Hello and welcome to the Word, bringing you the Good News of Jesus Christ every day from the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province. I am Fr. Karl Esker from the Basilica of our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, NY. Today is Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter.

A reading from the holy gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

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

The gospel of the Lord.

Homily

In the gospel, Jesus asks his disciples and us to remain in his love, to allow ourselves to be immersed in his love and feel it embrace us. That way we will have no difficulty in obeying his commandment, which is to love one another as he loves us. That way also, we will feel a joy in living that only Jesus can give.

In today’s world, splintered by partisan tribalism and deafened by the screaming of slogans, Jesus’ command seems like a very tall order. But if we can just come out of our bunkers and see each other in the light of day, if we can suspend a few of our certitudes, and if we can just reorient our loyalties away from public and media figures and toward the Jesus we find in the gospels, I believe we can succeed. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than the airwaves; and we have a good example of the power of the Holy Spirit in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

The reading drops us down in the middle of the Council of Jerusalem. The debate has been furious. The Gentiles are accepting the message of the Gospel and want to join the Christian communities. The Jewish members of these communities are afraid of losing their identity in a mixed community. How are they going to accept these Gentile converts? Just as they are? Or do they have to accept all the customs from the Mosaic law first?

Paul had been fighting for the freedom of the Gentiles. He thought he was finding acceptance, but now the tide seemed to be turning against him. Then Simon Peter stood up and told of his experience at the conversion of Cornelius and how God had made no distinction between Jew or Gentile in the granting of the gift of the Holy Spirit. Peter concluded by saying that neither Jew nor Gentile was being saved through the law of Moses, but that both were being saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. The assembly quieted down, and Paul and Barnabas were able to tell all that God had done through them for the conversion of the Gentiles.

Today it is difficult to imagine just how violent that discussion must have been; but by telling their stories through the lens, not of personal success, but of the manifestation of the power of God’s grace, Peter, Paul and Barnabas managed to lower the temperature to the point where James, Paul’s greatest opponent, had to agree that God was at work in the conversion of the Gentiles. He just asked for a few essential concessions so that the two groups could live together in harmony.

Many of those involved in these discussions had walked with Jesus and felt the tenderness of his love and concern. Thus, they were able to put Jesus first in bridging their differences. If we are going to lower the temperature of the culture wars of our day and bridge our differences, we also have to put Jesus and his love and concern first. Then maybe we can listen to each other with respect and be more concerned with meeting the needs of the other than with winning. We may not have walked this earth with Jesus, but his Spirit and presence continue with us. And with his love and concern to guide us, we can rediscover the joy of living together.

May God bless us.

Fr. Karl E. Esker CSsR

Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Brooklyn, NY