Daily Liturgy and Scripture

There is a lot of meaningful overlap happening in this trial of Jesus. The Jewish leaders take him to a government leader, who recognizes that he is a king. Jesus, who cannot be so easily defined, talks instead about the Kingdom itself. Would Pilate have been so tentative about executing him if he didn’t recognize something unique about him? At the end, the people prefer a man of violence, Barabbas, to the Prince of Peace. It’s probably no coincidence that John mentions Barabbas was involved in an uprising. For indeed, that is exactly what Jesus was doing as well. In the case of Jesus, it was far more hidden. It would play out in his death, and then it would be unstoppable.

As Jesus starts the road to the cross, his followers are also tested. Peter’s denial is a sad central part of this story, especially since Peter is often the one that pipes up and swears that he will die with Jesus. When the chips are down, he loses his nerve. Don’t worry, though. Jesus will come back to him, and the story isn’t over yet.

Jesus is preparing the next stage of God's plan for the world:  the passing of the torch to his apostles and the church. Of course, he is not leaving them alone. They are part of God's plan, and so God is with them. This was always the plan, there is no plan B.

Jesus needs his apostles to clearly understand what is about to happen to him and to them, so it’s time to be clear. He has been talking about the Spirit, but the coming of the Spirit is contingent on him returning to the Father. They will be caught up themselves in the Trinity, because the Spirit will be among and in them, and the Father will sustain them.

If you want to know what the Holy Spirit is all about, the section is for you. Revealing that Jesus is true, that the Father and Son are working together, and that God will always reign. This Spirit, coming at Pentecost, was and is the presence of God among us. Just as those who saw Jesus in the flesh had the physical Son of God, we still today have the Spirit of God in and around us. We are his people, and we remain connected to him.

Jesus has stern words for the religious leaders who reject him. This is probably one of the worst: by rejecting him, they reject the Father. They have fully rejected God. This is a turn from what he has just finished talking about, where he reminded his hearers that they need to abide in him. This is the opposite side of the coin: not only are the religious leaders rejecting him, refusing to abide, but they are also in sin because of their rejection.

Being pruned requires submission, and we all must be pruned by the Father if we are to abide in Christ. Love also requires submission to one another, both for accountability and being in real relationships. All of this means that we cannot be selfish, and life in the Kingdom of Christ is certainly an unselfish life. By staying connected to Christ and one another, we stay on the critical path to follow Christ.

Jesus and the Father are united in a bond of love, and this is the bond in which we are caught up if we are participating in the Trinity. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are intertwined, but we are also caught up in that mystery as followers of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is in us, and the Holy Spirit is also in the Trinity. We are part of God if we are following Jesus in the Spirit.

Jesus is in the Father, and everyone who is in Jesus is caught up in the entire Trinity. What does that mean? Of course, there is some mystery in this. The bond between the Father and Son (and Spirit) is not something of our world, this is the stuff of another world. Still, we are residents of that Kingdom. Being in Christ means walking with Jesus, remaining connected in prayer, praying to the Father, through the Spirit, in the name of the Son. We are part of a royal priesthood that is both rooted in that Kingdom, and working in our world.

Jesus is demonstrating, as he washes the feet of his disciples, that the greatest among them (definitely him!) should be willing to serve all the rest. None of them are higher than Jesus, and none of them have ever stooped lower than he is in that moment. So much so, it alarms Peter. As Jesus tells them that they should love one another, that is the completion of the thought: putting the other first, never shoving ahead to get your own way. It Jesus can do that, we should be able to as well.