Acts 1:12-14; Ps. 26(27):1,4,7-8; 1 Pet 4:13-16; Jn 17:1-11
Towards the end of his earthly life, as we see in today’s gospel reading, Jesus evaluates himself before the One who sent him, and based on his fulfilment of his mission, he requests the Father who sent him to now glorify him. He says: “I have finished the work you sent me to do (v.5); I have made your name known….(v.6); I have given them the teachings (the words) which you gave to me (v.7).” Now, having carried out the work the Father gave to him, that is, the reason for his coming into the world, he now reminds the Father of the glory he merits.
Lessons:
1. Jesus knows that his existence was not accidental or without purpose. He knows he came from someone and for a purpose. The reason for his existence was clear to him and he kept to them. This tells us that everyone of us has a mission, a reason for our existence, given to us by God, our Creator and Father. We are not existing because God wants to use us to fill in the blank spaces. No one is a product of chance. We are here in the world, and we are still alive because God has a mission he wants us to fulfil.
Everyone has his or her own specific mission. God knows us and has made us for a reason (Cf Jer. 1:5; Psa. 139:16; Isa 49:1; Gal 1:15; Eph. 2:10). The question then is, “what is your God-given mission?” Have you identified your God-given mission? Have you been swallowed by the world, living in the shadow of others, or even living in the mission or confusion of others that you forget or abandon your own mission?”
2. Jesus sought for the Father’s glory, standing on the successful completion of his mission. How are you doing with the task God has given you? As a parent, a teacher, a businessman, a workman, a preacher etc., can you stand now and say to God, “so far, I have executed the task you gave me successfully?” When king Hezekiah was sick and dying, he prayed to God, presenting to God all the good things he has done for God’s name (2 Kgs 20:1-
3). And the Scripture says that immediately, God sent Isaiah back to the king Hezekiah to assure him of God’s healing, and to announce to him that God has added 15 more years to his earthly life (2 Kgs 20:4-6). What good works are you presenting to the Lord? What good work can you boast of?
4. Jesus teaches us that there is glory that awaits every successfully lived life. Just as our origin is not from abyss, and our existence not per chance, so also is our destination not to NOTHINGNESS. God rewards every completed mission. The glory comes after the work, and not vice versa. Sometimes our God-given task may be filled with human suffering, attacks, and stumbling, but the crown of unfailing glory awaits everyone who has fought a good fight (2 Tim 4:7-8)
5. Jesus teaches us that there will be an end to our earthly life and mission, and when that end comes, it is not God who will be our first judge, rather, our works. At the end of our life, the things we did while we have the time on earth will first stand before us to bear witness of our good or bad lives. What is it going to be for us? But before that great end when our earthly existence will expire, at the end of our daily activities, do we confront ourselves with our work for the day?
Jesus boasts that he made the Father’s name known to those the Father gave to him, and that they now know the Father as much as they know the Son. Jesus hid nothing from the disciples. Now we ask ourselves: “in what situation have you left the people whom God has brought into your life? Do they become better in their knowledge and appreciation of the love and mercy of the Father, or have you finally succeeded in snatching them away from God, hiding them under the caprices of worldliness and sin? Can you face God and sincerely say to him, “Thank you for using me to bring peace to such and such a person’s life”. Can you sincerely hit your chest and tell God, “Thank you for using me, unworthy though I am, to save this girl or this boy from reckless life etc?” How about your children, can you tell God on your last day that you did everything within your power to bring them up in the holy ways of the Lord? What of those working with you, those living with you, your male servants and female servants?
Furthermore, many children are suffering now because their parents kept a lot of information from them while they were alive. There is nothing wrong in a father telling his children, no matter their age, about the necessary information regarding their family standing. Do not say “when my son finishes university, by then he would have become a man, then I will sit him down to tell him about our family properties and debts”, as if you are the controller of your earthly days. Many children have been left to suffer because of their parents’ procrastination, waiting for when they (the parents) will become old or when they (the parents) will be critically lying on a hospital bed. That time might not come. Hence, from day one, teach your children the necessary things they should know so that when you are no longer there, they will not have to seek information about you from neighbors. After Jesus ascended, the apostles did not have to worry about what they would do because Jesus already prepared them for that time and gave them the indications. In the first reading, they went back from the Ascension scene to the upper room in Jerusalem where Jesus has already taken them to, and where he has asked them to wait for the arrival of the Divine Force, the Paraclete. The disciples did not rush out immediately, each person living as he understood. No, they were together, praying for a new light, understanding and power of the Holy Spirit in order to live the mission their Master, Jesus, has assigned to them lest the mission becomes incomprehensible and difficult.
It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to us our God-given mission, and makes us ready to embrace it, even when it is surrounded by suffering. As St. Peter says in the second reading, when we understand our mission, and the glory that awaits us at the end, the human and worldly sufferings would become for us participation in the hour of Christ, the hour of passion, the passion that reveals God’s love and mercy to humanity. We can only understand an insult for bearing the name of Christ as a blessing when we have the spirit of God living in us (1 Pet 4:14).
May we join the disciples in the upper room, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit with prayer and fasting, so that he may teach us the mission of the Father and make us embrace it with all its demands, even as we anticipate a share in Christ’s glory. Amen
Fr. Chukwuezugo Nnamah.