Gospel

John 14:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You have faith in God; have faith also in me.

In my Father's house there are many dwelling places.

If there were not,

would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back again and take you to myself,

so that where I am you also may be.

Where I am going you know the way."

Thomas said to him,

"Master, we do not know where you are going;

how can we know the way?"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Reflection

It's interesting that Jesus is working with people who do believe in God, but they don't understand who Jesus is. They cannot grasp the fact that he is a human being filled with divinity, and this divinity within him is something that he longs for us to have. And so he won it for us through his death on the cross.

So what he's trying to say to his disciples, and in particular to Thomas, is you have to understand that if you look at me and I tell you that the father is in me, and that he and he alone is the source of all truth and life and light, and that no one can understand and know the father unless they see him in me, in a human being.

And it's so interesting to me that it's the same way today. If you want to ask someone if they believe in God, I will tell you if, from my experience, if they have been loved by a human being, deeply loved in a self-sacrificing love, they're much more ready to accept that is who also God is.

Closing Prayer

Father, awaken us the privilege. The responsibility that we have to manifest you to others. When someone is loved deeply by another human being, they taste and feel the love of the father. And the more we are able to love one another, that way, the more the faith in this God who is love and who calls us to love, grows and deepens. We have a deep responsibility, but we have also a privileged place of bringing life and light and truth into one another. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel

John 13:16-20

When Jesus had washed the disciples' feet, he said to them:

"Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master

nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.

If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.

I am not speaking of all of you.

I know those whom I have chosen.

But so that the Scripture might be fulfilled,

The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.

From now on I am telling you before it happens,

so that when it happens you may believe that I AM.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send

receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Reflection

Jesus is talking about one of his disciples. Judas. Who simply wasn't engaged in what we would call service to the community. He was stealing from the community.

And choosing himself over the service, he was called to give. And what I find so interesting about the nature of why was there someone like Judas in the group? And what it is, is a way of making clear, a teaching that Jesus longs for us to see and to feel. The greatest role that we have in life is service.

Service to one another, which is service to God. And so what he's saying is, look at me, I am a servant and I am giving you something. And what I give you is my father's presence. What an incredible role that he has as a servant. It reminds us of how important we are to his work, of always presenting something greater than ourselves to those around us.

Our belief, our faith in God, our trust in all that he has promised us.

Closing Prayer

Father, we tend to want to be served. But awaken us to the beauty and the power of the role that you had, bringing the father to us. Help us always to love those around us. And when we do, we are bringing God to each other. His mercy, his presence, his power. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Gospel

John 15:9-17

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.

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.

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.

I have called you friends,

because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.

It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you

and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain,

so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

This I command you:  love one another.”

Reflection

It's not unusual for us to live in a world where we feel we have to perform for people in order to win their esteem or their respect, or even their love. And the same was true in the Old Testament, and the New Testament to the people were struggling to understand what is it that the message of Jesus is going to bring to us?

Its promise to bring joy, happiness, fullness. And it’s so interesting that it primarily works like this. If you allow God to love you as he longs to love you, you will be changed and you will be able to love those around you with a new energy and resonance. You have to be loved in order to love.

And that's why Jesus is so insistent in helping people to realize that the God who created them is the God who loves them, no matter who they are. He is their God, their father, their friend, their lover.

Closing Prayer

All of us struggle with self esteem. And we live in a culture that tells us that we should be a certain thing, or have a certain thing, or look a certain way, and that's all normal. But what we see in Jesus is a message that he knows heals the hearts of so many people that are feeling empty or not enough. He loves us as we are, knowing that, really realizing that, believing that with our whole heart and soul is what grace intends to accomplish. And what is grace? Unmerited love. That's what we need to feel flowing from God, our father. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

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Gospel 

John 10:22-30

The feast of the Dedication was taking place in Jerusalem.

It was winter. 

And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon. 

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him,

“How long are you going to keep us in suspense? 

If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 

Jesus answered them, “I told you and you do not believe.

The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me.

But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me. 

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. 

No one can take them out of my hand. 

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. 

The Father and I are one.”

Reflection

When someone tells us something that we have not thought of before, or that involves some kind of information that we don't yet have, and we simply don't hear what they're saying, we don't grasp it. We don't understand it. And it seems that was so much what was going on when Jesus would be teaching in the temple. People would listen to him and be intrigued by what he was saying, but they wouldn't believe it because they couldn't understand it.

And then he makes something so clear, and yet this would be way beyond their pay grade, so to speak. He's saying to them, you have to understand that the father, God Himself, is in me. And when you see me, you see the father. When you hear me, you hear the father. That was so out of their range of understanding. And in truth, it's out of the range of many of us who don't understand the mystery of the indwelling presence of God, the intimacy of God within us.

It is a source of the love that we long for, that heals the world and changes hearts and brings them into the light of life.

Closing Prayer

Father, we long to know who we are in you and with you. Open our hearts to understand this in a way that goes beyond logic, beyond what we think of as normal, and be open to mystery and mysticism. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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