Spirit made flesh

by Msgr. Richard Henning

​Sixth Sunday of Easter
First Reading: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Responsorial: Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
Second Reading: Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
Gospel: John 14:23-29

This Sunday, we read again from Jesus’ farewell to his disciples in the Gospel of John. Here, Jesus addresses the question of what will happen after his return to the Father. The disciples feel fear and grief at his coming departure, but Jesus reassures them that this departure will not leave them bereft. In fact, Jesus will remain with them through the gift of the Spirit. With the Spirit, they will continue to know his love and live his commandments. The Spirit will direct their living and calm their fears. They will have the gift of true peace: the peace that comes through right relationship with God.
 
This ongoing presence and accessibility of the Lord Jesus is one of the principle themes of the Gospel of John. For Jesus’ friends who are about to pass through the crucible of the passion, this passage promises that even the terrors of Good Friday will not separate him from them. The day will come when they will no longer behold him with physical eyes, share his earthly journey, or hear his words. Even so, he will be present to them in a new way through the Spirit. They will see him in one another as they love and serve. They will hear his word in prayer and proclamation. They will touch his body and blood as they partake of the Eucharist. And there will be other friends of Jesus, those who “have not seen but have believed,” and they too will come to know his presence in the Spirit.
 
There is a further implication of this gift. The Spirit will not only be Jesus’ presence to them, it will enable his presence through them. This ongoing presence of Jesus in them brings them into participation in Jesus’ ministry of healing for the world. Through the Spirit, they will make Jesus’ presence concrete for others. They, his Church, will be the flesh for his Spirit.
 
The passage from Revelation also speaks of the Church, but in different terms. Written at a time when Jerusalem had already been destroyed, this passage speaks of a vision of a restored, heavenly Jerusalem. Borrowing images from the prophets, the vision looks to the day when God’s victory will be made known and his faithful will be vindicated. The passage looks back to God’s promises to Israel and forward to their fulfillment in the kingdom, but the mention of the twelve apostles reminds that the vision is addressed to a community between past and future. In that persecuted and besieged community, John of Patmos saw the seeds of the heavenly Jerusalem. His words were both consolation in their suffering and a reminder of their lofty calling.
 
Both the humanity of the Church and her Spirit-guided calling are on display in the passage from Acts. Acts acknowledges that the Christian community faced opposition from without and controversy within. The most important dispute within the community arose in the question of whether Gentile converts should be welcomed, and if so, on what terms? By this point in Acts, Peter has already demonstrated that God’s plan requires that Gentiles be welcomed to the community. Now the leadership in Jerusalem, moved again by Peter’s preaching has decided on some principles of integration. The Gentiles will only be asked to avoid practices which would be most offensive to their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters. Beyond that, they will not be asked to keep the cultic and purity requirements of Mosaic law. Behind both Peter’s witnessing and this decision of the leadership, we see the power of the Holy Spirit at work.
 
The incarnation, the mystery of the Word made Flesh, has always scandalized some. How can Christians claim that Almighty God becomes a frail human being. And yet, to the shock of our limited human vision and hope - that is what God has done in Jesus. A second shock is that God’s plan also brings human beings into participation in the divine life through the power of the Spirit. This does not happen in some ideal future, but in our very real present. Just as God became flesh in Jesus, now God’s Spirit becomes flesh in a community, the Church, with a sacred calling to proclaim life and goodness to the world. We can rejoice not only that Jesus lives, but that he has chosen us to bear his presence of peace and joy. With deep humility and boundless joy and gratitude we cry: come Holy Spirit and renew our hearts!