The Bottom Line
The Gospel reading today is an intimate conversation between Jesus and His friends. Time is short, and even though the Apostles don’t realize it, Jesus is giving them lasting instructions. He is giving them the bullet points or the bottom line. They need to understand because soon they will feel very alone, and they must know He is with them.
There is a word that Jesus uses that always bothered me. He tells the disciples to obey His Commandment. The Commandment has always meant the law to me. When one loves another, what we do has nothing to do with being commanded. We act out of love. I live as Jesus asked because I love him not because he commanded me to do so. I began this reflection with that rough edge that was rubbing me the wrong way and looked up the meaning in Hebrew of the word Commandment. Not surprisingly, it said a directive or expectation given with authority.
But then Aha, it also said, “mitzvah.”
A mitzvah is a commandment but with the nuance of it being given out of religious duty or love. I think that is what Jesus meant. He wasn’t stamping His foot and saying, “You must do what I told you or else…” Instead, he is saying, “I love you, and I have told you everything I have learned about how to live and how to love, do these things.” But although compelling, this isn’t the heart of the passage.
The compelling part comes when Jesus says to His Apostles, “I will not leave you, orphans.” He also says, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I in you.” There is the bottom line. The miracles and casting out of demons come down to one sentence in all of the stories and parables. You are not alone. I am with you always, and you are with me. I live in you, and you live in me. That is the “Aha” moment for me. Much of my life I looked for the great God outside of me to somehow step into my life and intercede for me. God was “out there,” and I was begging His assistance.
How beautiful was the day I heard his voice? Not outside of me but within me. I was anxious and fretting about something, and I heard, “Hush, be still now. Just be with me. Together we will find the way.”
Now I hear his “commandment,” not with harshness or demand but as loving guidance from a friend who is in me, and I am in Him. I hear Commandment now as the desire of the Lover for the good of the beloved.
We are all called to grow in wisdom as we grow in age.
We make the faith of our childhood the foundation. The wisdom, love, and grace that comes as the relationship grows is the treasure of being one with God.
Perhaps the most exceptional grace today is knowing we will never be alone. God is within us, and we are within God. We are a team. Our prayer is communication with the team coach. It is His loving directive when I don’t know what to do and the comfort of his love and support when things go very wrong. It is whispering in the stillness of the night, “My God, I love you.” And hearing the echo of His words in my heart, “I love you too, for always.”
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
