Word to the Wise
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 - 7th Week of Easter - Wed
[Acts 20:28-38 and John 17:11b-19]I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One......Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they may also be consecrated in truth." [John]
JUNE 1 ST. JUSTIN, martyr
The account of the Last Supper in the Gospel According to John (Chs 13-17) comes to an end with what scripture scholars have called Jesus' "high priestly prayer." Its beginning was replaced yesterday by the celebration of the feast of the Visitation, so today's passage picks up in the middle of the prayer. [I recommend reading the entire 17th chapter now to get the bigger picture.] Like much of the discourse which precedes it, the prayer has a somewhat stream-of-consciousness quality. The use of the past tense seems to indicate the evangelist's distance from the event and conditions prevailing at the time of composition. What is important is Jesus' prayer for the disciples then and now.
The central truth is Jesus, the one whom God has sent into "the world" to save it. He shares with us his relationship with the Father, gives us the Holy Spirit as "leader and guide" and sends us to "the world" to proclaim the truth of his mission. His prayer is not only for us to be faithful to that mission, but also for those who will come to believe because we are faithful. It is a powerful moment because the account of the passion begins immediately after it. Jesus has tried to prepare the disciples at table for events that will happen in a few hours, but he also "consecrates" them and us in the truth of his mission. AMEN