Homily: 22 May 2023: 16:29-33
Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.
The disciples thanked Jesus for speaking plainly to them. They thought that they could understand him. They thought that they had it made, and that they were finally faithful disciples of Jesus.
Or were they faithful? Jesus told them that they would be scattered and leave him alone. They were going to run away and desert their Lord. This was not the behavior of faithful disciples.
This forms the backdrop for Jesus’ testimony of faithfulness. The disciples would desert Jesus, but Jesus would not be left alone; he would always have the presence of the Father. This should be a source of peace to his disciples. Jesus conquered the world, not alone by himself, but with the presence of the Father.
From Jesus’ statement that he was not alone, we can infer that the disciples were thinking that they were alone and that their lack of faithfulness came from this feeling of being alone. Feeling alone, they were easily scattered and deserted Jesus.
When Jesus had rose from the dead, he brought his peace to the disciples. He also brought the gift of the Holy Spirit with the accompanying presence of the Father. With the power of God in them, the disciples would never be alone and they, like Jesus, would conquer the world.
We are successors to those first disciples. We struggle with faithfulness, although we probably struggle more from apparent failures than from infidelity. Jesus is with us. So is the Father and so is the Holy Spirit. We are not alone. We may have trouble in the world, but we are with Jesus who has conquered the world. This is plain talking, not figures of speech. We are not alone; we are with Jesus. With him, we conquer.