May 27 2006

Jn 16:23b-28 Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.“ I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
Jesus lovingly prepares the disciples for the time when he will be gone. Jesus will return to the Father. I do not know why but this morning I am reminded of when my mother was very slowly dying from systemic lupus. She carefully taught my father all of the things that she could think of about managing the house and cooking and some of the other tasks that she had always done. She wanted him to be able to live a good life when she would be gone. It is not exactly the same situation but it is the same kind of love that Jesus gives to the disciples. He wants the disciples to carry on in this world when he has gone to the Father.