OLDER LECTIO DIVINA

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.

To this day it does indeed seem like those who believe in Christ have an inclination for finding the truth. No one else seems so concerned about it. Christian philosophers in the Middle Ages developed the scientific method for finding the truth about the natural world. In a court of law, before testifying we say, “I swear to tell the truth … so help me God” while placing a hand on the Bible. And when someone doesn’t believe in God, it’s common for other concerns to take the place of truth; like money, power, fear, fame, or popularity. We see this in mainstream media and politics constantly, where the truth is dismissed and replaced by the opinion of whoever has the most money, power, or influence. Also, when people don’t believe in God, they often go so far as to believe there is no truth, or that all truth is relative, rather than admit that truth does exist. When we abandon God, our abandonment of truth is not far behind. But for those who believe in God and the Truth who is Jesus Christ, things are different. Upon further examination, Christ’s words here are not just platitudes to make us feel good about believing in him. Being guided to the truth isn’t just a special perk we get for having faith in Jesus. It’s not just a bonus. It’s the whole reason Jesus is calling us to faith, and it’s life-changing. When we have faith in God, our whole directive and priority in our life changes. It’s like going from living in darkness to stepping into the light. Except, as C.S. Lewis explained it, the faith doesn’t just become the truth we see. It becomes the light by which we see everything else. 

Your word is truth. Only God can make things true by his word alone. Human beings may think that something is true simply if the right authority says it, but Christ reminds us that he is truth. John’s Gospel begins “In the beginning was the Word.” Every time I read a Gospel passage I am inspired by the way the simple words are packed with deep profound truths. That’s because truth is a person, and when we read the Gospel, that person--Jesus Chris-- is in conversation with us. It’s amazing how the same words of Jesus can hit us differently every time we read them. They absolutely do have that miraculous power. In fact, all of Scripture is that way because it’s all God’s word. It’s all Jesus speaking to us. When Jesus came to earth, that word became flesh. Now it’s our turn to be Christ to the world. Christ sends us into it just as the Father sent him.

As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Jesus is the incarnation of the Father’s love. In the same way, Jesus is commissioning us to continue his labors of love once his incarnate body leaves the earth. He is calling us to be to him what he is to the Father: the expression of his love. We do this by being a good friend to others, as he is to us. When we relate to others on a level of familiarity, as Christ describes in this passage, we are loving others as the Father loves Jesus.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.  The Lord does not spoil his children, but if our will is in alignment with his we will want the same thing. This works out best for us because God knows our hearts better than we do. While we may think we know what we want and ask God for it, we really don’t. Think of how many times you have gotten what you wanted and it left you ultimately unsatisfied. Now, think of the times you asked for something that you knew was God’s will, how genuine your heart was when you asked for it, and how fulfilled you felt once God gave it to you. God knows how to love us. He will not let us down.

I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me.  A tech guru came upon a field with sheep and a shepherd. He pulled up to the field in his car and said to the shepherd, “If I can tell you exactly how many sheep are in this field, will you give them to me?” The shepherd said, “Sure.” So the tech guru took out his smartphone and opened up an app that surveyed the field via satellite, and calculated the number of sheep in it. He then told the shepherd, “You have 267 sheep.” The shepherd then told him, “That is correct. Very good.” With a smirk the tech guru started to try and coral the sheep, but was struggling greatly to do so. Then the shepherd told him, “If you want them to come to you, you need to call them each by name.”

“You are witnesses of these things.” What a privilege it must have been to witness Christ risen from the dead, and to witness all the miracles, preaching, and ministry of Jesus. We also are Christ’s witnesses, though. How has he worked in my life and in yours to bring us closer to the truth? For those who don’t know Jesus, the concept of being his witnesses today may seem abstract. But for those who have encountered the Truth, Love, or the miracles and wonders of Life, know that the particular qualities of these things point to the fact that he is indeed a person who can be met through these things. We may not have witnessed Jesus Christ walking in the flesh on earth, but I’m sure many of us can say that we have witnessed things he has done in our lives nonetheless.

“My Lord and my God”

Is Thomas being redundant here? Don’t “Lord” and “God” mean the same thing to the disciples, at least in their understanding of the titles? Well, no. By “Lord,” Thomas was saying Jesus is his master, the one he follows and obeys. It is a title that a servant would give to his overlord. It is significant to call Christ “Lord,” sure. After all, to most people on the Roman Empire, Caesar was Lord. Calling anyone else “Lord” could get someone living in the empire into serious trouble. But Thomas is going a step further here. He is not just calling Jesus, “Lord”. He probably already considered Jesus to be his Lord, so if he just said, “My Lord” when he met Christ after the crucifixion, one could say that Thomas was just accepting the reality that it was indeed Jesus, his Lord, whom he was  encountering. But Thomas also says, “My God.” Did Thomas believe Jesus was God before this point? We know St. Peter did. Maybe the other disciples did as well. It’s even more likely that they did after witnessing his resurrection. But Thomas did not witness it until that point. Was this the very moment Thomas accepted Jesus as not just his Lord, but also his God? Was it in this moment that Thomas acknowledged Jesus as the creator of the universe, the giver of life, the God of his forefathers who performed all the miracles he had been learning about from his youth? If this is the revelation Thomas is receiving in this moment, it is especially significant. Thomas is the skeptic among the disciples, saying, “Unless I see the marks ... I will not believe.” So if even he, a skeptic, was coming to believe by seeing Christ that day, perhaps even the greatest skeptics in our lives would be convinced that Jesus is God after an encounter with the resurrected Christ as well. May we pray for the skeptics in our lives to experience just that, because the resurrected Christ is still among us after all. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. One could easily believe that Jesus is just talking about belief in his resurrection. Of course, he is talking about that. But let’s not forget that it’s not only true that Jesus rose from the dead. It’s just as true that he is risen from the dead. That’s why you will see it written on the signs on people’s lawns and church marquees as, “He is risen,” to emphasize the fact that Christ is alive and among us today.

he saw and believed

A doubter may have seen the burial cloths and the stone rolled away, and may have simply believed that the body of Jesus was stolen. Peter is starting to get it, though. He had witnessed Jesus’ divine power. Now it’s just a matter of putting the pieces together. Perhaps we all would believe if we witnessed everything Peter witnessed, but Christ says of us who haven’t witnessed Christ’s miracles, “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet still believe” (John 20:29). We may not have the blessing of witnessing Christ’s miracles in the Holy Land when he walked the earth, but we do have the sacraments and the graces of the lives of the saints, who we can call upon to deepen our faith. We have all the miracles that have happened since the time of Christ, which the disciples did not have to bolster their faith, like those at Fatima and Guadalupe, and all the Eucharistic miracles. This is not to compare what the disciples received to what we have received through God’s grace, and try to notice who his favorite is, but only to show that God is constantly reaching out to us and inviting us to believe in countless ways, if we only care to look.

This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Christ wants to build a loving relationship with us, and he is willing to die to do it. As he had this Last Supper with his disciples, he knew everything that was going to happen to him in the next day, and went through with it all anyway--because of love. In John 3:16, we read that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Christ would not have said that if he wasn’t planning on backing it up with action. He continues to back up those words, not only at every Mass, but in all the ways he showers his grace and forgiveness upon the world. Our sins are all covered by this blood of the new covenant.