If you love Me, obey Me

5TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

[ John 14: 15-21 ]

   “How can we know the way?” [Lk 14: 5]

Like Thomas, “How can we know the way?” is our commonly asked question too. And Jesus has made it crystal clear, He Himself is ‘the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14: 6)’. Therefore, Christian hope is not in a method or in a procedure, but in the person of Jesus Himself.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

In His instruction to His disciples, Jesus challenges us and personally invites us to have an intimate relationship with Him and to believe in the One who sent Him through the works that He has been doing in His three years of public ministry. Before His departure to His Father, He promises that He will not abandon us – He will continue to be with us until the end of time. And He desires that we continue His mission by doing greater works than Himself.

   “How can we live without You?”

Philip’s question “What will happen to the disciples when Jesus departs from them?” is real and applicable, even for us today.

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” says Eleanor Roosevelt. When someone we love is away from us for some time, we will miss them. We long to communicate and have a stronger relationship with them as we move on in life. We wish for that relationship to last longer, if not forever.

Similarly, Jesus’ departure and His absence in person is necessary for the completion of His mission as well as for the growth and maturation of our faith. When Jesus is seemingly absent, we yearn for Him like the deer pants for the running water. When He is seemingly absent, we rely all the more on the GIFTS of the Holy Spirit – to bear the FRUITS of the Holy Spirit in our lives – until Jesus comes again.

When Jesus seems to be distant and absent from our lives, faith assures us that He is still here with us and within us – especially in Holy Eucharist – even though our minds fail to understand and our senses fail to grasp Him! And that is not all, the great news is: We have not lost Jesus; and He has given us His Holy Spirit! His Spirit is also here with us and within us ‘to teach us everything and remind us everything He has said’ [Jn 14: 26] and ‘guide us into all truth’ [Jn 14: 13]!

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirt.

   “Show us the Father…” [Jn 14: 8]

Philip asks Jesus [Jn 14: 8], “Master, show us the Father…”_ Like him, we too struggle to experience God personally in the everyday events of our life. We sigh often of weariness, almost of failure, for not being able to hear God’s voice.

“Seeing Me is seeing the Father,” says Jesus [Jn 14: 9]. He is not just a guide to salvation. Instead, He is the only Way to attain Eternal Life and the only Way to arrive at the Ultimate Truth.

   “If you Love Me, obey Me.” [Jn 14: 15]

Jesus the promised Messiah walks His talk as the Father commands Him. In the same way, Jesus commands His disciples to love one another by works of mercy, so that God will be manifested in the Son.

To love Jesus is to love the Father. To obey Him is to obey the Father. Hearing and reflecting over and over the message of Truth, we, as believers, are challenged to allow the Spirit of truth to work in us and work through us. 

The world cannot receive Him, neither can it look for Him because they cannot recognise Him. Jesus’ statement ‘Seeing the Son is seeing the Father’ [Jn 14: 9] is meant for those who believe in Him. As believers, we see the Father, who is invisible, through the Son who is visible, by His incarnation. And being empowered by the Holy Spirit, a true believer of Jesus is able to continue the revelatory ministry of Jesus in love and in truth.

   “If you Love Me, love one another.”

Love must be contagious. If we truly love Jesus, we would love one another as He has loved us. St John, in his letter [1 Jn 4: 20], is very clear on this, “If anyone says, ‘I love God’, but hates his brother, he is a liar.” And again, it is also popularly said that: if we cannot love our brothers and sisters whom we can see, how can we love God whom we cannot see?

The message is clear. If we truly love Jesus, then we must obey Him. If we truly love Jesus, then we must love one another as He has loved us. There is no ‘but’ in Jesus’ command. Let us therefore, love Jesus, obey Him and love one another.

Let our fervent prayer be:

   “Lord Jesus Christ, empower me with Your Holy Spirit to love and to serve.”

Let us also pray that God’s justice, peace, truth and love may prevail in Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua.

   [Note: This Gospel reflection was adapted from Herald Malaysia, Sunday Reflection, 12 May 2023.]