“The
child asks of the Father whom he knows. Thus, the essence of Christian prayer
is not general adoration, but definite, concrete petition. The right way to
approach God is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the
heart of a Father.” ― Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Excerpt from his book “The Cost of Discipleship”
Gospel
Text: (JN 16:23B-28)
Jesus
said to his disciples:
"Amen,
amen, I say to you,
whatever
you ask the Father in my name he will give you.
Until
now you have not asked anything in my name;
ask
and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
"I
have told you this in figures of speech.
The
hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures
but
I will tell you clearly about the Father.
On
that day you will ask in my name,
and
I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.
For
the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me
and
have come to believe that I came from God.
I
came from the Father and have come into the world.
Now
I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."
As Jesus prepared to leave his
disciples and return to the Father, He wrapped up his teachings. He gave
his final lecture. Jesus removed the figures of speech and summarized his
key point one last time before leaving earth. I see today’s Gospel as
John’s notes from Jesus’s final lecture – Jesus tells his disciples – this is
important, here is the take home message – don’t forget…
Jesus tells his disciples without
veils – I am divine.
We tend to humanize Jesus in many
ways. We think of Jesus as a teacher, carpenter, son, fisherman, and
friend. In his final lesson – Jesus tells his disciples clearly of his
divinity. He tells them he existed in heaven, he came down to earth, and
now he returns to heaven. The take home lesson, the lesson we are
supposed to be sure we understand and remember is that Jesus is truly God who
for a time became man.
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