Walking with Jesus: Sixth Sunday of Easter C

For Sunday, May 25, 2025

Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29


The mystery: “God is with us” runs through our salvation story in scripture. We see this present in the garden and with Jesus telling us repeatedly through His life and actions that God is with us always. What is our role? What is God’s message to us? It has always been a constant — we see it in today’s last line of the Gospel from St. John: “This is how all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is a wonderful reflection and we should check our response frequently: Do I play favorites? Do I think I am “above,” more important than, or closer to God than another? Do I think God loves me more than another because of my status, role, income, competence, or station in life? Do I?

Do I think I am in a “special place” because I belong to the Church, making me an “insider” and “more important?” The issue of conditions for membership was one of the most serious disputes that raged in the first year of the Church. We see this as we follow the first wave of Gentile conversions: Why are we letting them in? We belong to the chosen race — Judaism — we’re chosen specifically by God — who are these usurpers? Jesus didn’t preach to them, He came for us. Today we see how the leaders responded; now, how do I respond to those who are “not of the fold” — that is, “my fold?”

Because the Jewish movement was originally seen as an internal Jewish renewal, the Jewish Christians continued to observe the practices of the Jewish religion. Down through history there had always been Gentiles who were attracted to the Jewish faith, e.g., So Paul got up, motioned with his hand and said, “Fellow Israelites and you others who are God-fearing …” (Acts 13:16). And there were converts: “After the congregation had dispersed, many Jews and worshipers who were converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to remain faithful to the grace of God.” (Acts 13:43) At that time there seemed to be no problem with assuming the religious practices of the Israelites; it was expected that Gentile converts to Christianity would do the same. We assume so many things and, as the early Church discovered, “assuming, you take much for granted.” So what happened? Two critical crisis points: First, Paul allowed his Gentile converts to refrain from Jewish observances; and second, there were a huge number of Gentile converts who had heard Jesus or knew about Him and said this is good stuff … yet moving over to the faith of the Jews and calling God Father just didn’t seem to fit, and male converts were not too excited about circumcision. So the First Ecumenical Council at Jerusalem decided to recognize Paul and Barnabas as leaders of the Church. An official letter was sent to Antioch stating that circumcision was not required — but what was required was abstaining from eating meat that had first been offered to idols and then sold on the market, abstaining from animals that had been strangled, and abstaining from marriages with the degrees of blood relationship forbidden by the law (Leviticus 18:6-18). In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek; neither male nor female. All are equal, all are loved — all the time. How am I doing on this?

In John’s Revelation we are caught in a vision, on top of a high mountain, glimpsing the Church in stages of its development. In John we see the Church in its final stage: the church in glory, imaged by the New Jerusalem, and in the gospel the Church clings to Jesus at the Last Supper. On the eve of its birth, Jesus tells the apostles: “Those who love Me will keep My word, and My Father will love them and We will come to them and make Our home with them.” (John 14:23) In the first reading, later the Church's development, we ask: Where has this peace gone? They referred the question to “headquarters” (the Church) in Jerusalem because that’s where Peter was: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and ourselves not to lay upon you any burden beyond that which is strictly necessary.”

Jesus’ words in the Gospel end with a definitive note of confidence: He gives His peace. This is more than a wish — it’s a blessing that includes all the benefits of the Resurrection. It is grounded in His relationship with His Father and His self-sacrificing love for each of us and everyone created throughout time. It includes the promise that all who believe in Him … all who live the commandments and live His love ... will be in heaven with GOD.

So I reflect on:

• We hear at every Mass, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you.” Then we share peace. Do others have a sense of God’s peace?
• How do I share God’s peace with others? When do I withhold that peace? Why? Can’t I forgive as God does?

Sacred Space 2025 states:

“Jesus tells His disciples that He is about to go away but that He will come back to them. It is through the sending of the Holy Spirit that He will come back to be with them. Help us, Lord, to know how to listen to Your Spirit, who is within us.

“More than forty times in the Gospels Jesus tells us not to be afraid. The gift of His peace is to help ease our troubled hearts.”