HE WHO GIVES A COMMANDMENT LIVES IN THE ONE WHO KEEPS IT.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER. YEAR A.
April 27, 2008.
(First reading: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17) (Psalm 66:1-7, 16, 20)
(Second reading: 1 Peter 3:15-18) (Gospel reading: John 14:15-21)


HE WHO GIVES A COMMANDMENT
LIVES IN THE ONE WHO KEEPS IT.

A commandment can be a source of life only when the person who gives it lives in the person who keeps it; because the life of the one who commands becomes one with the life of the one who obeys.

Giving a commandment involves not only the giving of an order but, above all, it involves the giving of oneself, the giving of one's life.

The risen Lord continues to live in us because, with his commandments, he gives us his life. He tells us "You are in me and I in you" (John 14:20); "I live and you will live" (John 14:19).

Through his commandments, Jesus gives us his life.
By keeping Jesus' commandments we live in him and become one with him and with all the members of the human race. This is how we live the unity we receive from Christ:
- By seeking the well-being of all not so much because we are impelled by an external commandment to do so, but because we make ourselves one with every human being; because the goodness we bring onto others is the same goodness we bring onto ourselves.

- By seeking the well-being not only of those who think or act like us, but also of those who think and act differently than us, that is, those who may be or are our enemies; because, by virtue of the commandment of life that lives in us, we have united our life with everybody else's.

The Book of the Acts of the Apostles describes the type of human community where God lives in them because they keep his commandments.
Philip, filled with the life of Jesus, "went down to [the] city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them" ( Acts 8:5). Peter and John, also filled with the life of Jesus, went down to Samaria as well, to express the entire community's unity with and support for the work of Philip. All this because
Philip's work, being the expression of Jesus' life, caused the people of Samaria to respond "with one accord" and to pay "attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing" (Acts 8:6).

Philip thus gave the Samaritans not only Jesus' commandment but also Jesus' own life, just like Philip himself did not only give mere commandments but his very own life. The Christian community of Jerusalem became one with the Christian community of Samaria; for Jesus' commandment, is not so much about attaining obedience as it is about attaining unity with those who receive it.

That is how Jesus' Spirit - "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17) - went to live in the Samaritan community and it comes to live in those who nowadays continue to keep his commandments.

"The world cannot accept the Spirit of truth, because it neither sees nor knows it" (John 14:17).
The powerful of the world today do not see nor know the "Spirit of Truth" because:
- They are concerned only with their own well-being (or that of their group or that of their nation).

- They do not establish unity with those over whom they rule or intent to rule; on the contrary, they only create an ever widening gap between those who govern and those who are governed, between the powerful and the weak.

- They are not concerned with establishing a community of life with those who receive their commandments; in fact, instead of giving life, they destroy any one who opposes them.

May this Easter season bring us Jesus' commandment of life, which not only tells us how to live his life, but, most importantly, gives us his very own life, for he reminds us in his gospel: "You are in me and I in You", "I live and you will live".

When the Lord gives a commandment he is willing and ready to live in the one who keeps it.