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May 3-31: Easter 5 to Trinity
Introduction:
The readings for four of the Sundays (Easter 5 to Pentecost) are from John 15-17. (The one for Trinity Sunday is from John 3 and stands alone.)
John 13 is this writer’s account of the last supper, and 14-17 are, we should presume, intended to be the teaching of Jesus ‘over the table’ so to speak, because after that Jesus and his disciples go together to theKidron Valley (John 18.1) where Jesus is betrayed by Judas. They are sometimes referred to as the ‘final discourses’
Serving as ‘bookends’ to this passage are the accounts of the raising of Lazarus (John 11) and the resurrection of Jesus (John 20)
All this emphasises the craft of the gospel writer as the story is shaped.
The content of this discourse is not to be wrestled with by asking questions like: ‘what would the disciples understand by this?’ This ‘trying to put one’s self into the minds of the disciples’ would only serve to confirm the mystery of this teaching.
It would have been
Jesus says to them (16.4) ‘I have said these things …..so that when theirhour comes you may remember that I told you about them’. So the questions by which we interrogate this scripture should be shaped in the light of the disciples’ later experience.
We also need to remind ourselves that this gospel is dated to the late first century and is written for a post resurrection community ‘so that you might come to believe that Jesus …..’ (20.11). And of course we are the continuation of that post resurrection community, so the questions we need to be asking are:
At the start of Chapter 14 Jesus begins to prepare the disciples for what is to come: He knows that at least separation from them, and probably death, is on his immediate horizon and he assures them of his continued presence (14:18-27) a promise that is repeated in (16: 4b-20) the reading for Pentecost Sunday.
May 3 Easter 5 John 15: 1-8
This uses a familiar horticultural image of pruning to improve growth and quality. It begins gently and has a caring feel to it, but by verse 6 a sense of harshness is creeping in. We should be careful not to let this take us towards a judgemental and vengeful God rather than the God who loves (v9). Perhaps the strength of the language comes from a concern that no one should be lost.
Let’s rather concentrate on the use of the word ‘abide’ that is used to mean ‘remain joined on’. It has a warm, cosy, ‘wrap-around’ feel to it. ‘Abide’ and ‘abode’ are very similar words - make your home in me andlet my words make their home in you. There is that hymn that begins ‘may the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day’ it may be appropriate for today and/or for next week (May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea...)
May 10 Easter 6: John 15: 9-17
This extends the ‘abiding’ from person and words to love - make your home in my love and let my love make its home in you!
It develops the relationship from just being a ‘joined on branch’ to being an integral ‘friend’. This friendship is more than the disciples wantingand choosing Jesus to be their friend, it is also Jesus wanting andchoosing them to be his friends … there is a mutuality in this relationship.
We are taken forward from just friendship to love,
This passage moves us forward from “Love your neighbour as yourself”!
The post crucifixion/resurrection/Pentecost experiences of the disciples and of the audience of this gospel would grasp both the significance of this ‘no greater love’ and the integral friendship marked by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
May 17 Easter 7: John 17: 6-18
Jesus changes from teaching mode to praying mode.
He delivers powerful words of encouragement that stand true forfollowers of Jesus from those first disciples to the present day: “In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!”. (Given the events in Kenya during Holy Week this year (2015), they have real significance.)
These words shape the body of the prayer which is for the continued protection of those who follow in the way of Jesus Christ. There is much to be worked on in this passage:
May 24: Pentecost John 16: 4b-19
“A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me” (v 16 and 19) would seem quite confusing and mysterious to those disciples seated around the table. These words would be much more clearly understood in the light of crucifixion and resurrection. However these verses take us further to that eternal and indwelling presence.
The reading offers that presence as a promise, Pentecost realises that promise. Pentecost is the beginning of the followers of Jesus standing on their own two feet.
There have been inspirational characters in recent generations: those that spring to mind easily are Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela (and this is not intended to detract from those of earlier generations or other contemporary characters who may spring more easily to your mind than mine). Some have identified with the Christian faith, others have embraced values of the kingdom of God without necessarily acknowledging it. There is something, not of this world, that has empowered and sustained them.
Jesus promises a ‘something’ to his disciples and calls it the Spirit of Truth. In this particular passage he uses the language of the law courts ‘an Advocate’, elsewhere we find ‘comforter’ or ‘teacher’ fits. In Ch 14 v17 we find again that word abide ‘You know him (the spirit of truth/advocate) because he abides with you and is in you’
The Acts reading for the day, and quite a number of our hymns, engage us with the Holy Spirit but here we have the Advocate.
An advocate is one who represents and in a court of law there is one for the prosecution and one for the defence … the Spirit of Truth is both prosecution and defence, it is about justice and mercy.
The indwelling of the Spirit confers an advocacy role on God’s people:
May 31: Trinity Sunday John 3 1-17
Trinity is a doctrine of the Church, a formulaic way of speaking about God. If scholarship is to be trusted, this formula, expressed fully in 2Cor 13:13 (written mid first century), was shaped decades ahead of the writing of John’s gospel (late first century) so we should expect to find evidence of this interconnectedness in the language and writings of the early church. In this encounter with Nichodemus we see evidence of all three: There is the love of a father for the world, there is the sacrificial love of the Son (who will be ‘lifted up’) and the renewing power of the Spirit.
There is therefore material for the person who wants to remain true to the theme of the day, but perhaps the passage is better explored as ‘standing alone’ from the previous 4 weeks, and before our calendar returns to Ordinary Time and to the gospel of Mark.
The passage follows Jesus ‘purging the temple’ (ch 2) and in chapters 3 and 4 Jesus encounters three quite different characters: Nichodemuswho comes to him in secret, a Samaritan woman with whom the encounter seems to be by chance, and a royal official who sought out Jesus in order to ask Jesus to heal his son. Perhaps there is some significance in the variety of people and the context of the encounters!
Nichodemus had some knowledge, either first hand or by hearsay, of what Jesus was doing and saying and recognised that it was of God (v2). Nichodemus appears to be either unable or unwilling to take anything from the ensuing conversation about being born from above.
From our post-pentecost and therefore post-resurrection perspective
A little later there follows a statement (3:17) of God’s ambition for the world: not condemnation but salvation. The determinant of this salvation is belief in Jesus (described as the Son of God). It then becomes interesting to speculate whether this belief demands baptism, whether it is belief in the sonship of Jesus, or whether it is simply belief that the way of living both taught and lived by Jesus Christ will determine the course of the world’s future for good.
