Dear Preachers:

Today’s gospel takes us back to the Last Supper. This seems strange since we are in the Easter season and expect such reading during Holy Week. But our own times are reflected in this reading.  Jesus’ impending suffering and death will have unsettling effects on the disciples.  Jesus is preparing his followers, not only for “the hour” of his passion and death, but also for the subsequent days during which they will find themselves without his daily, visible presence for guidance and strength.  These times will become very difficult for them. So he needs to reassure them and us, that they will not be left to navigate through the storms on their own.

Jesus is addressing his disciples;  it is his Last Discourse.  His tone and words convey a calm before the storm.  Jesus is reflective, concerned and gentle as he instructs his disciples for the last time.  He must give both them and the future community (us) courage for what is immediately going to happen to them. He is like a parent who soothes the anxiety of his/her children by telling them, “There, there, everything is going to be alright.”  What is going to happen to him will be painful, but in the long run, it will be for their benefit, for he goes to prepare a place for them.  “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling  places.” 

I have often read this passage at the bed of a dying person, or a funeral. It is very comforting to hear Jesus’ promise of a dwelling place for his disciples.  A place with God is waiting us and the knowledge of that place of security with God is both comforting and encouraging.  But in the theology of John’s gospel, what is promised and waiting for us – has already begun.  If Jesus has prepared a dwelling place for us, it is available to us now.  His disciples do not live detached from the world, but are touched by it and face its challenges daily.  We try to be a sign of Christ in a world that is tumultuous and often feels like a foreign land.  Each of us has a special calling to live our unique lives in our  family, job, school, and service to those in need.  No two of us live in exactly the same way and so no two “dwelling places”  are the same,  for each of us has a special share in God’s life. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.”  Though we face confusion, ambiguity, struggle and challenge to our faith, we still dwell and share life with the divine.  Jesus has not left us orphans on our own.  By his death, resurrection and breathing of the Holy Spirit on us, Jesus has, in a manner of speaking, moved over and made room for us in God.

Thomas wants to know the traveling directions to where Jesus is going, “...how can we know the way?”  But Jesus is using “way” to mean his way of living. Jesus has, as he promised, returned to God, and has been “glorified.”  He chose the way to God through suffering and death.  The way others have rejected, Jesus chose as his and he invites his disciples to follow.  His is the way of giving and sacrifice and because of what he did and who he is, we too can live his “way to the Father.”  Believing in him and his way assures us that, in some real sense, we have already arrived into God’s presence. Though more is yet to come.

Jesus’ promise speaks to the itinerants among us – and we are all itinerants who have stopping-off places at various moments on life’s journey.  We first live our lives with our parents, then we set out on our own. Many “stopping-off places” follow:  we start a career, or go to college, marry, have children, work out relationships, face the challenges of sickness and old age.  Each stage of our lives we carry much with us that life has given;  both in blessing and injury.  But each new moment also offers us another “dwelling place”  where we experience the life of God for us and in which we receive help as we strive to live the “way” Jesus taught us.  (“I am the way and the truth and the life.”)   There are no guarantees in life – except that as we move through the changing landscape, we do so in Jesus’ assurance that we dwell with God.  Jesus has gone ahead so that he can come back and take us to God – now.

What “troubles” our hearts these days?  One could easily wonder,  as the disciples must have a couple days after their dinner with Jesus when the authorities were looking for them – “So where is Jesus when we need him?  Is he who he says he is?  Why doesn’t he show himself and help us end the ‘Good Friday sufferings’ in the world?”  Like the disciples, we too can feel left behind trying to figure out the mess we are in and the seeming absence of God.  These words of Jesus today assure us that God is not just up ahead waiting for us.  We already dwell with God. That much is secure in our unstable world.   In addition, anything we undertake to right the wrongs of our world, we do with the faith that God is up close to us – dwelling with us.

Have you noticed, as you read through the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, how frequently the number of new Christians is mentioned?  Last week, "Three thousand were added to their number."  Today another mention of growth is given, "The number of the disciples increased greatly...." I know we don't want to measure our success by numbers: the Gospel is not a popularity contest.  The fact is, if we are faithful to the Gospel we may repel people;  our history will bear this out by the death of our Founder and the innumerable martyrs who have died for the Gospel through the ages.  Nevertheless, the early community had a great growth and they saw it as a sign of Christ's working among them.  The miracles he worked in his lifetime, Luke seems to be telling us, are continuing in the life of the early church. And that is attracting people, as they once were attracted to Jesus.  The promised new order has begun, and the community is a sign of that new order.

One of the promises made in the Hebrew scriptures about the new order was that there would be no poor in the community established by God.  All were to share in abundance.  (Deut. 15: 4-5) When we celebrate Eucharist, we share in the abundance God has for us – Christ, the great gift to the church.  We eat the same food, without distinctions.  There are to be no barriers in this community.  Thus, the dispute over the neglect of the widows of the Hellenists ( i.e. a person Greek in language, outlook, and way of life but not Greek in ancestry; especially a Hellenized Jew.) is settled so that no one is neglected.  The "laying on of hands" when it appears in Acts, does not mean an ordination service as much as a call to special ministry, something of importance in the early church.  The ones selected to care for the hungry are presented to the apostles to be prayed over and have hands imposes on them.  That the poor be attended to then is important, not just a job assignment; God wills this ministry, and the early community is in agreement over its importance.

The preacher might address:  the care of the needy in this parish community, it is a serious ministry and not just a peripheral job.  Our community will increase if people see the signs of the living Christ in our midst; one such sign is the care of the hungry: the image of the "hungry widows"

The selection from 1 Peter today is an upbeat reading.  There is enough to remind us of how far we still are from being the community Christ intends us to be:  there is division in our ranks; scandal among our clergy;  a comfortable life for many of us Christians of the first world;  a neglect of the poor;  an over-identification with our culture and its “isms”, etc.  But for today, Peter calls us to look at the dignity of our vocation.  These post Easter readings help those newly baptized, and us “old timers,” reflect on the dignity of our call and the community into which we have been baptized. 

The author, possibly Peter himself, says we are a building that consists of “living stones.”  And more – these living stones, the baptized, are a “holy priesthood,” offering “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  So, while not blind to who and what we still must become to truly be called the community of Christ’s followers, here is a chance to celebrate the dignity and exalted calling of the congregation. 

Click here for a link to this Sunday’s readings:

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050326.cfm