Jesus gives his disciples his
peace: the blessing of reconciliation that through the prophets God had
promised to bestow on his people. Jesus’ peace is a fruit of his relationship
with the Father, and he is to bring his disciples into that relationship. His
peace arises from a total love from the Father and therefore is unlike the
peace of the world, which rejects God. Jesus calls the disciples into a
confident trusting faith and promises them the peace that comes from obeying
the Father and knowing his love.
Jesus’ gift of his peace is,
therefore, the gift of participation in the perfect harmony that exists between
the Father and the Son in the unity of their wills in love. Who Jesus is, what
he does and what he is called to be are one. Jesus is, in the unity of his
person, the identity of mission and existence. Insofar as the disciples keep
his word in love, they become sons in the Son, more and more conformed to him
in his mission from the Father for mankind. Thus being caught up in the gift of
his commission to love and keep his commandments they will be caught up in the
gift of his peace. The fullness of which is realized in the vision of the
Book of Revelation, as the bride of the Lamb coming down out of heaven from
God, gleaming with the splendor of God.
However, as Jesus points out, his self-gift evokes two fundamental
responses, to love him and keep his word or to not love him and not keep his
word. In fact, the disciples will discover that the more they try to embody
this gift of peace the more they will encounter resistance.
The Savior, El Greco (and workshop), 1608-1614, oil on canvas, 72 cm x 55 cm, The Prado, Madrid. Excerpts from Father Timothy's homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
