Homily
for the 6th Sunday of Easter (Cycle A)
Based
on Jn 14:15-21
(Gospel), Ac 8:5-8, 14-17 (First Reading) and 1 P 3:15-18 (Second
Reading)
From
the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
SPIRIT OF TRUTH
“I shall ask the Father, and he will give you …that Spirit of truth, he is in you.” (Jn 14:16-17).
The Gospel narrative for this 6thSunday
of Easter (Cycle A)is taken from Jn 14:15-21. Verses 15 and 16 say:“If you love me, you will keep my
commandmentsh I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocatei to be with you forever. Footnote h says “Var. ‘keep my commandment’, Jesus, like God
himself, asserts his right to love and obedience.”; and Footnote i
says “The Greek word ‘parakletos’ is here translated ‘Advocate’, but it si
difficult to choose between the possible meanings: ‘advocate’, ‘intercessor’, ‘protector’,
‘counselor’, ‘support’. The parallel
between the Spirit’s work for the disciples and Christ’s bring out powerfully
the personal character of the Spirit, cf. 14:26+, 1 Jn 2:1.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Dt 6:4-9 - Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God, is the one Yahweh. b(v. 4) You shall
love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
mind, and with all your strengthc (v. 5). Let these words I urge on
you today to be written in your heart (v. 6).You shall repeat them to your
children and say them whether at rest in your house, or walking abroad, at your
lying down or at your rising (v. 7); you shall fasten them on your hand as a
sign and on your forehead as a circlet (v. 8); you shall write them on the
doorposts of your house and your gates (v. 9). Footnote b says “Another translation sometimes adopted ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh is
our God, Yahweh alone’, but it is more likely that we have here a declaration
of monotheistic faith. This verse was later to be used as the opening words of
the Shema, a prayer still central to Jewish piety.”; and Footnote c says
“This love, echo God’s love for his people, 4:37; 7:8; 10:15, embraces the fear
of God, the duty of service and the observance of precepts, 6:13; 10:12-13;
11:1; cf. 30:2. Outside Dt there is no explicit command to love God but its
equivalent is found in 2 K 23:25 and Ho 6:6. Though the command does not spear,
the Psalms and the prophetic books, especially Hosea and Jeremiah, are full of
the love if God. Jesus, quoting Dt 6:5, lays down as the greatest commandment
of all, Mt 22:37p; with it goes fear, the fear of a son, not of a salve, 1 Jn
4:18.”
2. Dt
7:11 - You are therefore to keep and observe the commandments and statutes and
ordinances that I lay down for you today.
3. Dt
11:1 - You must love Yahweh your God and always keep his injunctions , his laws,
his customs, his commandments.
4.
Ws 6:18…loving
her means keeping her laws,e obeying her laws guarantees
incorruptibility…Footnote e says
“Love implies obedience, Ex. 20:6;
Dt 5:10; 7:9; Si 2:15; Jn 14:15,21, etc.”
5. 1
Jn 2:3 - We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments.
6. 1
Jn 4:21 - So this is the commandment that he has given us, that anyone who
loves God must also love his brother.
7. 1
Jn 5:3…this is what loving God is – keeping his commandments…
Verse 17 says: That Spirit of truthj whom the world can never receive
since it neither sees nor knows him; but you know him, because he is with you,
he is in you.k Footnote j says “He who reveals and inspires the true worship
of God, 4:23f, as opposed to the prince of this world who is ‘the father of
lies’, 8:44; 1 Jn 4:3f.” ; and Footnote k says “Var. ‘he will be in you’.”
Parallel texts are:
1. Jn
14:26 - But the Advocate, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and
remind you of all I have said to you.r Footnote r
says “In place of the departed Christ,
the faithful will have the Spirit, 14:16, 17; 16:7, cf. 1:33+. He is the
‘parakletos’ who intercedes with the
Father, cf. 1 Jn. 2:1, and whose voice is heard in human courts, 15:26,27, cf.
LK. 12:11p., Mt. 10:19-20p. Ac. 5:32. He is the Spirit of truth, leading men to
the very fullness of truth, 16:33, teaching them to understand the mystery of
Christ – fulfillment of the scriptures, 5:39+, the meaning of his words, 2:19+,
of his actions, and his ‘signs’, 14:26, 16:13, 1 Jn. 2:20f,27, all hitherto
obscure to the disciples, 2:22, 12:16, 13:7, 20:9. In this way the Spirit is to
bear witness to Christ, 15:26, 1 Jn. 5:6,7, and shame the unbelieving world,
16:8-11.”
