A Cycle – 5^4th Sunday of Easter 26

John 14:1-12

We all know Saul adamantly denied Jesus was the promised Messiah, the Christ.  He had the advantage of witnessing the death of Steven, who proclaimed he was seeing a vision of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.  Yet, Paul would not believe anything that was said or being done in the name of Jesus.  Belief is easy for us in this century because we have thousands of years of developed theology. We have grown up being taught the fundamentals of our faith and they are so ingrained in our minds we are faithful in living each day believing God is real.

Jesus, responding to Thomas said, “…you know me and f you know me, then you will also know my Father.” How could an educated pharisee like Saul of Tarsus see and hear al the things Jesus was doing and still adamantly deny Jesus was the Christ? Perhaps the lesson we need to meditate on is what our knowledge of Christ is based on.  Is it a belief that brings us to church every Sunday to worship and give thanks or is it based on fulfilling a longing to be pleasing to God. 

What is the Christian journey all about? Would it shock you if I said it is not what we spend most of our time doing?  Rember one simple fact and that is we were created in the image and the likeness of God.  We were created to share in an intimate relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  The apostle Paul, learned to refocus his actions after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.  He realized the heart of what we all need to understand is who you were created to be. “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God beforehand that should walk in them” (Eph. 4:10). 

How can we do that is we are so busy doing instead of paying attention to the lessons Jesus taught His disciples.  The lessons recorded by John which occurred after His resurrection are key elements in our being able to not only see and experience God’s mercy and love, but also to discover what we should be doing to help others know Him.  If you see me, you have seen the Father is a powerful statement by Jesus.  How much attention to be pay to the lessons given to us in every word spoken by Jesus, every action of Jesus and His interaction with believers and non-believers. He never rejected anyone and embraced sinners, doubters, outcasts and sought opportunities to interact with the broken hearted and those in need of forgiveness.

You know the parables which show us those attributes of Jesu. You also know the parables where Jesus tells us we need to seek to find.  We need to admit we do not know Jesus and seek opportunities to encounter Him not just in the Eucharist but in everyday life.  We do have to have hunger for the more God desires us to experience.  We cannot wait to have an encounter like the woman at the well.  We must have a desire that drives us to actively seek out Jesus even if it in secret like Nicodemus. 

These next few weeks as we approach Pentecost, I invite you to do two things.  In your private daily prayer, focus on listening. Quinten ten your inner self and focus on one of those attributes of Jesus that you most need to experience. When you feel you have silenced your mind listen. It may be just a nudge, a sense of something you must do to go deeper and experience God more fully.  That is the time to say yes to Jesus, yield to Him and allow Him to enfold you in an embrace of forgiveness and welcome.  Then invite the Holy Spirit to pour the love of God into your heart.  Have your own Pentecost moment with God and do not be surprised is your prayer is more animated.  I also invite you to go to our parish website (www.basilthegreat.org) and on the front page click on our podcast link.  In the search bar type in Pentecost and listen to the three talks I have on Pentecost.  Three talks, three weeks and be prepared for Pentecost to be more than just the birth of the church.