May 25, 2014
Never Abandoned
- John 14:15-21
- Rev Ruth Chadwick Moore
Never Abandoned
1 Peter 3: 13-22 and John 14: 15-21
May 25, 2014
Ruth Chadwick Moore
Our gospel passage for today takes up right where we left off last week. It is the continuation of Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples. These words are the things Jesus wants them to know before he dies. They are a summary of his ministry and instructions for their ministry – as well as instructions for us. He explains the indwelling of God by introducing the concept of the Holy Spirit. In this way, Jesus is assuring them that though he will leave them physically, he will always be with them in and through the Spirit – they will not be abandoned and they will not be orphaned.
It is here, in chapter 14, that the Holy Spirit is first discussed by Jesus. Since we put at least a little emphasis on the Holy Spirit as Trinitarian Christians, you kind of have to wonder why we have not heard about the Spirit before now. Is it because the disciples didn’t have much need for the Spirit until the death of Jesus became imminent? And what do the disciples need to hear from Jesus about the function and purpose of the Holy Spirit?
The first thing I noticed about Jesus’ description of the Holy Spirit is that Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “another advocate.” If the Holy Spirit is another Advocate then that means there has been an Advocate before – and that advocate of course is Jesus.
So as a result, we are invited to imagine that one way of understanding the role of the Holy Spirit is to notice what Jesus has done. To have seen Jesus at work is to anticipate the work of the Spirit. For the disciples to imagine what the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit will do, all they had to do was recall the experiences and encounters they had with Jesus.
We rarely hear sermons about the Holy Spirit in Presbyterian Churches unless it’s Pentecost Sunday or we’re discussing the third person of the Trinity. And if we’re honest most of us have a rather dysfunctional understanding of this Holy Spirit, this Spirit of God – or as Jesus describes it here – the Spirit of truth. We don’t quite know what to do with or think about the “shy member” of the Trinity. Maybe today is the day to change that.
First of all there are many different meanings and translations of the word Spirit in the bible. Spirit as its most basic definition means wind or breath in Hebrew or Greek. But there are more specific definitions in John’s gospel. The word used here for Spirit is the Greek word Paraclete. The roots of this word literally mean “to call alongside.” Paraclete is translated in the NRSV translation of the bible as “Advocate” which was associated with a legal assistant whose role was something like a modern-day defense attorney. Another meaning of this word is used to describe someone who comforts another. Other translations suggest Paraclete means teacher or witness or helper. Layers of meaning can be missed if we seek to tie down Jesus’ words to one understanding only. And the key to working with the term Paraclete is to also not limit our understanding of God’s Spirit to one description. Like Spirit as wind and breath, Spirit as Paraclete lifts up the variety of ways in which the Spirit remains present and active in our midst. Who is the Spirit for you – your Advocate or defense attorney? How about your comforter, your friend, your teacher, your helper. The Spirit is all of these things to me, but as another manifestation of God, to have the Spirit to call alongside me, to walk alongside me, means that I am never alone. There is nowhere that I go and nothing that I do, where the Spirit of God is not with me, alongside me, and abiding in me – the Spirit of truth is in me, just as God the Father, and Jesus are in me, and me in them. This means I will not be orphaned and I will never be abandoned. This is another reassurance of the words we heard from 1st Peter last week – I, we, are God’s own people – never abandoned, never forgotten, and always loved. And it reminds me of today 1st Peter passage that Bud read – we do not need to be afraid, whatever the journey of faith entails. Whatever we go through, even if it involves suffering– because we all suffer at some point don’t we – we are not alone – the perfect indwelling of God, the perfect indwelling of Jesus, and now the perfect indwelling of the Spirit enables us not to be afraid.
Of course that does not mean I am never afraid. It does not mean that I don’t feel alone sometimes even though I have family and friends who surround me with love and support. There are times all of us feel alone and abandoned due to life’s ups and downs, or life’s achievements which are often followed by life’s misfortunes. But we are not abandoned, we are not left orphaned. Because not only is Jesus coming to us, he has left us an Advocate to be at our side. This Advocate he calls “the Spirit of Truth.”
But just to clarify, we are mistaken if we believe the Spirit is going to defend us by giving us truth in the sense of information, data or facts that we can shape into dogmas or litmus tests for being a true Christian. As we scan the gospel of John we see that the Spirit’s authenticity is not “truth to the letter,” but is intimately tied up with Jesus’ commandments and love. Jesus gave us only one commandment – “…that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” That is the only time Jesus ever mentions a commandment from himself.
This commandment to love then is the legacy Jesus leaves behind to us and that helps us to know and understand the Holy Spirit that he is sending to care for us – and of course to love us. Love creates a tight circle that is paradoxically tight and inclusive at the same time – never shunning or exclusive. Jesus speaks of a circle of love. He is in the Father, and we are in him and he is in us.” (John 14:20) So now it is our turn to look around and search out the neglected and lost and keep the commandment – to keep the circle going. That is how we profess truth. And that is how we can tell others that we are not orphaned; and we do not orphan anyone else. And we can do this because the God that Jesus knows so intimately will continue to accompany us through the Spirit – the Advocate – who will help us recognize that God’s love is what is most true. May it be so. Amen
Sources:
Preachingtips.com – 6 Easter – Year A
Seasons of the Spirit – May 25, 2014
Workingpreacher.org – Commentary on John 14: 15-21