2. Jn
1:10 - He was in the world that had its
being through him, and the world did not know him.g Footnote g
says “The ‘world’ variously means: the
cosmos or this earth, the human race, those hostile to God who hate Christ and
his disciples, cf. 7:7; 15:18,19; 17:14. This last sense coincides with the
contemporary Jewish distinction between ‘this world’, 8:23 and passim,
dominated by Satan, 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 1 Jn 5:19; and ‘the world to come’
which possibly corresponds to John’s ‘eternal life’, 12:25. The disciples are
to remain in this world for the present, though not of it, 17:11,14f.”
3. 1
Jn 4:6 - But web are children
of God, and those who know God listen to us; those who are not of God refuse to
listen to us. This is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of
falsehood.c Footnote b says “‘we’ i.e. the authorized preachers, and particularly the apostles.”;
and Footnote c says “Lit.
‘From this we know the spirit of truth
and the spirit of error’; the theme of the two spirits, which also occurs I
Essene (Qumran) literature, was destined to have a considerable influence on
early Christian thought. All people are torn between the two ‘worlds’, cf.
3:8+; 3:19+, and in varying degrees all are inspired by the spirit of each of
these ‘worlds’. For John the spirit of truth comes from God, 3:24; 4:13, cf. Jn
14:26.”
4. 2
Jn 1-2 - From the Elder:a my
greetings to the Lady, the chosen one,b and to her children, she
whom I love in the truth – and I am not the only one, for so do all who have
come to know the truth (v. 1) – because the truth that lives in us and will be
with us forever (v. 2). Footnote a says “The elders were the leaders in each community, cf. Tt 1:5+. Here the
title refers to John the apostle, the outstanding leader of the communities of
Asia Minor.”; and Footnote b says “The ‘Chosen Lady’ or ‘Sovereign Lady’, figurative reference to one of
the local churches under the jurisdiction of the Elder.”
Verse 18 says: I will not leave
you orphans; I will come back to you.
Parallel text is Mt 28:20 that says: …and teach
them to observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you
always; yes, to the end of time.
Verse 19 says: In
a short time the world will no longer see me; but you will see me, because I
live and you will livel. Footnote
l says “The world has seen its
last of Jesus, cf. 7:34; 8:21. The disciples, however, will see him in his
risen life, not merely with their eyes but with the inward vision of faith,
20:29.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Jn 7:34 - You will
look for me and will not find men where I am you cannot come. Footnote
n says “Jesus Christ, like God
himself, must be sought while there is still time to find him. But the Jews
will let his ‘time’ slip by and instead of coming to them, salvation will come
to tehpagans (the ‘Greeks’). Cf. 12:20-21; 12:32+; 19:37+.”
2.
Jn 8:21 - Again he
said to them: ‘I am going away; you will look for me and you will die in your
sin.f Where I am going, you cannot come.’ Footnote f says “By rejecting Jesus, the Jews are heading for irremediable loss; thay
are sinning against the truth, vv. 40,45f. It is the sin against the Spirit, Mt
12:31p. Cf. Jn 7:34+.”
3.
Jn 16:16,22 - ‘In
a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will
see me again (v. 16).’g So it is with you: you are sad now, but I
shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy, and that joy no one
shall take from you (v. 22). Footnote f says “A veiled reference to his approaching death and resurrection. Add.
‘because I am going to the Father’.
4.
Jn 6:57 - As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draws life from the
Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me.p Footnote
p says “The life that the Father communicates to the
Son passes to the faithful through the Eucharist.
Verse 20 says: On
that daym you will understand that I am in my Father and you in me
and I in you. Footnote m says “Phrase used by the prophets for the occasions when God notable
intervenes in human history, cf. Is 2:17; 4:1f; etc. The ‘day’ may indicate a
whole epoch; here, it is the post-resurrection era”.
Parallel texts are:
1. Jn
10:30- The Father and I are one.q Footnote
q says “The Son’s power is not other than the
Father’s The context shows that this is the primary meaning, but the statement
is deliberately undefined and hints at a more comprehensive and a profounder
unity. The Jews do not miss the implication; they sense a claim to godhead, v.
