Bible Study, Prayer, and Homily Resources
by Fr. Tommy Lane
Whoever loves me will
keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to
him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23)
What astounding words from Jesus! If we love him and keep his word, he and the Father will come to us and dwell with us. There is one person in whom that promise was 100% fulfilled—Our Lady. It is fulfilled in the rest of us to the extent that we allow God to fulfill it in our lives. Since Our Lady was sinless, she loved God in a sacrificial manner beyond any love of ours for God, and God was with her and dwelt in her more profoundly. That is why the angel Gabriel said to her, “The Lord is with you.” God was indeed with her and dwelt with her.
Whoever loves me will
keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to
him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23)
That is fulfilled in the rest of us to the extent that we allow God to fulfill it in our lives. We can block God fulfilling it in our lives if we give in to negative thinking about ourselves. St. Padre Pio said one of worst temptations is to think that God does not love us. In his letters to those who asked for his advice, he encouraged people never to forget God’s love of them. In a letter in 1914 he wrote:
Jesus is always with you, even when it seems you do not feel him . . . For the sake of love, I implore you, by all that you hold most sacred, do not wrong him by suspecting, even slightly, that you have been abandoned by him—not even for a single instant. This is precisely one of the most satanic temptations, and you need to thrust it far from you as soon as you become aware of it. (Letter to Raffaelina Cerase, August 15, 1914, in Pasquale, Padre Pio’s Spiritual Direction for Every Day p118)
We can also block the words of Jesus from being fulfilled in our lives if we think that we are too bad for God, that God would not forgive us. Peter made that mistake once when he said after the miraculous catch of fish, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Luke 5:8) We are never to give in to the temptation to think that we are not good enough for God. Whatever the situation, Jesus is always there for us with his mercy to renew us. We are never to say what Peter said; instead, think of Jesus in the Gospels bringing restoration and renewal to people’s lives.
Zacchaeus was the chief tax-collector in Jericho and like all tax-collectors was suspected to pass on to the Roman Empire only a fraction of the tax he collected for the emperor so he was shunned by the townspeople. He was short in stature, and they wouldn’t let him out in front of them to see Jesus when he was passing by. So, he climbed a sycamore tree, and Jesus saw him and invited himself into Zacchaeus’ house. Zacchaeus promised to reform his life, “half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over.” (Luke 19:8) Zacchaeus made an effort to meet Jesus and reformed his life, so Jesus came to him and his house. Whatever the situation, Jesus is always there for us with his mercy to renew us. We are never to say that we are too bad for God. Jesus’ words in our Gospel today were fulfilled in his visit to Zacchaeus:
Whoever loves me will
keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to
him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23)
There is another beautiful encounter in Luke’s Gospel between Jesus and a former sinner at the end of Luke 7. (7:36-50) Jesus was having dinner in the house of a Pharisee named Simon. People were often barefoot at that time and the streets were dirty with all kinds of filth and it was customary to wash one’s feet on entering a house. Simon did not give Jesus water to wash his feet. A sinner woman came in and washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair and anointed them with ointment. This made Simon the Pharisee think Jesus was false. So Jesus asked him, if two people are in debt, one owing five hundred days wages and one owing 50 days wages, and they are both forgiven by their creditor, which of them will love him more. Simon said the one who is forgiven more. Jesus said he was right. Simon did not provide the customary welcome for Jesus when he entered his house, but the woman did. Jesus said her many sins had been forgiven her and that is why she showed such great love. In that woman’s love for Jesus and the mercy she received from Jesus, whatever her past, we see Jesus’ words today fulfilled:
Whoever loves me will
keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to
him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23)
There is one person in whom that promise was 100% fulfilled—Our Lady. It is fulfilled in the rest of us to the extent that we allow God to fulfill it in our lives. We are not to give in to negative thinking about ourselves and never to think that we are too bad for God. Whatever the situation, Jesus is always there for us with his mercy to renew us.
Whoever loves me will
keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to
him and make our dwelling with him. (John 14:23)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2025
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C
Loving Jesus and keeping his word 2022
Jesus in your house: give up the motorcycle! 2016
Related Homilies: Remaining in Jesus’ Word 2019
Remain in My Love 2018