“you may have life in his name”

This lesson should be studied along with its sister lesson – For the sake of… (Old Testament)

ACTIVITY – For the Sake of…
Option 1 - Assign individuals or groups one of the verse below. Make sure all verses are assigned. The individual or group should answer the following question. Is a promise or action made? Who makes the promise or action? Who is it made with or for? It is made for the sake of…?

Option 2 – Use both the Old Testament and New Testament lesson. Give one group verses from the Old Testament and the other group verses from the New Testament. Have each group answer the questions above and then compare both lists.

Matthew 5:10 – Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

For the sake of righteousness – Christians are willing to be persecuted. The Christian would rather be persecuted that not practice the virtue of righteousness.

Matthew 19:12 – Some [eunchs] are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.

For the sake of the kingdom of heaven – Some are willing to give up the good of marriage for celibacy.

Luke 6:22 – Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.

For the sake of the Son of Man – Christians will be excluded, insulted, denounced and hated.

Luke 18:29 – And He said to them, “Truly I say to you, there is not one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God.

For the sake of the Kingdom of God – people leave house, wife, brothers, parents, and children. This is lived out by our priests and religious that give up family many times for the Kingdom of God.

Acts 28:20 – This is the reason, then, I have requested to see you and to speak with you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear these chains.

For the sake of the hope of Israel – Saint Paul is willing to be imprisoned in chains.

1 Corinthians 9:22-23 – To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.

For the sake of the Gospel – Saint Paul becomes all things to all.

2 Corinthians 4:11 – For we who live are constantly being give up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

For the sake of Jesus – Christians are willing to be martyred

3 John 1:5-7 – Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers, especially for strangers; they have testified to your love before the church. Please help them in a way worthy of God to continue their journey. For they have set out for the sake of the Name and are accepting nothing from the pagans.”

For the sake of the Name – Christians are willing to go out and evangelized accepting nothing from those they evangelize.

What is the major shift from the phrase “for the sake of…” in the Old Testament and “for the sake of…” in the New Testament? In the New Testament there are references of God acting for the sake of His people but rather His people acting for the sake of God. With the death of His Son, God has given the ultimate and eternal action of mercy, this is the fulfillment of all mercy expressed in the Old Testament. Now the people of God are called to respond to this great mercy out of love. In the New Testament there are references of Christians being willing to act for the sake of the Kingdom of God, for Jesus, for the Gospel. They are willing to act out of virtue when the act for the sake of righteousness or hope.

What is the importance of the words in the Divine Mercy Chaplet – for the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world? This can be answered in three parts:

First, in the Old Testament God shows Mercy for the sake of His name, his servants, David, Abraham, Jacob, the People of God, Jerusalem, because of His word, because of His goodness.

Second, if the mercy of God was great in the Old Testament, how much greater is it in the New Testament. If in the Old Testament, He showed mercy because of His name, how much more mercy will He show because of Jesus, His Son the Name above all names. If in the Old, He showed mercy because of His Word, how much more because of the Word made flesh. If in the Old, He showed mercy because of His servants, how much more because of the Suffering Servant [1] If in the Old, He showed mercy because of the house of Israel, or because of Jerusalem, how much more because of the new tribe of Israel, the Holy Apostles. If in the Old, He showed mercy because of His goodness and kindness, how much more because of the goodness and kindness of Jesus Christ, who showed the greatest love by laying down His life. When Jesus said, “It is finished” the mercy of God is complete and available to all, for the sake of His sorrowful Passion. The bestowing of mercy is complete. It is finished. His sorrowful passion is the ultimate reason for giving mercy, greater than any reason in the Old Testament.


The Church is the third and final part of salvation history. If mercy was given, in its entirety, how is it to be distributed to “us and on the whole world”? In the Creed we have four parts – I believe in God, I believe in Jesus, I believe in the Holy Spirit, I believe in the Church. The Church is the “pillar and foundation of truth,” [2] and it is the Holy Spirit that “will guide you to all truth.” [3] Jesus tells us at the Last Supper, just before His Passion, “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name – he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you”[4]

Jesus makes many promises to us, but two that stand out from the Last Supper discourse are the following: He will give us the gift of the Holy Spirit and that He will be with us until the end of time. Do we remember these promises? When a parent makes a promise to a child, it seems that the child remembers that promise “forever” and holds the parent to that promise no matter what happens. A priest once joked that if a parent promised a child that the family would go to Disney Land, the child would hold the parent to the promise no matter what. Even if the dad was laid off, the house burnt down and the car was repossessed the child would still expect the promise. To the child, the exteriors don’t matter; what matters is the promise. The Church is the fulfillment of His promise.

It is the Church, therefore as the foundation and pillar of truth that distributes and applies God’s Divine Mercy upon all. “The Church is the divinely instituted means of giving grace to all,” [5] and for this reason is necessary for salvation. We can think of the following analogy: A man has enough money to purchase the freedom of a slave. The man knows that he will die, so he deposits the full amount of the money in the bank, setting up an account at the bank for the slave. The slave has only to go to the back and withdraw the amount from the account set up for him. Jesus is the man. The money deposited is grace and mercy, necessary for salvation. The bank is the Church. Humanity is the slave. The sorrowful passion of Jesus purchased the freedom of each person. Each person has been called to holiness, called to salvation, this call is our account at the bank, our place in the Church, all we have to do is answer the call.
 
We are saved by Grace, through Faith, acted out in Charity. We are saved by Grace (Passion, Death, Resurrection of Christ), through our faith. We have faith in Christ and the Church He founded as an instrument of Salvation. Grace is the deposit, Faith is the bank. What is the withdraw? We must make the effort to withdraw from the account Jesus has set up for us. We must take seriously the call to Holiness, to live a heroic life of virtue, aided by the Grace of the Sacraments. Each time we go to the Church and receive a Sacrament, we are going to the bank and making a withdraw from the eternal account of salvation.

It is also our job as the Body of the Christ, the Church, to be channels of Grace for others. This is the work of the apostolate; the work of evangelization. This is why Saint Paul suffers for the sake of the Gospel or be chained and imprisoned for the Hope of Israel. This is why Christians will be persecuted, hated, insulted, and even die for the name of Jesus. This is also why priests and religious will give up country and family for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

Since Mercy has been given and deposited in its entirety to the Church, it is now the job of each Christian, in the name of Christ, to give this mercy and grace to others. Each time we our channels of grace and mercy, we further the reparation of sin and salvation of souls. We live out the beatitude, “blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” [6] and fulfill the words of Christ, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.” [7] Saint John says in today’s Gospel, “Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.” It is in his name, that we have life and have “life to the full” [8], living out what we have come to believe. 

[1] Isaiah 53:3
[2] 1 Timothy 3:15
[3] John 16:13
[4] John 14:26
[5] Fr. William G. Most – Source: http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/chura5.htm
[6] Matthew 5:7
[7] John 14:12-14
[8] John 10:10