33. Cf. 1;1; 8:24,29; 10:38; 14:9-10; 17:11,21 and 2:11+.”
2. Jn
17:11,21-22 - I am not in the world any
longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep
those you have given me true to your name,j so that they may be one
like us (v. 11). May they all be one.
Father, may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the
world may believe it was you who sent me. (v. 21). I have given them the glory
you gave to me, that they may be one as we are one. Footnote j
says “Lit. “Keep those in your name whom
(var. which) you have given me’. So also in v. 12.”
Verse 21 says: Anybody
who receives my commandments and keep them will be one who loves me; and
anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show
myself to him.n Footnote n says “By coming, with the Father, to dwell in him.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
1 Jn 2:5 - But
when anyone does obey what he has said. God’s love comes to perfection in him.b
Footnote b says “Lit.’in him the love of God has been
perfected (reached its goal)’ this refers more to God’s love fo us than to our
love for him.”
2.
1 Jn 3:24 - Whoever keeps his commandments lives
in God and God lives in him. We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he
has given us.
3.
1 Jn 4:21 - So this is the commandment that he
has given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother.
4.
Jn 16:27…because the Father himself loves you
for loving me and believing that I came from God.
5.
Jn 17:26 - I made your name known to them and
will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be
in them, and so that I may be in them.
6. Dt
7:12-13 - ‘Listen to these ordinance, be
true to them and observe them, and in return Yahweh your God will be true to
the covenant and the kindness he promised your fathers solemnly (v. 12), He
will love you and bless you and increase your numbers; he will bless the fruit
of your body and the produce of your soil, your corn, your wine, your oil, the
issue of your cattle, the young of your flock, in the land he swore to your
fathers he would give you.
7. Ws
6:12 - Wisdom is bright, and does not grow dim. By those who love her she is
readily seen and found by those who look for her.
8. Si
4:10,14 - Be like a father to orphans,
and as good as a husband to widowsa (v. 10). Whoever holds her close
will inherit honor, and wherever he walks the Lord will bless him. Footnote
a says “‘widows’ Hebr.; ‘their
mothers’ Greek.”
The First Reading is from Ac 8:5-8, 14-17.
Verses 5 and 6 says: One of them was Phillip who went to a Samaritan townd and
proclaimed the Christ to them.e The people united in welcoming the
message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he
worked or because they saw them themselves.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ac 6:5- The
whole assembly approved of this proposal and selected Stephen, a man full of
faith and of the Holy Spirit, together with Phillip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon,
Parmenas, and Nicolas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism.e Footnote
e
says “Luke
does not call the chosen seven ‘deacons’, but twice uses the word diakonia
(‘service’ v. 4; translated ‘distribution’ in v. 1). All seven have Greek
names; the last is a proselyte, cf. 2:11+. The Hellenistic Christians now have
their own organization independent of the Hebrew group.
2. Ac
21:8 - The next day we left and came to Caesaria. Here we called on Phillip the
evangelist, one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
Verse 7 says: There were, for example, unclean
spirits that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several
paralytics and cripples were cured.
Parallel texts are:
1. Mt
8:29 - They cried out, “What have you to
do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed
timej? Footnote j
says “Until the day of Judgment, the
demons are to some extent free to work their mischief on earth, Rv. 9:5; they
do this normally by taking possession of men, 12:43-45+. Such possession brings
disease with it because disease- consequence of sin, 9:2+- is another
manifestation of Satan’s dominion, Lk. 13:16. It is for this reason that the
gospel exorcism though sometimes described simply as expulsions, cf. 15:21-28p;
Mk. 1:23-28p; Lk. 8:2, often take the form of cures, 9:32-34; 12:22-24p;
17:14-18p; Lk. 13:10-17. By his power over the devils Jesus destroys Satan’s
empire, 12:28p; Lk. 10:17-19; cf. Lk.4:6; Jn. 12:31+, and inaugurates the
messianic era of which, according to the prophets, the gift of the Holy Spirit
is the distinctive mark, Is. 11:2+; Jl. 3:1f. Man may refuse to recognize it,
12:24-32, but the demons see it all too well, cf. this passage and Mk. 1:24p;
3:11p; Lk. 4:41;Ac. 16:17; 19:15. This power to exorcise is given by Jesus to
his disciples simultaneously with the power of miraculous healing, 10:18p, with
which it is connected, 8:3+; 4:24; 8:16p; Lk. 13:32.”
