Seventh Sunday of Easter
(A-cycle) May 4, 2008

Jesus prays to His Father and says: “I have revealed your name to those whom You have given me out of the world.” We are kind of careless with names. Mostly we give them because we like the sound of them. Some of our names like Kyle and Brook can be used for either gender. One of my best friends is a woman whose given name is Sydney. In the past few years I’ve noticed when people ask my name and I say, “Cody” they ask, “Is that your first name or last?” When I was first ordained, baptismal names had to be recognized saints’ names. Now, the only requirement is that they not be names connected with devil worship. We don’t want a lot of little Satans or Lucifers running around here.

It was different in ancient times. Then names meant something. For example, Abraham means “the father is exalted”, perfect for the father of the Jewish people. Moses means, “I have rescued him from the water,” a reference to the princess who saved him when he was floating down the river in a basket. Peter means “rock” on which Jesus would build His Church. In the old days, people thought a name should tell us something about the person, so when Jesus says to the Father, “I have revealed your name,” He means “I have revealed who you are.”

And who is the God revealed by Jesus? First of all, He is Father. He is not a distant creator who leaves His creatures to their own devices. He is like a human parent, involved in the being and growing of His children. We matter terribly to Him. Jesus told us that to Him “the very hairs of our heads are numbered.” I feel so sorry for people who say, “I believe in God, but not in a personal God.” They deprive themselves of so much of the joy of the good news, that God is close and caring. And, as I’ve told you before, since God is neither male nor female, all the good things we associate with “mother” can also be credited to God.

Jesus’ very coming into the world reveals a lot about God. As St. John tells us: “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten so that those who believe in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life.” Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “This is eternal life, that they should know You and Him You have sent Jesus Christ.” The God Whom Jesus reveals is a God Who wants us to be happy with Him forever in heaven and will do anything to get us there, even allowing the death of His Son for us that we may join Him in His resurrection. What a forgiving God He is to die for us sinners!

Jesus Himself is the great revelation of God. For us the simplest answer to the question What is God like is: He’s like Jesus. Sometimes when God seems like a distant abstraction, when the Trinity like a meaningless triangle, turn to Jesus Who is God, but is also our brother and our friend. Thousands of years before Jesus, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and when Moses asked God His name, He answered, “Yahweh’. Literally that means “I am Who I am”. What it implies is “I am with you", “I am on your side”. The God, whose name is revealed by Jesus to Be Father, never wavers in His commitment to be with and on the side of His children.

Seventh Sunday of Easter(A-cycle) May 4, 2008

Seventh Sunday of Easter
(A-cycle) May 4, 2008