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Manila Bulletin devider Opinion devider I am not alone

I am not alone

Published May 12, 2024 08:45 pm

REFLECTIONS TODAY

Gird your loins

More than the other evangelists, John underlines Jesus’ intimacy with the Father. He declares in today’s Gospel: “I am not alone, because the Father is with me” ( v 32). Jesus is not spared of abandonment. His followers would leave him at certain points in his ministry. At his declaration that his flesh is real food and his blood real drink, many of his disciples— outside of the Twelve (Apostles)—“no longer accompanied him” (6:66). When Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, the disciples left him and fled (Mk14:50), fulfilling what he has predicted, “You will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone” (v 32). But Jesus does not feel abandoned by God. In this perspective, John omits the “agony in the garden” and does not carry the “cry of abandonment” on the cross. In John, Jesus’ isolation, right up to the moment of death, is apparent; even in death he remains in the bosom of the Father, “at the Father’s side” (1:18). Mark and John approach the death of Jesus from different angles: Mark’s cry of dereliction (15:34) from the perspective of Jesus’ humanity, and John from his oneness with the Father. 


Death is the great riddle that faces us, making us fear and tremble. But taking John’s perspective, we will not be alone in facing it because faith convinces us that Jesus is with us. In his letter regarding the report on abuse in the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising in Germany he once headed, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI writes, “Quite soon, I shall find myself before the final judge of my life. Even though, as I look back on my long life, I can have great reason for fear and trembling, I am nonetheless of good cheer, for I trust firmly that the Lord is not only the just judge, but also the friend and brother who himself has already suffered for my shortcomings, and is thus also my advocate, my ‘Paraclete.’ ”
 

Gospel • John 16:29-33 

The disciples said to Jesus, “Now you are talking plainly, and not in any figure of speech. Now we realize that you know everything and that you do not need to have anyone question you. Because of this we believe that you came from God.” Jesus answered them, “Do you believe now? Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.”


Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.

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