This Sunday, we will be reading part of Jesus’ attempt to comfort his disciples during their last supper together. It is a poignant moment where Jesus affirms his love for them and prepares them for life without His human presence. The disciples cannot imagine life without Jesus and want him to stay or take them with Him. How often have we felt that way when we lose someone we love? And Jesus’ response to their despair, and to ours, is to say:
Do not let your hearts be troubled
In my father’s house, there are many dwelling places.
I will go and prepare a place for you. . . .and I will come again
and take you there to be with me.
Christ is comforting His disciples and helping them to understand that their time apart will be temporary. And during that time apart, He asks them to love and to serve one another as He loved and served them. I find these words of comfort to be particularly meaningful any time I struggle with the departure of a loved one—a family member, a friend, a companion without whom it is hard to imagine living. Loved ones have such an impact upon our lives and our world that their departure wounds us deeply even though we are assured of reunion in our Father’s house.
Christ wants us to understand that our time apart will be temporary. And He asks us to continue His work in the world. To use our hands and our hearts and our will to love and to serve and to heal. Sometimes that work is difficult, as we see in this Sunday’s reading from Acts (7:55-60), and sometimes it is enlightening, as we see in Sunday’s letter from Peter (1Peter 2:2-10). Always, if done faithfully, that work is Spirit-led. Jesus said:
The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do
and, in fact, will do greater works!
AND
I will do whatever you ask in my name,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
May we live by Christ’s example, lifting up and serving our fellow creatures—caring for one another as Christ cares for us—with grace, humility, and generosity of Spirit. And may our works be GREAT, in His name.
You are beautiful, and you are beloved.
Angela+