed. Furthermore, the departure of Judas Iscariot on his mission of betrayal brought the Cross within a measurable distance of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He now spoke to His Apostles as if He was feeling the crossbeams. If His death would be glorifying, it must have been because something would be done by it which was not accomplished by His words, miracles, and healing of the sick. All through His life He had been trying to communicate His love for mankind, but it was not until His Body, like the alabaster box, would be broken, that the perfume of His love would pervade the universe. Jesus said also that, in His Cross, God the Father was glorified. This was because His Father did not spare His own Son, but offered Him to save peoples. He put a new meaning into His death, namely, from His Cross would beam forth the pity and the pardon of God.

Jesus Christ now addressed His Apostles in two different ways: as a dying parent to His children, and as a dying Lord to His servants.

My children, for a little longer I am with you. - John 13:33 -

Here Jesus was speaking in terms of the deepest intimacy to those gathered about Him, answering their childish questions one after another, because they were infants in understanding His sacrifice, He used simple analogy of a road they could not presently travel:

Where I am going you cannot come. - John 13:33 -

When they would see the clouds of glory enveloping Him in His Ascension into heaven, then they would know why they could not presently go with Him. Later on, they would follow Him, but first they needed the schooling of Calvary and of Pentecost. How little the Apostles understood Jesus life was revealed by Peter's question:

Lord, where are you going? -  John 13:36 -

Even in his curiosity, the beautiful character of Peter was revealed, for he could not bear separation from His Master. Our Lord Jesus answered him:

Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but one day you will. - John 13:36 -

Peter was yet unfit for the deeper realization of the Resurrection. The Savior's Hour had come, but Peter's had not. As on the Mount of the Transfiguration, Peter would have had the glory without the death, so now he would have the company of the Divine Master in heaven without the Cross. Peter considered the answer of Our Blessed Lord about following Him afterward as a reflection upon his courage and fidelity. So he made another request, and declared his bravery:

Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. - John 13:37 -

Peter's emotion at that second was to follow His Master; but when the occasion to follow presented itself, Peter would not be at Calvary. Peering into Peter's heart, Our Lord Jesus foretold what would happen when there would be a chance to follow Him.

Will you indeed lay down your life for me? I tell you in very truth, before the cock crows you will have denied me three times. - John 13:38 -

The Omnipotent Mind of Our Lord Jesus pictured the fall of the one whom He had called the Rock. But after the coming of His Spirit, Peter would follow Him. This significance of this is preserved in a beautiful legend which pictures Peter flying from the persecution of Nero in Rome. Peter met the Lord Jesus on the Appian Way and said to Him, "Lord, whither goest Thou?" Our Blessed Lord Jesus answered: "I go to Rome to be crucified again." Peter went back to Rome, and was crucified on the site where the Church of Saint Peter stands today. The Sacred Heart now looked beyond that dark Hour to the days when He and His Apostles and their successors would be one with Him in Spirit. If there was any moment calculated to take a mind away from the future, it was this awful present moment. But since He had already spoken of the unity between the Apostles and Himself through the Holy Eucharist, He would take up the theme again under the figure of the vine and the branches. This unity of which He spoke was not such as existed at that moment, from within an hour they would all desert Him and flee. Rather it was the unity that would be consummated through His glorification. The figure of the vine He used was a very familiar one in the Old Testament. Israel was called a vine, the vine that was brought out of Egypt; prophet Isaiah spoke of God having planted that chosen vine. Prophet Jeremiah and prophet Hosea be moaned and complained that it was not bringing forth fruit. As Our Blessed Lord Jesus, in contrast to the manna that was given by Moses, called Himself the "True Bread"; as in contrast to the brilliant lights of the Feast of the Tabernacles, He called Himself the "True Light"; as in contrast to the temple built by hands, He called Himself the "Temple of God," so now in contrast to the vine of Israel, He said:

I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. - John 15:1 -

This unity between Himself and His followers of the new Israel would be like the unity between the vine and the branches; the same sap or grace that flowed through Him will flow through them:

I am the vine and you the branches. He who dwells in me, as I dwell in him, bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5 -

Separated from Him, a person is no better than a branch separated from a vine, dry and dead. The branch may bear clusters, but it does not produce them; He alone produces them. As He went to His death, He said that He lived, and they would live in Him. He saw beyond the Cross and affirmed that their vitality and energy would come from Him, and the relationship between them would be organic, not mechanical. He saw those who professed to be united outwardly to Him, but who nevertheless would be inwardly separated from Him, others He saw who would need a further purification by His Father through a Cross, which He speaks of in terms of a knife pruning and cutting.

