6th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR, NOLA
I'll
be the first to confess that all this “loving Jesus” language
makes me a little queasy. It sounds WAY too Protestant. Way too
fundamentalist Protestant for my tastes. Growing up as a heathen in
woods and hills of MS surrounded by Baptists, Pentecostals, and
Church of Christ folks left me with an aversion to talking about
Jesus in overly emotional terms. Any religious talk that was too
intimate, too personal sounded like a sales-pitch, like an attempt to
sell me a place on one of their denominational pews. We didn't talk
that way in my family. We had Bibles in the house, and no one in my
family denied the existence of God or the thought going to church was
a bad idea. . .we just didn't go. We had things to do on the
weekend – like clear land, tend gardens, and mow fields. So, when a
town-dwelling classmate started talking about Jesus as his “personal
Lord and Savior,” and bugging me about going to a revival at his
church, I found somewhere else to be. It wasn't until I discovered
and came to understand how Christ's love for me is mediated by
his Word that my ample stomach calmed down. Jesus says to the
disciples and to all of us: “Whoever loves me will keep my word. .
.”
There
are two elements in this teaching: “loving Jesus” and “keeping
his word.” These two elements are connected by an “if/then”
construction: “If you love me, then you will keep my
word.” It logically follows therefore that: “Whoever does not
love me does not keep my word.” Easy enough. Now, what does he mean
by “keep my word”? How do we do that? In everyday speech we might
say, “I will return the money I borrowed. I give you my word.”
You might respond, “Your word is good enough for me.” I've made a
promise and you've accepted that promise. That's a good start on what
Jesus means by “keeping his word,” but there's a lot more going
on here than the exchange of a promise. We know that the word “word”
is used in a number of different ways in the history of the faith.
The Father breathed the Holy Spirit over the void, speaking a single
word – Christ – and everything came to be. The Bible is
the written Word of God. Christ himself is the Word
made flesh. The Church is the body of Christ who is the word
made flesh. We are all members of that Church, and so we live united
in the Word and as individuals words dwelling in Him.
To put it a bit too poetically: each one of us is a word and we
receive our meaning and purpose as words from The Word.
So,
“keeping Jesus' word” then means that I hold in the center of my
heart and mind that I am an expression of Christ in the world for
others. I'm not just someone who calls himself a follower of Christ.
Not just someone who visits a church once a month or so, or someone
whose nana prays a rosary for me every week. But someone who gets out
of bed every morning knowing, feeling, thinking, speaking, and acting
as another Christ for those I will meet that day. This isn't a
cultural thing – like “I'm from New Orleans so I must be
Catholic” sort of thing, or a family thing – “My family is
Catholic so I must be Catholic too” – or a “Well, the man/woman
I'm marrying is Catholic so I have to be Catholic too” sort of
thing. This is a “If You Love Christ, Then You Will Keep His Word”
sort of thing. If you desire holiness, the salvation of your soul,
and the resurrection of your body come the end of the age, then you
will live your life right here and right now as Christ lives his –
fully in the presence of the Father with the Holy Spirit, keeping to
His commandments; receiving His sacraments; abiding in peace and joy
with one another; and doing every in your power to be the Word for
others in this tragic world.
I
noted earlier that I came to some peace with the “loving Jesus”
language after I discovered and came to understand that divine love
is mediated. What do I mean by “mediated”? None of us has a
direct, unfiltered experience of God's love. His love for us is
mediated – filtered – through His word: Scripture, Christ, and
creation. It's through these three mediators or filters that we come
to know and love God. Our knowledge and love of God is never just
about our emotions. We know and love with the whole person – body
and soul, intellect and will, everything we are. Never assume that
b/c you don't feel all fluttery about Jesus that you don't love him.
And never assume that your emotional attachment to some devotional
practice or prayer is evidence of your love for him. Emotions can be
deceiving. Instead, rely on what you do in his name, rely on how you
keep his word in your thoughts, words, and deeds to guide your growth
in love. And the peace and joy of Christ will be all the evidence
anyone will need to see that truly love the Lord.
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