Homily for 6^th Sunday of Easter 2008

"If you love me you will keep my commandments."

What are Jesus' commandments?

Here are some of his don'ts: Do not return evil for evil, turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile. Do not judge. Do not condemn. Do not worry about food and drink and clothes. Do not store up treasure for yourselves here on earth. Do not look back once you have put your hand to the plough. Do not give up hope when times are tough.

Here are some of his dos: Let the light of your goodness shine before others. Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Give generously not expecting any reward. Forgive those who sin against you. Clean the inside of cup and dish and the outside will become clean too. See that your hearts and minds are clean. Take this bread and eat it. Take this cup and drink from it. Do this in memory of me. Love one another as I have loved you.

Of course, he is not saying that these are a precondition of his love. They are our response to God's love. The God who loved the world so much that he sent his own Son to live amongst us. They express our love in return. His commands are a tall order. But we are not on our own. He does not leave us orphans. Now that he is about to leave the disciples he promises that he will send another advocate, the Holy Spirit, until he returns again to take his disciples with him. On our own we could not keep any commandments. He knows that we are not always mature in our conduct. Nor do we always have our lives together. Nevertheless, it is just as such flawed human beings that he has sent us into our broken world to live those commands: to love this world as he did.

Earlier in John's Gospel Philip had asked him to show him the Father. Jesus reply was that if you have seen me you have seen the Father. Now in the reading today Jesus goes on to say that the Father is in him and he is in the Father, and that he is in us and we are in him. So surprisingly it means that if people see us they should catch at least some glimpse of the Father! As we heard in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Philip did catch on and became a great success in Samaria preaching the word.

So we too take the risen Lord we receive in the Eucharist and be Christ for our world whatever we do and wherever we are. It follows then that if we do love him we will keep his commandments.

Fr Graham