2.
Ac 28:8-9 - Filled with awe and great joy the
women came quickly away from the tombd and ran to tell the disciples
(v. 8). And there, coming to meet them, was Jesus. ‘Greetings’ he said. And the
women came up to him and, falling own before him, clasped his feet (v. 9)
Footnote
Verse 8 says: As a result there was great rejoicing in that town.
Parallel text s Ac 2:46 that says: They
went as a body to the Temple every day but met in their houses for the breaking
of bread; they shared their food gladlyii and generously; Footnote
ii says “Joy is the sequel of
faith:8:8.9; 4:21; 13:48,52; 16:34; cf. 5:41; Lk. 1:14+; Rm. 15:13.”
Verses 14 and 15 says: When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them , and
they went down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit…
Parallel texts for verse 14 are:
1. Ac
11:1,22 - The apostles and the brothers
in Judea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God… (v. 1).The
Church in Jerusalemh heard about this and the sent Barnabas to
Antioch (v. 22). Footnote h says “Which enjoyed right of supervision over the other churches, cf. 8:14;
11:1, and see Ga 2:2+.”
2. Jn
4:38 - I sent you to reap a harvest you
have not worked for. Others worked for it; and you have come into the rewards
of your trouble.’l Footnote l says “The reapers are the apostles, the sowers
those who have labored before them,
especially Jesus.”
3. Lk
8:51 - When he came to the house he
allowed no one to go in with him except Peter and John and James,f
and the child’s father and mother. Footnote f says “Cf. Mk 5:37+. Here, however, as in 9:28, Ac 1:13, John is named
immediately after Peter. This coupling of John with Peter is common to Lk22:8;
Ac 3:1-3,11; 4:13,19; 8:14, and the fourth gospel, Jn 13:23-26; 18:15-16;
20:3-9; 21:7,20-23.”
Verse 16 says: for as yet he had not come down on
any of them: they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Parallel texts are:
1. Ac
1:5 - John baptized with water but you,
not many days from now, will be baptized e with the Holy Spirit.
Footnote e
says “The baptism of the Spirit foretold
by John the Baptist, Mt. 3:11 p. and here promised by Jesus, will be initiated
by the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, Ac. 2:1-4. Subsequently, the
apostles, obedient to Christ’s command, Mt 28:19, will continue to make use of
baptism in water, Ac. 2:41, 8:12, 38, 9:18, 10:48, 16:15, 33, 18:8, 19:5, as
the ritual initiation into the messianic kingdom, cf. Mt. 3:6+, but it will be
‘in the names of Jesus’, Ac. 2:38+, and through belief in Christ as savior, cf. Rm 6:4+, will be able to absolve from sins
and to give the Spirit, Ac. 2;38.
Connected with this Christian baptism by water, there is the companion rite of
the ‘imposition, 1 Tm. 4:14+, the
purpose of which is to give the gifts of the spirit in as manifest a way as
they had been given at Pentecost, Ac. 8:16-19, 9:17-18, 19:5-6 (but cf.
10:1-48); this is the origin of the sacrament of confirmation. Side by side
with these Christian sacraments the baptism of John was for a time still being
administered by certain of the less instructed early Christians, Ac. 19:3.”
2.
Ac 19:1-41- The
disciples of John at Ephesus.
3. Ac
10:44 - While Peter was still speaking
the Holy Spirit came downq on all the listeners. Footnote q says “‘The Pentecost of the pagans’. As Peter notes, v. 47; 11:15; 15:8, it
resembles the first Pentecost.”
Verse 17 says: Then they
laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ac 1:5 - John baptized with water but you, not many
days from now, will be baptized e with the Holy Spirit. Footnote e says “The
baptism of the Spirit foretold by John the Baptist, Mt. 3:11 p. and here
promised by Jesus, will be initiated by the outpouring of the Spirit at
Pentecost, Ac. 2:1-4. Subsequently, the apostles, obedient to Christ’s command,
Mt 28:19, will continue to make use of baptism in water, Ac. 2:41, 8:12, 38,
9:18, 10:48, 16:15, 33, 18:8, 19:5, as the ritual initiation into the messianic
kingdom, cf. Mt. 3:6+, but it will be ‘in the names of Jesus’, Ac. 2:38+, and
through belief in Christ as savior, cf.
