Deacon Dave Etters
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This reflection explores the final words of Jesus in John 14 and what it truly means to “keep my commandments.” Through Scripture, the wisdom of the saints, and the beauty of the Eucharist, we are reminded that God desires more than simple rule-following — He desires loving union with us. A powerful message on faith, love, and our ultimate purpose in God.
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Well, good morning. Well, finally, we got spring really springing us to life here. The trees are really coming out strong.
The weather is getting better. And great day today, Mother’s Day. Congratulations and thank you, mothers.
You know, we all have one thing in common. We all come from a mother. Don’t forget that.
But with that positive outlook on life, you’re probably thinking, where am I going with this? I’m going to ask you a pretty deep question here. And don’t let it be dark, though. If you knew that you were going to die tomorrow, what would you say to your family and loved ones? If you knew that, what would you say? Last words are important.
They’re very important. We, if we look to Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientists, mathematicians, physicists in the world, he said these. His last words were, I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
Such humility from such a great accomplished individual and great mind. While the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me. On the other hand, we’ve got comedian W.C. Fields.
He’s before most all of our time. But W.C. Fields was asked while he was reading the Bible shortly before he died, why are you reading the Bible? And he said, I’m looking for loopholes. Well, today’s gospel is right out of the heart of the last words, the final discourse of Jesus to his disciples, his closest friends.
He poured his whole life into them. His love and training and teaching and labor among his disciples. He poured his life into them, and he knows that he’s going to the cross tomorrow.
And he gathers them together, and he speaks to them from his heart the most important words that he could possibly muster to share with them what is important, what is happening. And he’s saying this, if you love me, keep my commandments. In other words, don’t forget what I’ve taught you.
If you love me, keep my commandments. Heed my words. Chapter 14 of this gospel, the entire 14th chapter, is divided into three parts.
There’s the part where it talks about let your hearts not be troubled. Believe in God, the faith part. And then there’s the middle part, which we’re talking about today, which is the keep my commandments, the love part.
Loving God with our heart, soul, mind. We might think of those commandments. What does the first thing pop into our head? Sometimes I would think about that.
Well, it’s the 10 words in Hebrew, the 10 words, the 10 commandments. Honor your father and mother. Don’t kill, don’t bear false witness, commit adultery.
All those things, don’t do this and that. Those are the commands of the Lord. But a very prominent biblical scholar, Raymond Brown, said this, his commandments, that is the commandments of Jesus, are not simply moral precepts.
They involve a whole way of life in loving union with him. That’s worth repeating. His commandments are not simply moral precepts, although those are critical and important.
We must do them. But they involve a whole way of life in loving union with him. Our great tradition of some of the great doctors of our faith, the mystics, St. John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, Francis de Sales, they spoke of, in various ways, they come about it in a different way, but they arrive at the general sense of our progress throughout this life as being purgative, illuminative, and unitive.
This progression begins at the purgative state where we shed sins, we repent, and we find ourselves calling and crying out to God. Then there’s the illuminative phase where our minds are enlightened, we learn to pray and love and to serve God with our whole heart. And then there’s finally this unitive phase where it’s the highest level of our life with God, where we are one, we become one in union with God, which will only perfectly be complete when we reach heaven.
But we have union with God here in this time as well. When we come to the altar today, we express our love to Jesus. We receive him in his fullness, body, blood, soul, and divinity in the blessed sacrament.
And the church teaches this is the summit of the Christian life in this world. There’s no higher to go than that. We reach a union with Christ in the sacrament, and we are actually walking tabernacles for a short time with Jesus living in us, and our hearts trusting and living in him as well.
Jesus said this, and unfortunately, the last part of the unit was left off by the lectionary editors. The verse 23 says this from that chapter. If a man or if one loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
God wants to camp out with us. He wants to be with us. He wants to love us, and he wants this new home renovated.
Imagine the plans he has for this home, this house, this temporal tabernacle that we live in in this world, that we open ourselves in the living. God comes into us. He changes us.
He transforms our life into radiant beauty. The shack of our sins becomes his mansion and dwelling place. It’s astonishing.
Why did God make me? I go back to the old Baltimore Catechism because it can say things in just a succinct little statement that are so easy to understand that a child can grasp it and so deep that the greatest theological minds can’t find the bottom. Question number six, why did God make me? God made me to know him, to love him, to serve him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in heaven.
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