John 14:1-6

Acts 13:26-33

Psalm 2:6-7, 8-9, 10-11ab

John 14:1-6

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You have faith in God; have faith also in me.

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.

If there were not,

would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come back again and take you to myself,

so that where I am you also may be.

Where I am going you know the way.”

Thomas said to him,

“Master, we do not know where you are going;

how can we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I want to dwell in your house all the days of my life. Your house is one of eternal peace and joy, where sin and death are no more, and where every tear is wiped away. Help to experience that peace and joy even now as I journey home.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Obligations of the New Covenant: The theme of divine sonship is very present in today’s Gospel passage. During the Last Supper, Jesus calls his disciples “children” because, through the New Covenant, they are granted the inheritance of the Father (John 13:8). Some of the disciples, like John and Peter, are Jesus’ own. Others, like Judas, have rejected Jesus and do not truly belong to him. Just as Israel’s acceptance of covenant sonship was sealed by a covenant meal (Exodus 24:9-11), so this meal expresses the New Covenant relationship. The meal generates fellowship and communion and is a manifestation of the divine kinship bonds that have been established through the New Covenant. On this night, Jesus teaches his disciples about the obligations of the New Covenant: he gives them the New Commandment to love one another; he teaches not just by word, but also by example in washing his disciples’ feet (DeMeo, Covenantal Kinship in John 13-17, pp. 118-120).

2. Dwelling in the Father’s House: In the Gospel, Jesus invites both his disciples and us, who have become children of God through Baptism, to trust and believe in him. As God's children, we will dwell with the Father as a son dwells in their father’s house. Likewise, the Father and the Son will dwell in us who believe in Jesus and love him (John 14:23). The theme of dwelling in the Father’s house recalls the Temple in Jerusalem, which embodied God’s covenant with David. In his Gospel, John refers first to the Jerusalem temple as the house of the Father (John 2:16) but will transition to refer to the temple of Jesus’ body. Jesus’ risen and glorified body is the Father’s house, which is the temple where God definitively dwells in the midst of his New Covenant people (Revelation 21:22) (DeMeo, Covenantal Kinship in John 13-17, pp. 294-295). Through our Baptism and our faith in Jesus, we have become children of the Father and members of the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. As Christians, our way to the Father is Jesus Christ. It is a way that passes through the humility of the cross but ends in the glory of eternal life.

3. Paul’s Sermon in Antioch in Pisidia: The First Reading, taken from the Acts of the Apostles, records one of Paul’s most important sermons. It is an example of how Paul demonstrated that Jesus is the Messiah. The true sons of Abraham are those who accept Jesus, the son of David, as the Savior who will lead Israel to her salvation (cf. Acts 13:26). Paul then accuses the inhabitants and leaders of Jerusalem of failing to recognize Jesus as the promised Savior and as the promised Son of David. By condemning Jesus to death and hanging him on the Tree of the Cross, the people unknowingly fulfilled the oracles of the prophets. As prophesied by Isaiah, God uses the sufferings and crucifixion of his Servant, Jesus, to bring about his plan of salvation. Paul recalls that his listeners are children of the family of Abraham. After narrating the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Paul proclaims that what God promised to their fathers – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – has been granted to them, the children of Abraham, through Jesus Christ. God fulfills his promises to Abraham and his promise to David by raising up Jesus. “Because the risen Jesus is an eternally living son of David whose reign will never end, he unconditionally fulfills the promise that David's throne will stand forever (2 Sam 7:13)” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, p. 215). Paul quotes from Psalm 2, which we sing today, and applies it to Jesus. Originally, the psalm referred to the new king in the line of David who, at his coronation, was declared God’s adopted son and given authority and dominion. “Now this royal psalm is fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah, risen and enthroned in heaven so as to share God's dominion over the whole world” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, p. 215).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I want to dwell with you in the Father’s house all the days of my life. You have prepared a place for me and I look forward to the eternal gathering of God’s family in heaven. May my thoughts turn often to this heavenly dwelling as I journey through this world!

Living the Word of God: Gathering together as a family is often, but not always, a time of joy, love, and feasting. However, much joy and happiness we experience is a drop of water compared to the ocean of happiness that is heaven. How can I cultivate this longing for heaven among my family members and in my daily life?