Sunday Readings: Acts 8.5-8, 14-17; 1 Peter 3.15-18; John 14.15-21
Jesus spoke to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, who will give you another Advocate to abide with you always: the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, since it neither sees nor recognizes the Spirit; but you know the Spirit because the Spirit abides with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you (John 14.15-20).
Jesus assures his disciples that they have everything they need for their lives and mission after he is gone. They are to keep his commandments. Loving one another puts us in relationship with Jesus, his Father, and the Spirit, who abides in us.
he intangible bonds of love, friendship, discipleship last. The small and large gestures that make love visible last. Tenderness lasts and gets passed down generations in parents’ care for their kids, in friends’ presence in difficult times.
Jesus entrusts his first disciples and us with his mission to invest our hearts and hands in families and friends and extend them beyond. Building community and welcoming diversity in our world are missions for us who are Jesus’ disciples today.
- What in your life gives you energy? What feeds your spirit? How are you responding?