Sixth Sunday In Easter A. April 27, 2008. Our Lady of Grace 5:15, 9:30. Acts 8: 5-8, 14-17. I Peter 3: 15-18. John 14: 15-21.
Billy had a dog named Duke. The boy had had Duke since he was a puppy and he loved Duke very much. Duke was usually a very good dog, except when no one was watching and a door or gate was left opened. Then Duke would be out of the yard in an instant and it would take Billy and his family several hours of frantic searching and worrying to find the dog. One day Billy’s mother said to him, “I know that Duke is your dog and that you love him very much. But we cannot have the whole family disrupted every time that Duke runs away. We lose a half a day every time that he runs and your dad and I have decided that if Duke runs away again we are bringing him to the Humane Society so that they can find a new home for Duke. A few days later Duke darted out of the yard and disappeared. After spending several hours searching for the dog, Billy’s mother dropped Billy off at home and brought Duke to the Humane Society. When she got home she explained what she had done to Billy. That night Billy went out into the back yard. He changed the water in Duke’s bowl. He put dog food in Duke’s dish and opened his kennel door. When he came into the house his mother said to him, “Billy, I told you what I was going to do if Duke ran away again. Someone else will have to take care of him. We can’t spend our time taking care of a dog that runs away any more. You don’t have to put his food out any more.” Billy said, “You are my mom and dad and I know that you have to do what you have to do. I also know that Duke is my dog. I will continue to put out his food and water so that Duke knows that whenever he wants to come back home I will always welcome him.”
Religion means many different things to many different people. For some religion is a way of getting our wants and needs met by God. In other words, when we need something we pray, otherwise we do not think about God very much.
For others religion is a way of keeping God happy. We fulfill certain religious requirements because if we didn’t God would be unhappy and we might end up in hell.
For others religion is about feeling good. We do religious things because it makes us feel warm and comfortable.
Still others are religious because religion teaches great truths about the world and a moral way of living. Religion is primarily about knowledge and right conduct.
All of these are a part of what Jesus taught us to some degree. At the same time, none of these capture the core meaning of the religious way of life that Jesus taught us. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God to us. Jesus came to teach us that even when we run away over and over again the door of God’s heart is always open to us because of who God is. God is a loving parent and a tender Father who can and will never turn his back on us. Our reading from First Peter says, “For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God.” St. Paul tells us “It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us; that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Paul goes on to say, “Is it possible that the One who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for our sake will not grant us all things besides. I am certain that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” (Romans 5 and 8)
Jesus came to reveal the friendship God wants to have with us and with the human race, a friendship that can never be broken or destroyed. We can walk away from God but God will never walk away from us. The cross of Jesus is the proof that the door to God’s heart is always open to us. God will always welcome us home in an even more awesome way than a human father or mother welcomes home a wayward son or daughter.
Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans: I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live in you and you will live… I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.”
The religious way of life that Jesus taught us is about the profound love that God has for each of us and for the world, and the divine friendship that Jesus extends to each of us and to the world. John’s Gospel continues, “I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know what his mater is doing. Instead, I call you my friends, for I have made known to you everything that I have learned from my Father.” The friendship that Jesus offers us comes free of charge. It is cemented firmly in place by the death of Jesus on the Cross. Yet the friendship that Jesus offers us is true friendship only if it is mutual. It is true friendship only if we enter into it and make the divine friendship Jesus offers us our own. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments… Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.” Keeping God’s commandments doesn’t buy God’s love. We already have God’s overflowing love free of charge. Keeping God’s commandments is the way that we respond in friendship to God just as God has freely given his friendship to us. God was obedient and responsive to our needs by sending us his son to save us from sin, isolation and death. We are obedient to God by keeping God’s commandments. Friendship is always about friends being responsive and obedient to one another.
Have we trials and temptations? (sing)
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer.
Pope Benedict preaches often on the renewal of culture and society by obedience to human reason and Divine revelation and by a deep friendship with Jesus. For God’s commandments and God’s friendship we give God thanks and praise.