Fifth Sunday of Easter

Dominica V Paschae A
3 May 2026

 The Gospel passage today takes us back to Jesus’ extended remarks to his apostles at the Last Supper where he was preparing them for their life and mission when he would no longer be with them in the same way. He had just informed the group of his own imminent departure (Jn. 13:33).  The apostles are stirred up, maybe even confused and hurt.  And so, in response to their likely state of mind, we can appreciate the context for why Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

   Jesus prepares the Apostles for his departure.  In an immediate sense, he is preparing them for his suffering and death, about to take place in the moments after the Last Supper.  But in a larger more remote context he is preparing them for after his resurrection and ascension when he will return to his rightful place in Heaven with the promise to return again in glory.  While Jesus indicates he will go away, his departure is not without a promised return.  A rich layer of meaning comes to the surface when we understand what is evoked when the Lord says about his departure, “I am going to prepare a place for you”. He is going to the Father, to the Father’s house, where there are many dwelling places. And after a time of preparation he says, “I will come back again and take you to myself”.  The type of departure and return that Jesus indicates evokes the image of Jewish betrothal and wedding ceremonies.  A bride and groom in ancient Jewish practice, once betrothed were legally married and already husband and wife, yet they did not immediately live together.  That’s why if you think with me in a different context, when Joseph plans to leave Mary after discovering she’s pregnant, the angel can appeal to him and say “Do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, into your home.”  That’s because upon betrothal they are already legally married yet not living together.  Upon betrothal the groom would “go away” to prepare a dwelling place for his wife and new family.  He would often do so on familial land, “in his father’s house” in other words.  And once a suitable dwelling place was prepared he would return and a joyful wedding procession would take place to the new home where the bride and groom would begin only then their common life living together.

   This is the language employed by Jesus in today’s selection. This imagery might help us understand why his departure is not to cause trouble in the hearts of disciples. Yes, he is going away. But it is a going away that implies a return, as he himself says.  And his return is intended to gather his faithful to take them to the Father’s house. This imagery of ancient Jewish betrothal and marriage helps us understand the Lord’s words and helps us place his departure and return into the context of the rich nuptial imagery throughout the Sacred Scriptures. God’s relationship with His people is described in spousal, nuptial terms. At the very beginning of this Easter Season, in the fourth reading of the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night, we heard the following from the Prophet Isaiah, “The One who has become your husband is your Maker; his name is the Lord of hosts” (Is. 54:5). If the relationship is nuptial, then we can understand why adultery is the language of Scripture to describe infidelity and the great offense that sin is to God. Yet His fidelity and His covenant are everlasting and so the Prophet Isaiah goes on to say, “The Lord calls you back…. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great tenderness I will take you back…. With enduring love I take pity on you, says the Lord, your redeemer” (Is. 54:6, 7, 8b). Furthering this spousal, nuptial imagery, Jesus, God Incarnate, is identified by John the Baptist as the bridegroom when he says, “I am not the Messiah, but… I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice” (Jn. 3:28-29).

   Do not see the Lord’s departure as a cause to have a troubled heart. While we await the Lord’s return and while we await the joyful procession of full entrance into the Father’s house, do not see this life as a time of being abandoned by God. God has wed Himself to us in the Incarnation. In the Cross He has consummated His sacrificial love for us. In this time of awaiting the Lord’s return, we, the Church, have already begun our nuptial life with the Lord. Like a Jewish betrothal, we have been united to the Lord by faith, baptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. By sacramental life in the Church we are nourished by the love of the Lord. We are called now and until he returns to live this spousal relationship by seeking to respond to Jesus’ love ever more fully. In the Sacred Liturgy, by adopting the ancient posture of priest and people facing the same direction at the altar together (ad orientem as we do here at our parish) we are training ourselves in the discipline of looking for the Lord and preparing for his return in all aspects of our daily living. And thus, as the Lord said, we do not let our hearts be troubled and we do not view this life of awaiting his return as if we have somehow been abandoned by the Lord. We do not live this life as if we are without purpose or opportunities to grow in relationship with the Lord. No, for we the baptized, our spousal union with God our Maker and Redeemer has already begun. By conversion and grace we seek to grow in that union, trusting that the Lord has gone to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house. And we look forward in hope to the day of the Lord’s return in glory when, we pray, we may be found ready for him to come and to take us to himself.