May 16, 2013
Daniel Daring Daniel's
previous reflections
Love – Obedience – the Spirit
Pentecost Sunday
‘Jesus loves me! This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to
Him belong; they are weak, but He is strong.’ That is the first stanza of the
famous Christian song for children, ‘Jesus loves me’. I am surprised,
however, how few of us Christians can sing that song with true conviction in our
hearts. Instead, we question God’s love for us due to our cultural and
catechetical upbringing that tends to portray God as judge rather than love. And
that is often the reason why so many of us rebel against that kind of
misconception of God and – as Thoreau once said – “lead lives of quiet
desperation”.
Love
He reached sixty five and took his retirement. He did not know what to do with himself. For two years he was going to the psychiatrists: a feeling of being useless and unproductive was so overwhelming. After two years his daughter gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. The little child became his psychiatrist. He channeled all his love towards her; his depression was gone.
There is no life
without love. The Jewish people knew the greatest commandment of the Bible:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut
6:4-5) They also knew the commandment of loving one’s neighbor. Jesus, during
his ministry, made it clear that these two commandments should be always kept
together. To love God means to love one’s neighbor. He also explained that our
neighbor is every person we meet on our journey through life, someone who
is in need of help (see Luke 10). In the Gospel of John, however, Jesus is
giving us a new commandment: to love the way he has loved us (John 13:34). There
is no greater love than this, than to give one’s life for a friend (John
15:13), said Jesus and He proved it by giving His life for us, His friends. Only
by experiencing the depth of Jesus’ love, can we be moved to love Him in
return and try our best to obey His teaching: “If you love me, you will obey
what I command” (John 14:15).
Obedience
When Saul was rejected by God as the king of Israel, the reason for that rejection was his disobedience. Samuel told him: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than fat of rams.” (1 Sam 15:22) Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew tells us that only those who do the will of God will enter the kingdom of God (Matt 7:21). Obedience means listening to God in order to do his will. Our basic approach to life should be that of the young boy, Samuel: “Speak, Yahweh, your servant is listening” (1 S 3:10). Jesus brings love and obedience together: “If a man loves me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23, KJV). Thus for Jesus, obedience is the expression of love.
I am sure that it
had to be a challenging task for Noah to build an ark in a time of beautiful
weather without any sign of approaching rain that would soon flood the earth.
I presume that it was not easy for Abraham to decide to leave his homeland for a
place he did not even know. And I suspect that Moses had to overcome fears and
doubts before deciding to go back to Pharaoh and lead Israel into freedom. And
yet those three people were obeying God’s word against “common sense.”
Because of their obedience the world is now different; because of their
obedience they are now joining the hall of faith.
The Spirit
“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:26). It was one of the longest nights of my life. Disturbing thoughts followed by bad dreams kept me awake. No amount of prayers was able to change anything. Unable to sleep and feeling exhausted, I was giving up hope that the night would ever end, when suddenly I recalled an old Christian song written by Horatio G. Spafford (1828-1888), “It is well with my soul.” Silently, I began to sing its chorus, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul,’ and it literally became true: disturbing thoughts were gone, bad dreams were over, and quietness took hold of my mind.
In the midst of persecution and sufferings everyone needs support and assurance that s/he is not alone. The first Christians were battling against the world: their new faith in Jesus Christ and their new sets of convictions and moral values made them different people; they were not understood by others. Jesus was their counselor, while being with them. With him everything was well: they could face all sorts of trials, they could move mountains and walk on the water.
But what about us, who live in the 21st century, who do not experience Jesus’ physical presence? “I will not leave you as orphans,” said Jesus (John 14:18). He promised us another Counselor – the Spirit of truth – who would be with us forever (John 14:15). The Holy Spirit is given to us, to teach us all things, to remind us of Jesus’ words and actions, and to witness to Jesus’ spiritual presence in our midst. While reading the Gospels or listening to the Word of God in Church, we are taught and reminded about Jesus’ teaching and deeds, and we are able to sense Jesus’ presence in our lives.
But it does not end there.
After closing the Bible, after leaving our churches, Jesus does not cease to be
present among us. In the least expected moments, we are reminded of a biblical
passage that speaks to our problem, we are led to a decision that finally brings
peace to our minds, and/or we engage ourselves in a service that makes a difference in the lives of others. And we begin to wonder at the changes that
are taking place in us; and people approach us with a comment that fills our
hearts with joy: ‘you are so positive these days. What makes you so full of
spirit?’
Conclusion
Jesus, in
today’s Gospel, is teaching us the basic truth in life: love, obedience and
the Spirit are the things that matter. At the end of our lives we will be judged
according to the amount of love we spread around us; at the end of our lives, we
will evaluate ourselves whether we fulfilled God’s plan or not.
The Spirit of
Jesus Christ is in us to teach us and to remind us of these simple truths: there
is no life without love; by obeying God’s will we record our names in the book
of life; and the Holy Spirit makes Jesus’ presence real in our midst.
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