Every barren branch of mine he cuts away; and every fruiting branch he cleans, to make it more fruitful still. - John 15:2 -

The ideal of the new community is holiness, the One Who holds the knife is His Heavenly Father. The object of the pruning is not the chastisement, but chastening and perfection - except in the case of those who are useless; these are excommunicated from the vine. When Our Lord Jesus first called the Apostles, He reminded them of all they must suffer for His sake. As He went to the Cross, He gave them a new understanding of His previous message that they should take up the Cross daily and follow Him. Unity with Him would come not merely from knowing His teaching, but principally from the cultivation of the Divine within them through the pruning of all that was ungodly:

He who does not dwell in me is thrown away like a withered branch. The withered branches are heaped together, thrown on fire, and burnt. - John 15:6 -

One of the effects of self-discipline to intensify this union between them and Himself would be joy. Self-denial does not bring sadness, but happiness.

I have spoken thus to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete. - John 15:11 -

Jesus talked of joy, within a few hours of the kiss of Judas Iscariot; but the joy He expressed was not in the prospect of suffering, but rather the joy of making an absolute and complete submission in love to His Father for the sake of mankind. Just as there is a kind of joy in giving a precious gift to a friend, so there is a joy in giving one's life for humanity. That joy of self-sacrifice Jesus promised would be theirs, if they kept His commandments as the commandments of His Father. The unhappy Apostles, who saw the dream of a purely earthly kingdom fade away, could not fathom His words of joy; they would understand it later only when the Spirit came upon them. Immediately after Pentecost, as they were before the same council which condemned Christ, their hearts would be so happy, because as branches they were pruned to be made one with the Vine:

So the apostles went out from the Council rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer indignity for the sake of the Name. - Acts 5:41 -

In addition to joy, a second effect of union with Him would be love.

This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13 -

Love is the normal relation of branches to one another, because all are rooted in the vine. There were to be no limits to His love. Peter once set a limit to love when he asked how many times he should forgive. Was it seven? Our Lord Jesus told him seventy times seven, which implied infinity and denied any mathematical calculation. There are to be no limits to their mutual love, for they must all ask themselves, what was the limit of His love? He had no limit, for He came to lay down His life.

Here again Jesus spoke of the purpose of His coming, namely, Redemption. The Cross is foremost. The voluntary character of it is emphasized when He said that He laid down His life; no one takes it away. His love would be like the heat of the sun: those who were nearest to it would be warm and happy; those who were farthest away would still know its light.

Only through death for others could He show love. His death would not be like the death of one man out of love for another, or like a soldier for his country, because the person who saves others must die eventually anyway. However great the sacrifice, it would be a premature payment of a debt that had to be paid. But in the case of Our Lord Savior, He need not have died at all. No one could take away His life from Him. Though He called those for whom He died "friends" the friendship was all on His side and not on ours, for as sinners we were enemies. John later on expressed it well when he said that He died for us while we were yet sinners.

Sinners can show a love for one another by taking the punishment which another deserves. But Our Blessed Lord was not only taking the punishment but also taking the guilt as if it were His own. Furthermore, this death that He was about to die would be quite different from the death of martyrs for His cause, since they have the example of His death and the expectancy of the glory which He promised. But to die upon the Cross without a pitying eye, to be surrounded by a multitude who mocked Him, and to die without being obliged to die - such was the peak of love. The Apostles could not understand such depths of affection, but they would later on. Peter, who then understood nothing about such sacrificial love, later on, seeing his sheep go to death under Roman persecution, would tell them:

For it is a fine thing if a man endure the pain of undeserved suffering because God is in his thoughts. What credit is there in fortitude when you have done wrong and are beaten for it? But when you have behaved well and suffer for it, your fortitude is a fine thing in the sight of God. To that you were called, because Christ suffered on your behalf, and thereby left you an example; it is for you to follow in his steps. - 1Peter 2:19-21 -

John too, would paraphrase what he heard that night, as he leaned against the heart of Christ:

It is by this that we know what love is: that Christ laid down his life for us. And we in our turn are bound to lay down our lives for our brothers. - 1John 3:16 -

After having finished His discourse about the unity existing between His Apostles and Himself, Our Lord Jesus passed to the next subject which logically followed, namely, their separation from those who did not share His Spirit and His life. He was  referring not just to a condition or opposition that would exist between His followers and the world immediately after His leaving the world, but rather to a permanent and an inevitable condition. The contrast was between the great mass of unregenerate and unbelieving who would refuse to accept Him, and those who would be united to Him as branches to vine. The world of which He spoke was not the physical universe or the cosmos but rather a spirit, a Zeitgeist, a unity of the forces of evil against the forces of good. The Beatitudes set Him in immediate opposition to the world, and therefore prepared for His Cross. Now He warned them that they too would have a Cross, if they were really His disciples. To have no Cross would make one suspect of lacking the indelible brand of being one of His own.

