This Sunday, the fifth in this year’s Easter seasion, we hear a short gospel reading from John 13 in which Jesus paradoxically describes his upcoming betrayal and death as a moment of glorification, in which the true nature of God will be shown to an alienated world. He says this not to condemn those who will reject him, but rather to start a process of reconciliation and reconciliation between God and humanity. At the very deepest level, it is an hour of great glory.
How can we participate in that process as his disciples two thousand years later? John’s answer is simple: by loving one another as Jesus has loved us. Transformed by his Spirit within us as believers and among us as a Church, we can do it. We can manifest God’s ongoing presence in our world just as Jesus did. The proof of this pudding will be in how our world eats it: in whether they see us showing God’s love, not in the highfaulutin claims we make about ourselves. So that’s what we to be getting on with …..
You can listen to my comments on the text here….
Howard Pilgrim