Word to the Wise
Monday, May 22, 2023 - 7th Week of Easter - Mon
[Acts 19:1-8 and John 16:29-33]The disciples said to Jesus, "Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God."
The statement of the disciples seems a bit strange in the light of the entire Last Supper discourse. In point of fact, they (and we) would not know what Jesus was talking about until after his death and resurrection and (especially in the Gospel According to John) his "return" to the Father. The event of the return is celebrated in the feast of the Ascension - this past Sunday, for example. The meaning of the return would take awhile to develop. After all, the Gospel According to John was composed some sixty to eighty years after the events being described. There were different "traditions" of what happened in that Upper Room on that fateful night, and the evangelist has combined and stitched together some of these in one quilt.
Different "patches" in that quilt can catch the attention on different occasions. This time, Jesus' rather cryptic response to the disciples' enthusiasm seems worth noting: "Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone." That is exactly what would happen. When the mob came to the Garden of Gethsemane, the disciples fled. Peter would deny he even knew Jesus! Can we blame them? How courageous is OUR faith when "the chips are down?" The disciples were "all in" at the table, but "all out" in the Garden of Gethsemane. Are we "all in" at Mass and "all out" when we leave? AMEN
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