(There are two blessings that we receive from our mothers. These two are like two sides of the same coin. One is the blessing that we don’t usually remember or recognize because we received it when we were infants. We were fed, protected, and taken care of by our mothers. The other is the blessing of discovering the first blessing we received as infants and appreciating our mothers. As grown-ups, we forget the very truth that we didn’t grow up on our own. In this sense, Mother’s Day is meaningful, however it is commercialized in our society. So, I would like to wish all the mothers a Happy Mother’s day! I also would like us to keep in mind and pray for the mothers who's children are nearer to God’s presence.)
Today’s gospel reading is the longest discourse of Jesus in all four gospels. It is called the high priestly prayer of Jesus. The context in which Jesus prays this high priestly prayer brings us back to the scene of washing the feet of his disciples and the Last Supper before he is arrested and persecuted by the civil and religious authorities in his time. Jesus is praying before he is lifted up on the cross, before his death. Considering today is the very last Sunday of Easter, this high priestly prayer of Jesus before his crucifixion moves us into a different context in which Jesus is now risen and is going back to God the Father. So there’s a common theme between Maundy Thursday and today that Jesus’ physical presence that is limited to time and space will no longer be in this world. Hearing this passage in the context of Maundy Thursday points to his death on the cross in which he leaves the disciples. Hearing this passage in the context of Eastertide, on the other hand, takes a different meaning of his ascension to the Father. Having said this, we’re somewhat privileged to listen to this breathtakingly thoughtful and loving prayer of Jesus. Some say that Jesus’ high priestly prayer gives us ‘the’ example of how we pray for one another. I personally think this prayer defines what it means to be a disciple of Christ, who we are, and whose we are in Christ. Jesus in his prayer affirms and promises us not only of his communion with God but of our communion with him. So Jesus prays, “...they may be one as we are one.” In today’s homily, I would like us to reflect on who we are and whose we are in this world. I strongly believe that it is necessary and crucial to be aware of our Christian identity because not only do we very often forget who we are and whose we are, but we tend not to value ourselves as Christians. Our Christian identity ends up being not so important to our lives. Instead of having our entire identity, our whole being redefined and transformed as Christian in Christ, it might have become simply part of who we are and whose we are. It might have become one of those things that describe who we are such as what we do for living or what color we like or what blood type we have. How we see and treat our own selves might be heavily influenced by how the world sees and treats Christians. If you actually think about your weekly schedule, it is hard to remind ourselves who we are and whose we are unless we try to keep it in mind by intentionally praying and reading Scriptures. We spend about 3-4 hours out of 168 hours a week at church. Say we sleep about 8 hours a day, then we’re given 112 hours. Still, only 3.6% of our week directly provides us to see our true identity as Christians. We are quite exposed to the influence of how the world sees each individual. But how Jesus sees and treats us is radically different from the way we see ourselves and how the world sees us. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer, there’s a sense of movement on where we come from and go to, where we belong and where we are sent to. So here’s what he says first about where we are from. He says we are from the world. This world is the world that neither knows nor acknowledges the unconditional love and reconciling power of God. Some might say we might be living in a different world other than the world Jesus is talking about in his prayer. Yet, if we ask ourselves whether we live in the culture of grace, mercy, and forgiveness and the answer is no, then the world Jesus says we’re from has not changed. And this is also the world that God so loves that he sent his only son Jesus Christ. Not because that world is filled with God’s love, but quite the opposite. God’s love breaks into this world from which we come because of God’s self-giving love. Though all of us are from the world, we are transformed in Jesus who is the divine love made flesh. As we accept this love and compassion of God, as we confess that we’re not a god or a creator but beautifully created in the image of God and we can never save or heal ourselves but God alone, as we experience the redemptive work of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we become God’s, Christ’s own. Baptism is then not just a ritual that grants us a membership to a religious social club. It is the way in which we enter this new reality of God as God’s beloved. It is the very embodied effect of God’s gift to us in Jesus. We do not physically see what changes happen to our being in our baptism, but in faith, we become the new creation that does not belong to this world. Through baptism, we are no longer from the world, but from God alone. Jesus says in his high priestly prayer, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.” We no longer belong to the world we are originally from. You’ve probably heard about our Christian visa status in the world. We are in the world, but not of the world. Jesus also prays, “I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” We’re never meant to be out of this world, but are sent back to the world. So Jesus prays, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” What his prayer teaches us is that there’s this divine purpose for each one of us who are part of the Body of Christ. Coming from the world, we are transformed to be the new creation that Jesus brings to this world. In a way, we are chosen or elected to this divine project for the world God so loves. It’s not up to our ability to change the world. But once we realize that we are God’s new creation that is not of this world, we are God’s gift to this world. We’re sanctified in our baptism through the Holy Spirit who never ceases to work in our lives. So here’s my question to you to ponder. Do you see yourself as the new creation that does not belong to this world but to Christ? Do you see yourself as a walking sacrament or God’s gift to this world which you no longer belong but are sent by Christ himself? I hope you do because that’s who you really are. Episcopalians as well as Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians have a high view of the Eucharist. We believe that Jesus is really and truly present in the consecrated bread and wine. We don’t know how to make sense of this divine mystery in the Eucharist and admit we can’t prove Jesus’ real presence. But it’s not because we are fooled by some type of unintelligent or blind faith. We know we can’t prove it because the Eucharist does not belong to this world. It is the new creation just as creation itself is something science cannot explain. As the Eucharist doesn’t belong to this world, we who are sanctified in the baptism of Jesus Christ do not belong to this world. We are also the new creation that belongs to a new world, that is, the coming kingdom of God. So, let us remember we are the new creation. We’re God’s gift to this world for the divine revolution of love and compassion of Christ. If we don’t see ourselves as walking sacraments for the sake of the world, we are wasting our time here. The Society of St John the Evangelist is an Anglican monastic order in Massachusetts. They’re known as the Crowley brothers. In their Eucharist, before the priest says, “The Gifts of God for the People of God” it’s their practice to proclaim, “Behold what you are and become what you receive.” Behold what you are and become what you receive. Remember you’re not just a citizen of this world but the new being, the new creation of the kingdom of God, God’s gift to the world. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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