John reminds us again of what a great vision we can have in hindsight. In the joy and revelation of the Resurrection it must have been easy to sit around the campfire or the table of hospitality and cast their minds back to all those sayings of Jesus that had made no sense at the time.
Here we are introduced to the idea of God as Trinity. In one breath Jesus speaks of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; a Union that give Christians a deep assuredness of God’s presence in all of their lives. For the Jewish disciples, the opposite of everything they were taught to believe in. No wonder it had made no sense; that Jesus regarded God as intimately as a son would love a human father was enough of a challenge. And now, the Holy Spirit – sent from both the Father and the Son to be our guardian and guide. God fusses over us, as Jesus reminds us, like a hen with her chicks.
As Christians we need this wraparound of God’s presence that we call on with every Sign of the Cross. Our lives will be anything but easy if we try to follow our brother Jesus as he invites us to. We need to learn to lean on him in our troubles and to accept the gift of his peace. A peace that trusts that the Father holds us and that the Holy Spirit watches over us. A peace that trusts that we too are part of this relationship of Love.