If the world hates you, it hated me first, as you know well. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because I have chosen you out of the world, for that reason the world hates you. - John 15:18-19 -

Seven times during this discourse on the world, Jesus used the word "hate" - a solemn witness to its persistence and enmity. The world loves the worldly; but to preserve its codes, practices, and mental fashions, it must hate the unworldly or the Divine. Let the Apostles or any of His followers join a sun cult or an Oriental sect; will they find themselves hated? No, that is because the world knows its own. Let them be one in Christ following rigorously His commandments; will they be hated? Yes, "Because I have singled you out of the midst of the world." For the moment, the Apostles could not understand this hate; even after Christ Jesus Resurrection they were unmolested and permitted to go back to their nets and boats. But once He ascended into heaven and sent His Spirit, they would experience the full malignity of the world's hate. James, who heard these words at the Last Supper, would later repeated them from knowledge and experience:

You false, unfaithful creatures? Have you never learned that love of the world is enmity to God? Whoever chooses to be the world's friend makes himself God's enemy. - James 4:4 -

John, too, would remind his people that the world is antagonistic to Christ.

Do not set your hearts on the godless world or anything in it. Anyone who loves the world is a stranger to the Father's love. - 1John 2:15 -

Our Lord Jesus gave no hope of converting everyone in the world; the masses would be won by the spirit of the world than by Him. To share His life was to share His fate. The world would hate His followers, not because of evil in their lives, but precisely because of the absence of evil or rather their goodness. Goodness does not cause hatred, but it gives occasion for hatred to manifest itself. The holier and purer a life, the more it would attract malignity and hate. Mediocrity alone survives. Perfect Innocence must be crucified in the world where there is still evil. As the diseased eye dreads the light so an evil conscience dreads goodness which reproves it. The world's hatred is not innocent or guiltless:

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin; he who hates me, hates my Father... However, this text in their Law had to come true: They hated me without reason. - John 15:22-25 -

Their hatred for Jesus revealed their hatred for the Father. Evil has no capital of its own, it is a parasite on goodness. Pure hatred draws its blood from contact with goodness; this makes hell begin on earth, but it does not make it end here. His Gospel, He said, would in one way aggravate men's sin by their willful rejection of it. There had been sin and evil throughout history; they were Cains who killed Abel, the Gentiles who persecuted the Jews, Saul's who sought to kill David's, but all that evil was a trifling thing compared, the Lord Jesus was saying, to the monstrous evil that would be done Him. He had taught that there would be degrees of punishment meted out to those who were lost; now He added that the degree would be determined by the degree of light that they had sinned against. His coming had brought a new standard of measurement into the world. It would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for Capernaum, because the latter had turned its back upon the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

This spirit of enmity against Him would not be only while He lived or while the Apostles lived, but as long as time endured. When Alexander the Great died, no one raised clenched fists over his grave; hatred against any tyrant perished with the tyrant. But hatred against Jesus would live on, because He lives - "the same, yesterday, today, and for ever." To be forewarned was to be forearmed.

The time is coming when anyone kills you will suppose that he is performing a religious duty. - John 16:2 -

From uncharitable censures, men would pass even to taking the lives of His followers. And they would do so under the persuasion that they were acting religiously, as the Scribes and Pharisees did, and as Paul [Saul] too did, before the Lord Jesus Christ called him, that is, before his conversion to Christianity. What He predicted for His followers came to pass: Matthew suffered martyrdom by the sword in Ethiopia; Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria unto his death; Luke was hanged on an olive tree in Greece; Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downward; James was beheaded at Jerusalem; James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle of the temple and beaten to death below; Philip was hanged against a pillar in Phrygia; Bartholomew was flayed alive; Andrew was bound to a cross, and he preached to his persecutors till he died; Thomas had his body pierced; Jude was shot to death with arrows; Mathias was first stoned and then beheaded. It is very likely when these things happened, they recalled the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ at the Last Supper:

I have told you all this so that when the time comes for it to happen you may remember my warning. - John 16:4 -

The counsel that he was giving to His Apostles about the expectation of the Cross in their own lives was a proof that the Cross was paramount in His own. To His followers, He promised in this world no immunity from evil, but He promised victory over it:

I have told you all this so that in me you may find peace. In the world you will have trouble. But courage! The victory is mine; I have conquered the world. - John 16:33 -

The enjoyment of peace was not inconsistent with the endurance of tribulation. Peace is in the soul, and comes from union with Him, though the body may feel pain. Trials, tribulation, anguish, anxiety are permitted by the very One Who gives peace.

The next subject which engaged the attention of the Savior the night of His agony, was the Holy Spirit...

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -