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In Lent, Jesus taught us how to recommit ourselves to the Suffering Servant and join his sacrifice. In the Easter Season, he teaches us how to commit ourselves to his Risen Life and join him in his joy.
On the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A, he makes a key turn in that journey, drawing our attention to the place of safety and peace on the other side of the cross.
Ironically, his consoling words about heaven come immediately after his disturbing words about betrayal.
“Let not your hearts be troubled,” is the first thing Jesus says in this Sunday’s passage from the Gospel of John. In context, these are the very next words after Jesus tells his apostles that one of them will betray him tells Peter that “the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] will not crow before you deny me three times.”
We can take “Let not your hearts be troubled” in the same spirit. It’s not the Risen Lord saying, “Don’t worry, the battle is over. Nothing bad will happen.” It’s the Man of Sorrows on the eve of destruction saying, “Everything is about to fall apart, but stay strong.”
The context makes everything clearer. Why does he say “You have faith in God; have faith also in me”? Because the Apostles, good Jews, know all about believing in God through difficulties — slavery in Egypt, wandering in the desert, fearsome battles, and humiliating exile — and they are about to need all the faith and hope they can muster.
And in context, when he says his Father’s house has many rooms and “I am going to prepare a place for you,” imagine him like a hero crouching next to the wounded in a nighttime battlefield saying, “I’ll go clear a path through the enemy for us, then I’ll come back and get you.”
He wants to recast the darkness they are walking into from ignominious defeat on the cross to a glorious new exodus out of the dark valley the enemy has lured them into.
Continued below.
media.benedictine.edu
On the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A, he makes a key turn in that journey, drawing our attention to the place of safety and peace on the other side of the cross.
Ironically, his consoling words about heaven come immediately after his disturbing words about betrayal.
“Let not your hearts be troubled,” is the first thing Jesus says in this Sunday’s passage from the Gospel of John. In context, these are the very next words after Jesus tells his apostles that one of them will betray him tells Peter that “the [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] will not crow before you deny me three times.”
We can take “Let not your hearts be troubled” in the same spirit. It’s not the Risen Lord saying, “Don’t worry, the battle is over. Nothing bad will happen.” It’s the Man of Sorrows on the eve of destruction saying, “Everything is about to fall apart, but stay strong.”
The context makes everything clearer. Why does he say “You have faith in God; have faith also in me”? Because the Apostles, good Jews, know all about believing in God through difficulties — slavery in Egypt, wandering in the desert, fearsome battles, and humiliating exile — and they are about to need all the faith and hope they can muster.
And in context, when he says his Father’s house has many rooms and “I am going to prepare a place for you,” imagine him like a hero crouching next to the wounded in a nighttime battlefield saying, “I’ll go clear a path through the enemy for us, then I’ll come back and get you.”
He wants to recast the darkness they are walking into from ignominious defeat on the cross to a glorious new exodus out of the dark valley the enemy has lured them into.
Continued below.
This Sunday, Jesus’s Rescue Mission and Ours
The way is hard, but every inch is lit by his light and every step empowered by his life. He expects us to be carrying the wounded when we come.
media.benedictine.edu