Rm 6:4+, will be able to absolve from sins and to give the Spirit, Ac. 2;38. Connected with
this Christian baptism by water, there is the companion rite of the ‘imposition, 1 Tm. 4:14+, the purpose of
which is to give the gifts of the spirit in as manifest a way as they had been
given at Pentecost, Ac. 8:16-19, 9:17-18, 19:5-6 (but cf. 10:1-48); this is the
origin of the sacrament of confirmation. Side by side with these Christian
sacraments the baptism of John was for a time still being administered by certain
of the less instructed early Christians, Ac. 19:3.”
2. 1
Tm 4:1 - The
Spirit has explicitly said that during the last timesa there will be
some who will desert the faith and choose to listen to deceitful spirits and
doctrines that come from the devils…
Footnote a says “On the
crisis that will characterize the ‘last times’ cf. 2 Th 2:3-12;2 Tm 3:1; 4:3-4;
2 P 3:3; Jude 18. Also cf. 2 Mt 24:7fp; Ac 20-29-30. As, eschatologically, the
‘last times’ have already begun, Rm 3:26+, we are already living in this final
epoch of crisis, cf.1 Co 7:26; Ep 5:6; 6:13; Jm 5:3; 1 Jn 2:18; 4:1,3; 2 Jn 7;
Mt 26:41.”
The Second Reading is from 1 P 3:15-18.
Verses 15, 16 and 17 say: Simply reverencee the Lordf Christ in your
hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for
the hope that you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a
clear conscience, s that those who slander you when you are living a good life
in Christ may be proved wrong in the
accusations they bring. And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it
is better to suffer for doing right than doing wrong. Footnote e says “Lit. ‘sanctify’”;
and Footnote f says “‘The lord’; var. ‘God’, ‘hope’, add ‘and
faith’. The allusion is to local persecutions.”
Parallel texts are:
1. Mt
10:26-31 - Do not be afraid of them
therefore. For everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything
now hidden will be made clear (v. 26). What I say to you in the dark, tell in
the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from the housetops (v. 27)k
‘Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; fear him
rather who can destroy both body and soul in hell (v. 28). Can you not buy two
sparrows for a penny? And yet no one falls to the ground without your Father
knowing (v. 29). Why, every hair on your head has been counted (v. 30). So
there is no need to be afraid; you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows (v.
31). Footnote k says “Jesus was obliged to obscure his message:1.
His hearers would have misunderstood a clearer teaching, Mk 1:34+; 2. He
himself had not yet completed- by death and resurrection-the work which alone
could explain the message. Later on it will be the duty of his disciples to
deliver the message in its entirety and without fear. These same words are
found in Lk but with an entirely different meaning: the disciples are not to
imitate Pharisaic hypocrisy; whatever they may try to hide will certainly come
to light eventually; they must therefore speak openly.”
2. Pr
3:25 - Have no fear of sudden terror or of assault from wicked men, since
Yahweh will be our guarantor, he will keep your steps from the snare.
Verse 18 says: Why,
Christ himself, innocent though he was, had died once for sins,g
died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the
spirit he was raised to life… Footnote g says “‘sins’;
vulg. ‘our sins’, Om.to ‘God’.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Rm 5:6 - We were still helpless when at his
appointed moment Christ died for sinful men.
2. Rm
6:10 - When he died, he died, once and for all, to sin,e so his life
now is life with God.Footnote e says “Christ
was sinless, 2 Cor. 5:21, but having a physical body like our own, Rm. 8:3, he
belonged to the order of sin; when he became ‘spiritual’, 1 Co. 15:45-46, he
belonged only to the divine order. Similarly, though the Christian remains in
the flesh for a time, he already lives in the spirit.”
3. 1
P 2:21-24 - This, in fact, is what you
were called to do, because Christ sufferedc for you and left an
example for you to follow the way he took (v. 21). He had done anything wrong,
and there had been no perjury in his mouth (v. 22). He was insulted and did not
retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his
trust in the righteous judge (v. 23). He bearing our faults in his own body on
the cross, so that we might die to our faults, we live for holiness; through
his wounds you have been healed (v. 24).
