The WORD in Other Words by Fr Randy Flores SVD
Thursday 4th Week of Easter
Acts 13:13-25, John 13:16-20
Because I did not have much time to deliver a “padala” sent through me, I asked one of our male workers in the seminary to take it to the addressee. When he came back, the worker told me how much the relatives of the sender had treated him very well. “They even kissed my hand (mano) and called me Father‘, he related smiling. “Why didn‘t you tell them you‘re not Fr. Randy?” I said. “I told them po,” he replied. “but they said, ‘never mind, as if you’re Fr. Randy because he sent you.””
At the Last Supper, after the washing of the feet, Jesus speaks of receiving and sending (mission): “Whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” One can say that Jesus foretells his resurrection here.
In the Gospel of John, the sending of the disciples happens only after the resurrection of Jesus (20:21—22). The model or the basis of the mission of the disciples is the mission given by the Father to Jesus.
What is the core of this mission‘? The Son‘s mission into this world is to reveal the Father (1:14,15,18). “The Father sends and authorizes the Son, who knows the Father, comes from the Father, makes the Father known, brings light and life and truth, completes his Father‘s work, returns to the Father, exalted, glorified, ascended, sends the disciples and sends the Spirit to enable greater understanding, to equip for mission, and to build up the community of faith” (William Loader: The Christology of the Fourth Gospel).
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