We are now moving towards the last weeks of the 50-day season of Easter.
If you notice, the Gospel readings for the Fifth and Sixth Sundays of Easter bring us back to the events that took place at the Upper Room a few hours before he was arrested in the garden.
These two Sundays allow us to hear a significant portion of the famous “Farewell Discourse” of Jesus, which runs from chapters 13 to 17 of the Gospel of John.
The Fifth Sunday of Easter is taken from John 14, 1-12, while the sixth Sunday of Easter moves forward from verses 15 to 21 of the same chapter.
And so, we all ask an obvious question: if Jesus already rose from the dead last Easter Sunday, why do our Gospel readings bring us back to the night before he suffered and died?
The key to answering our question is by looking behind the text that we are reading. We must know that when the Gospel of John was written, the actual events of the life and ministry of Jesus were already long over.
The public life of Jesus took place between the years 30 and 33 AD. The Gospel of ‘John, as held by many scholars, was written between 90 and too AD.
Having this background, now we realize that all the promises which Jesus made in the Upper Room during his farewell discourse were already fulfilled.
In John 14, 1-12, Jesus tells his disciples not to be troubled, for he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house. This “going away from them” was fulfilled when he ascended into heaven forty days after his resurrection (Acts 1,3.9).
In John 14, 16-17, he further tells his disciples that he will ask his Father to send them the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, who will be with them always. This “giving of the Holy Spirit” in John took place on the night of Easter when Jesus breathed on his disciples the Holy Spirit (20, 22).
And so, the Resurrection of Jesus not only glorified his humanity (Rom. 6,9) but also realized all his promises made to his disciples.
Indeed, Jesus is the truth On 14,6) because his promises did not remain as words, but were realized and lived out by his disciples.
Like the Risen Lord, may the promises of our Baptism, renewed during the Easter Vigil, become ever more alive and real in our hearts now and forever. Alleluia! Alleluia!