Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter
CARRYING OUT ONE’S MISSION
In strikingly parallel ways, both Paul and Christ speak of their mission they have carried out – Christ with absolute certainty, Paul, knowing his limitations, to the best of his abilities. Paul knows that trials are awaiting him, but led by the Holy Spirit who guided his life, he will go ahead, even when he does not know what is awaiting him. Jesus has given the best of himself to make the Father known to all. He prays that they may all be one.
Reading 1: Acts 20:17-27
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the leaders of the congregation. When they arrived, he said, “You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in. I didn’t skimp or trim in any way. Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got. I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.
22-24 “But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.
25-27 “And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you.
Gospel: Jn 17:1-11a
Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:
Father, it’s time.
Display the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his care.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
The very splendor I had in your presence
Before there was a world.
6-11 I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Prayer
Lord, our God,
your Son, Jesus Christ,
carried out the mission you had given him,
without fear and in all faithfulness to you.
God, give us a bit
of his sense of mission.
Give us the strength of the Spirit
to speak your Word as it is,
bold and demanding,
without compromising or giving in
to the changing moods and fashions of the day.
And may our lives be like an open book
in which people can read your Word.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
Reflection:
7th Week of Easter, Tuesday
23 May 2023
John 17:1-11
Hallowed be thy name!
The Gospel of John presents us with Jesus’ prayer to the Father in the context of his farewell address, known as the “priestly prayer.” This is one of the most solemn moments in Jesus’ life. John places the priestly prayer immediately after the “Farewell Speech” and right before the passion of Jesus.
Jesus is aware that his earthly mission is coming to an end. He “raises his eyes to heaven” and asks that his mission reach its definitive fulfilment with the glorification of the Father. Throughout his Gospel, John did not attempt to chronicle the events in Jesus’ life. He uses an overheard conversation between Jesus and his Father to educate and motivate his own believing community.
These words are the words of John, who knew Jesus personally, and who had been privileged to share many of the intimate thoughts and words of Jesus. A little earlier in the discourse, Jesus encouraged the disciples to ask God for what they desired: In fact, I assure you that the Father will give you anything you ask of him in my name. Their asking was not to inform an otherwise absent-minded God but to alert themselves about their real desires. After the discourse, Jesus gives his own example – by praying to the Father.
Through his prayer, Jesus reveals to the Father his deepest desires. He motivates himself to face his impending death with unflinching determination. In the process, Jesus’ prayer would make clear to the readers the fire burning in his heart. The signs that he had worked, the dialogues and discussions in which he was involved, and the discourses he had given were all done to make the Father known and glorify the Father.
The Lord’s Prayer in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels finds a much more personalised version here in John. Instead of saying, “Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is heaven,” John would prefer to use the words as, ‘I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do’!
The words of Jesus’ prayer would have been a source of comfort and assurance for the members of John’s community who were facing persecution and rejection. Is it not comforting to learn that Jesus himself prays on our behalf to the Father?