Footnote
4. Is
53:11 - His soul’s anguish over he shall
see the lighti and be content. By his sufferings shall my servant
justify many j, taking their faults on himself. Footnote j
says “‘By his suffering’ corr. following
one Hebr. MS; ‘By his knowledge’ Hebr.
Before ‘servant’ Hebr. inserts ‘the just one’.
5. Ac
3:14+ - It was you who accusedf
the Holy One,g the Just One, you who demanded the reprieve of a
murderer …Footnote f says “Var.
‘disowned’”; and Footnote g says “Cf.
with Ac. 4:27,30. Jesus is the ‘holy servant of God’. He is also the ‘holy one
of God’ and the ‘holy one’ par excellence: Ac. 2:27; Lk. 1:35; 4:34; Mk. 1:24+;
Jn. 6:69; Rv. 3:7.”
6.
Rm 1:3-4 - This news is about the Son of God who
according to the human nature he took, was a descended from David (v. 3). It is
about Jesus Christ our Lord who is the order of the spirit, the spirit of holiness
that is in him, was proclaimedc Son of God in all his power through
his resurrection from the dead.d (v. 4).
Footnote
Footnote
7.
Heb 9:26-28…or else he would have had to suffer
over and over again since the world began. Instead of that, he has made his appearance
once and for all,k now at the end of the last age, to do away with
sin by sacrificing himself (v. 26). Since men only die once, and after that
comes judgment (v. 28), So Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the
faults of many on himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to
deal with sin but to reward with salvation those who are waiting for him (v.
28).l
Footnote k says “The
sacrifice of Christ is unique, 7:27+: being offered ‘at the end of the last age’ (lit. ‘at the
completion of the last aeons’), i.e.,
the end of human history, there is no need for it to be repeated, since
it wipe out sin, not with non-human (‘alien’) blood, but with Christ’s own
blood, cf. 9:12-14, so its effect is unconditional.”; and Footnote l
says “The first coming of Christ gave him
a direct relationship to sin, Rm. 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21. The second coming of Christ
will, since the redemption is complete, have no connection with sin. Christians wait for this parousia that will
take place at the Judgment, 1 Co. 1:8+; Rm. 2:6+.”
Homily –
1. To
possessthe“spirit” means to keep the laws,statutes,
ordinances and commands, and that is the truth.The truth is that…as
Footnote e of Ws6:18 says “Love implies obedience, Ex. 20:6; Dt 5:10;
7:9; Si 2:15; Jn 14:15,21, etc.”.“If you love me and keep my commandments… I shall ask the Father
to give you the Spirit of truth that is in you
(Jn. 14:16-17;Gospel ); “…loving her means keeping her laws, obeying her laws guarantees
incorruptibility” (Ws. 6:18), which incorruptibility is to become a spirit.“We
can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments (1 Jn 2:3).
2. Wrong doing is the same as to possess an unclean spirit. “There
were, for example, unclean spirits that came shrieking out of many who were
possessed (Ac 8:7; First Reading). As
the Second Reading says: “And if it is the
will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for doing right (keeping the laws, statutes, ordinances and
commands) than doing wrong (breaking
the same)” 1 P 3:17.
3. Summing
up: “So this is the commandment that he has
given us, that anyone who loves God must also love his brother” (1 Jn 4:21).
4.
The
spirit of truth versus the spirit of falsehood – “But we are children of God,
and those who kow God listen to us; those who are not of God refuse to listen
to us. This is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood
(1 Jn 4:6). Take notice of Footnote c of Jn 4:6 that says: “Literally, ‘From
this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error’; the theme of the two
spirits, which also occurs I Essene (Qumran) literature, was destined to have a
considerable influence on early Christian thought. All people are torn between
the two ‘worlds’, cf. 3:8+; 3:19+, and in varying degrees all are inspired by
the spirit of each of these ‘worlds’. For John the spirit of truth comes from
God, 3:24; 4:13, cf. Jn 14:26.
5. 2 Jn 1-2 - From the Elder: my greetings to the
Lady, the chosen one, and to her children, she whom I love in the truth – and I
am not the only one, for so do all who have come to know the truth (v. 1) –
because the truth that lives in us and will be with us forever (v. 2).
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