Read­ing Time: 2 minutes

Introduction

With the ascen­sion of Jesus after forty days of his resur­rec­tion, the stage is now set for the Twelve apostles to begin their mis­sion. Before his ascen­sion, John deems it neces­sary to doc­u­ment Jesus’ will and wish, his desire for his dis­ciples and for Chris­ti­ans. In the Gos­pel accord­ing to John, the sev­en­teenth chapter is quite dif­fer­ent. In 17:1–5, Jesus prays for him­self, dwells on his glor­i­fic­a­tion and the glor­i­fic­a­tion of the Fath­er; in 17:6–19, he prays spe­cific­ally for the dis­ciples; then in 17:20–26, he also prays for all believ­ers. That is, for those who will believe through the apostles. John 17 is Jesus’ wish for the world for whom he sac­ri­ficed his life. Being one means not ren­der­ing fruit­less the mis­sion and sac­ri­fice of Jesus. This Sunday Gos­pel read­ing is Jesus’ pray­er for us. It must be linked with the pray­er for the apostles.

Jesus’ farewell speech

Jesus’ farewell speech was a kind of testament/will. Accord­ing to Dic­tion­ar­ies, test­a­ment or will is a leg­al doc­u­ment declar­ing a person’s wishes regard­ing the dis­pos­al of his/her prop­erty when he/she departs this world. Hav­ing com­pleted his mis­sion on earth, Jesus knows it is time for him to return to his Fath­er. Hence, he declares his will to the dis­ciples. While par­ents tend to divide their mater­i­al prop­erty among their chil­dren as their own will, Jesus had a dif­fer­ent under­stand­ing of test­a­ment. Without unity and prop­er under­stand­ing, par­ents’ prop­erty risk being motive of quar­rel, dis­pute and divi­sion among their chil­dren. Jesus pre­tends that his dis­ciples be united. They must agree with one anoth­er as far as the Gos­pel is con­cerned. Unless they are united, the spread­ing of the Gos­pel will be com­prom­ised. Their unity will.…

Conclusion

Being united implies being dis­posed for the recep­tion or renew­al of the Holy Spir­it which will be cel­eb­rated next Sunday, and whose pre­par­a­tions (novena) began on Fri­day. As usu­al, Chris­ti­ans will cel­eb­rate the memori­al of the des­cent of the Holy Spir­it in dis­unity and hatred. Many Chris­ti­an com­munit­ies are in con­stant strife. Even some groups in the same Chris­ti­an com­munity find it almost impossible to cooper­ate with one anoth­er. If it is not pos­sible to achieve love and unity as a com­munity, then, let us do that as individuals.

FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPIES OF THE BOOK “THE WORD OF LIFE:
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I‑II-III)!! The reflec­tion for the Sev­enth Sunday of Pascha © is found in vol. III pages 280–287. Happy reading!

For details on how to get it, con­tact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo
or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com
or simply send an SMS on 08116100926, and I will get back to you.

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