Overcoming The World Through Jesus

𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟏𝟗:𝟏-𝟖

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟔𝟖:𝟐-𝟕 “𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐎 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡.” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟔:𝟐𝟗-𝟑𝟑

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: ““𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆.” (𝒗.33) 

If there’s a group of people I admire most they are the entrepreneurs. Who are they? An entrepreneur is a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of making a living and profiting from it. But mind you profit-taking isn’t always the case among retail-based businessmen.

They could either rise and expand their business or they can go down and lose even the shirt they have on so to speak. And it’s easy for them to get discouraged but they don’t. They plod on borrowing at times to put up another business because inside these entrepreneurs is the hope of striking gold.

People like us also get discouraged when failure stares us in the face. When we don’t pass an exam that would’ve been our stepping stone to getting hired or promoted. When we experience rejection by our family, friends or peers.

Most of the time, we take flight, and we close our windows to the world around us preferring to sulk in our own frustration and miseries and we hide even from our own selves. I’m sure many of you reading this know what I’m talking about.

This shouldn’t be the case because we must always keep in mind that man is weak and we don’t have the power to rise above our trials and challenges especially if these are influenced by negative spirits and principalities.

But it is in these trying times when we experience weakness even in our faith that we can find solace, comfort and strength if we will only trust in the power of God to lead us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. The paradox of Christian life is that it is when we are weak that we are made strong by our God (𝟐 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟏𝟐:𝟗).

The disciples of Jesus are just like us. They also get discouraged especially after they realized that Jesus was serious when he said he will suffer and die on the cross. Jesus in this gospel in 𝐉𝐍 𝟏𝟔:𝟐𝟗-𝟑𝟑 knew what his disciples were thinking. He can read what we’re in their hearts. He knew they will desert him, yet Jesus still trusted them for the tasks that lie ahead. In the same way, Jesus knows our failures, the magnitude of our sins yet he forgives us and trusts us to continue with his mission.

There are at least four key points that we can deduce from this gospel passage. One is we can feel the loneliness of Jesus who knew he will be betrayed and left alone to suffer and die. But Jesus was never alone because he still had God. There is also the forgiveness of Jesus who loved his disciples even in their weakness.

Similarly, Jesus will also love us as we really are today. We also see the sympathy of Jesus who saw not how our sins will hurt him but how our sins will hurt us. Finally, we see the gift of Jesus for his disciples and for all of us - courage and conquest. We see in the passion and death of Jesus the courage to face the worst of what evil can do to him, yet it did not defeat him.

In the same way, we can live a victorious life by immersing ourselves in the message of this gospel - that we should love others as they are and not on the expectations that we have created in our minds. Such love must be clear-sighted meaning when we love we must love the person for who and what they are.

Jesus is also telling us in this gospel to live by the two gifts that he gives us - peace and courage. To live in peace is to know that God is with us and will always be with us. Courage is to allow the strength of God to fill us in our moments of weakness. It means we are to face the harsh realities of life with boldness buoyed by the thought that Jesus who strengthens us has already conquered the world.

Today’s Gospel passage ends with Jesus impressing upon his disciples the necessity of allowing the Holy Spirit to dictate the tempo of their lives and in the same way Jesus is also telling us to remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

As we believers allows the Spirit to teach and guide us through the Word of God, we also grow in our prayer life since prayer and the Word of God are inseparable. The Spirit knows the mind of the Father and he can lead us to pray for those things that God wants to give us. It is said that praying is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but it is laying hold of His willingness.

While the testimony of his disciples gladdened Jesus, he also warned them of their coming failure (𝐯.𝟑𝟐) As a matter of fact, even the Father would forsake Christ on the cross. And what a blessing to hear Jesus say: “𝑩𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒓.” (𝐯.𝟑𝟑) At this point Jesus was about to be arrested and crucified, yet he still gives peace and joy to his disciples, and he promised them a victorious life when he said: “𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅.” (𝐯.𝟑𝟑)

Can you imagine the significance of these event in the life of the disciples? Imagine putting yourself in that Upper Room where this gathering happened. Can you feel the excitement riveting in your body to hear Our Lord blessing us with peace and joy even if he knew the tribulations that lay ahead. This is who Jesus is. He cares for us. He looks at our interests more than his own.

And he leaves us the Holy Spirit who has a special ministry in our lives. Are we allowing the Spirit to have his way? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘑𝘶𝘯𝘦 2,2025)