Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
Psalm 67
Revelation 21:10-14,22-23
John 14:23-29
OUR PRESENT JOURNEY TO FUTURE GLORY
Our life as Christian believers has been described as being lived between "the already and the not yet." We are already taking part in the kingdom brought by Jesus, but that kingdom has not yet reached its full expression. Our readings bring out that idea forcefully today, on this Sixth Sunday of Easter, as we approach the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost.
ACTS
In the early days of the Christian Church, the thinking was that Gentile (non-Jewish) converts would have to, in a sense, become Jews first before becoming Christians and therefore be obliged to observe the tenets of the Jewish Law.
Paul and Barnabas were pastoring the Church in Antioch made up largely of Gentile converts and did not adhere to this line of thinking and practice concerning the Gentiles. Hence, the controversy that we hear about in our first reading today.
This matter was settled by the Council of Jerusalem around 50 AD. Paul and Barnabas made their case and Peter agreed. The final decision was to require that the Gentile converts abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from eating strangled animals, and from sexual immorality - not all the observances of the Jewish Torah.
The Responsorial, Psalm 67, can be seen as a hymn of gratitude from the Gentiles: "O God, let all the (Gentile) nations praise you!"
REVELATION
Our second reading is again from the Book of Revelation, as it has been during this Easter Season. Here John has a vision of the Church triumphant, the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, gleaming and radiant. It is founded on the "twelve Apostles of the Lamb," the new Israel (twelve gates with twelve angels).
There is no need for a temple because its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. Likewise, there is no need for light from the sun or moon, "for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb." When the fullness of the kingdom comes, God will indeed be "all in all" (cf. 1 Cor. 15:28).
GOSPEL
Today's gospel centers around Jesus' promise to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus here makes clear the connection between love and obedience, as the Scripture does in several other places: "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." Jesus connects the sending of the Holy Spirit with teaching and with truth. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the "Spirit of truth" three different times (cf. John 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13).
Jesus leaves his peace as a "parting gift." It is a peace that the world can neither give nor take away. "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." Jesus says that he is going away but promises to return - as he did indeed on the third day after his death and will again at the end of the ages.
BETWEEN ALREADY AND NOT YET
We know that Jesus came among us. He lived, ministered, suffered and died on the cross. He rose again, ascended to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit among us. So much has already been accomplished! Yet when we look at our lives, our Church, and our world, we are overwhelmed at how far we still seem to be from the full expression of the kingdom of God.
Already...yet, not quite yet! We strive forward and press on with the help of the Holy Spirit, who is poured into our hearts (cf. Rom. 5:5). Come Holy Spirit!