Remember The Cost

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Wednesday of 7th Week of Easter, Year B, May 19th,  2021
Texts: Acts 20:28-38; Ps. 68:33-35; John 17:11-19
Many a time we value what we have spent so much energy and time to obtain. We do also value other person's achievements and success when we know the cost. The treatment of something is often affected by its cost. Hence, today Paul reminded the elders of the Church of Ephesus that the flock of God entrusted to them cost the blood of Jesus and also his own toils of three years. He says, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you guardians, to feed the Church of the Lord which he obtained with his own blood". He adds, "Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears." Paul asked the elders to take the cost of the flock into consideration as they shepherd the flock of  God. We are also to remember what it cost God to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness; it cost God the life of His Son. All of us, as Christians, are priceless to Him.
Paul calls on us to move closer to God and to be committed to His word when he says, "And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." It is by our commitment to the word of God that we are built up and become partakers of inheritance of God's people. To be be built up, here, is to be united with Christ and other believers in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, in today's gospel reading, also emphasizes the union of all Christians and the importance of God's word. He says,  “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ... I have given them your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." Jesus has given us the word of God by which we are to be built up with with Him, as the corner, and with one another. The principle of this union is love. The point Paul makes, today, is that by our commitment to God's word we grow into loving God and one another. The word of God has power to inspire in us the love of God and one another. Paul reminds us that the word of God is a sure guide for us.
The word of God does  not only  inspire in us the love of God and one another, it also gives us the inheritance among the saints. This means we will obtain divine glory, we will have eternal life, we will have everlasting vision of God, we will enjoy happiness and peace forever. This inheritance we obtain through faith in Jesus Christ. This then tells us that the word of God has power to inspire in us faith in Jesus Christ. In faith we receive the inheritance while hope tells us that its full realization is in future. The taste of the inheritance in faith makes us to long  for its full realization in future. Faith, therefore, sustains hope.
Jesus Christ reminds what it cost Him to prove to us the truth of God's word. He says, "And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth.” He had to die and resurrect to call us to faith in Himself, to make us believe in His word. Jesus Christ brings to mind before the Father the cost of our salvation. This reminds us that God always remembers the cost of our salvation and always works out our salvation. This assures us the eternal merit of the sacrifice of Christ. It once again affirms that Jesus Christ is the true way to the Father; our salvation is sure in Him.

Lord Jesus Christ, we thank you for the sacrifice you have made for our salvation, help us by your grace to be committed to your word that we may live according to your will and be filled with your Spirit. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke