CARRYING OUT ONE’S MISSION           

May 18, Tuesday

 

SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER

 

In strikingly parallel ways, both Paul and Christ speak of their mission they have carried out – Christ with absolute certainty, Paul, knowing his limitations, to the best of his abilities. Paul knows that trials are awaiting him, but led by the Holy Spirit who guided his life, he will go ahead, even when he does not know what is awaiting him. Jesus has given the best of himself to make the Father known to all. He prays that they may all be one.

 

First Reading: Acts 20:17-27

From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the leaders of the congregation. When they arrived, he said, “You know that from day one of my arrival in Asia I was with you totally—laying my life on the line, serving the Master no matter what, putting up with no end of scheming by Jews who wanted to do me in. I didn’t skimp or trim in any way. Every truth and encouragement that could have made a difference to you, you got. I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.

“But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God.

“And so this is good-bye. You’re not going to see me again, nor I you, you whom I have gone among for so long proclaiming the news of God’s inaugurated kingdom. I’ve done my best for you, given you my all, held back nothing of God’s will for you.

 

Gospel: John 17:1-11

Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Father, it’s time.
Display the bright splendour of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendour.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendour,
The very splendour I had in your presence
Before there was a world.

I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is first-hand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.

 

Prayer

Lord, our God,
your Son, Jesus Christ,
carried out the mission you had given him,
without fear and in all faithfulness to you.
God, give us a bit
of his sense of mission.
Give us the strength of the Spirit
to speak your Word as it is,
bold and demanding,
without compromising or giving in
to the changing moods and fashions of the day.
And may our lives be like an open book
in which people can read your Word.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

Prayer of Jesus

After the “Farewell Address” the Gospel of John presents us with the prayer of Jesus to the Father, known as “priestly prayer.” The context of this prayer is one of the most solemn moments in the life of Jesus. He delivers it at the Last Supper, immediately after the “Farewell Speech” and immediately before the passion.

Jesus is aware that his earthly mission is coming to an end. For this reason, Jesus “raising his eyes to heaven” asks that his mission reach its definitive fulfilment with the glorification of the Father.
We must remember that John was not attempting to record the chronicle of events in his Gospel. He makes use of an overheard conversation between Jesus and his Father, to educate and to motivate the members of his own believing community. These words are the words of the Disciple, who had known Jesus personally, who had been privileged to share many of the intimate thoughts and words of Jesus.
A little earlier in the Discourse, Jesus had encouraged the disciples to ask God for what they desired: In fact I assure you that the Father will give you in my name anything you ask of him. The point of their asking was not to inform an otherwise absent-minded God, but to sensitise themselves to their deeper desires. After the discourse, Jesus gives his own example – by praying to the Father.
Through his prayer, Jesus reveals to the Father his deepest desires and thereby, more consciously, motivating himself to face his impending death with unflinching determination. In the process, Jesus’ prayer would make clear to the readers the fire burning in his heart. The signs that he had worked, the dialogues and discussions in which he was involved, and the discourses that he had given were all done with the purpose of making the Father known and glorifying the Father.
The Lord’s Prayer that we read in the Gospels of Mathew and Luke finds a much more personalised version here in John. Instead of saying “Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is heaven,” John would prefer to use the words as: I have glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
The members of John’s community, who were in the midst of persecution and exclusion, would have drawn assurance and comfort from this words of prayer that Jesus makes. Is it not comforting to learn that Jesus himself prays on our behalf to the Father?

 

Video available on Youtube : Prayer of Jesus