A homily for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 25, 2025
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20, John 17:20-26
(proclaiming the second reading and Gospel from the Seventh Sunday of Easter)
Irish poet William Butler Yeats said, “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t yet met.”
And dozens, maybe thousands, of notable people have said the same thing, sometimes adding their own little twists to it.
If I may be so bold, here’s my little variation:
There are no strangers, only sisters and brothers we haven’t met yet.
And to prove that, we can get all scientific about it.
We can get all biological and archeological and anthropological and Ancestry.com-ical to trace every one of our roots to Adam and Eve, however and wherever and whenever we believe they lived. Every human being who ever lived or whoever is yet to live has common ancestors.
That, by the way, means that any notion of “race” beyond our shared common human race is total and utter stinking garbage.
We are one family. Fortunately, we’re not required to remember everybody’s birthdays or buy them all presents (though we can if we want to).
Our genes attest that we are linked biologically.
Our Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier attest that we are linked spiritually, emotionally and socially. God has told us through Scripture that we are.
As we have just heard.
Today’s passage from the end of the 17th Chapter of John’s Gospel is intense and, yes, dense. It often takes a few readings for its tightly woven tapestry of information and meaning to sink in.
This passage is about relationships, complex relationships, complex relationships that begin and end with the Alpha and the Omega, our Divine Creator. Relationships that start and end with God and at the same time keep God at their center. So, yeah, this passage is a little dizzying.
Here are a few insights we can take away. I’m sure there are far more than these.
First, Jesus loves us all the time, and he wants the best, the absolute best for every one of us every minute of every day of our lives, both here on Earth and eventually home with him, and Father and Holy Spirit.
And he wants all of us to come home to the heavenly kingdom when it’s our time. Until then, he wants us to work to bring the kingdom to our fragile, conflicted planet.
Next, let’s remember that every word Jesus speaks is truth, and following him means believing him, and believing in him.
The truth Jesus that shares with us begins and ends with our loving God wholeheartedly, loving each other as Jesus loves us, loving ourselves and being grateful to God for the gifts of ourselves and all of Creation, and seeking out anyone who does not feel God’s love and presence in their lives.
John’s Gospel amplifies “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself” by defining how we are to love our neighbor as the way Jesus loved his disciples. How Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for humankind.
How thousands upon thousands of American men and women in uniform made the ultimate sacrifice, as we pause and reflect this weekend.
We know from Matthew’s Gospel that Jesus will judge us on how well we cared for the least among us.
Today, John’s Gospel lets us know how much Jesus cherishes us. Jesus looks at us and sees gifts. He looks past what we consider greatness or insignificance, and sees his family, his body on Earth and throughout this and all universes, for all eternity.
If Jesus considers every person a gift from God, then we can be sure he wants us to do the same. And, like him, to cherish each other.
