Tuesday, May 14, 2024

14 May 2024 - remain


Remain in my love.

Where can we find stability in a changing world, or what truly lasts? It is a safe bet that the world would propose a variety of options different from what Jesus taught. It would ask us to remain, not in love, but in its strength and protection and power and wealth in order to insulate ourselves from potential difficulties as much as possible. But Jesus taught us that there is a higher ground which we can occupy, a safe place amid the ever shifting sands of life in time and space. That place what we discover when we are rooted in the love of Jesus for us. Just as Jesus himself is rooted in his Father's love so too are we meant to be rooted in his love. The commandments describe what this looks like in order to help us stay on the path and avoid potential pitfalls. But the rules themselves are only representative of an openness to receive life from another. Jesus continuously receives all that he is, his entire being, from his Father, and we in turn are meant to receive all that we are from him.

I have told you this so that my joy might be in you
and your joy might be complete.

The world tells us that we can only have happiness when we are free to act independently with as few restrictions as possible on our exercise of individual agency. It suggests that it is this exercise of our choice itself, rather than the intrinsic value of anything, that creates value. But Jesus tells us that this is precisely backward. Joy comes from opening ourselves to the source of joy that is bigger than ourselves and our choices.

This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

We were not created to be receivers only, as the world might suggest. The world values accumulation and consumption, of feeding the ego by fulfilling every desire for pleasure or experience. But just as Jesus himself did not content himself with receiving from the Father but wished to gift this life upon us, so too are we called to give what we have received to others. It is ultimately in this giving that we realize what we are meant to be. Saint John Paul the Great loved to quote the Vatican II document Gaudium et spes which said "that man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself" (see Gaudium et spes, 24).

Jesus himself demonstrates the reality that it is being rooted in another that is the firmest foundation for oneself. He is the living example of what John the Evangelist wrote, that "the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever" (see First John 2:17). Thus, rooted in him, not only do we remain, but even the fruit we bear begins to take on lasting value. 

You are my friends if you do what I command you.
I no longer call you slaves,
because a slave does not know what his master is doing.

We are no longer slaves who obey merely to avoid punishment. We are now friends who understand the inner logic behind what our friend Jesus asks of us. We can clearly see that he asks it for our good and the good of the whole world. Since he himself has chosen to call us friends let us respond by acting as good friends and joining him in advancing his plan for our joy, and the joy of all.




No comments:

Post a Comment