Easter 7
Jn
15:26-16:4
5/13/18
The Lord Jesus would not have been
very good as a politician. You can see
it clearly in this section of John’s Gospel.
Politicians make promises. They
promise to do all kinds of things that people want to hear. They are going to cut taxes, increase spending and
balance the budget all at the same time.
By the same token, politicians don’t tell people the hard truth they don’t want to hear. So for example, they are not going to say you
can’t keep spending more money than you take in – especially when you already
have a massive debt. You have to spend
less. There will have to be cuts in
things that people consider to be necessary and important … and that includes you.
In this section of John, Jesus makes
a promise that we don’t want to hear. He
says that he is going to the Father, but that he will send the Spirit – the
Helper. He is going to do this because
it is actually better for us. Jesus also
tells the truth about what is going to happen, even though it’s not what we
want to hear. He says that we will face persecution because of him.
Jesus tells the disciples that he is
going away. He is going to the Father
who sent him. The disciples don’t want
to hear this. Jesus says immediately
after our text, “But
now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you
going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your
heart.”
Just to be clear,
this is not what we want to hear either.
And the thing about Jesus is that he doesn’t just make promises. He actually follows through on them.
Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord. We remembered the fact that Jesus withdrew
his visible presence as he ascended into heaven and returned to the Father. Jesus
did it. And in fact, he says that this
is good for us. He announces, “Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the
Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”
Now we
don’t really believe Jesus on this one.
We think it would be better if Jesus was right here with us – visible
just as he was during his earthly ministry.
We wish that he had never left.
If that were the case, then people would believe in him and come to
faith! If that were the case, then it
would be easy to continue in the faith!
Except the
thing is that it didn’t work that way during Jesus’ ministry here on
earth. So in John chapter 6 Jesus feeds
more than five thousand people using five barley loaves and two fish. It was an amazing
miracle – so amazing that is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels.
But it did not cause everyone to believe in Jesus
and follow him. The next day when the crowd sought out Jesus, he said to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw
signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” They weren’t there because
of the miraculous signs that called forth faith. Instead they just wanted their stomach filled
by the wonder worker.
Before the
conversation was done, Jesus had told them, “I am the living bread that came
down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the
bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” It was too much for them. They
responded, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” They took offense at what Jesus said and after
this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
Jesus has ascended. He has returned to Father. But our Lord makes it very clear that in
doing so he is not abandoning us.
Instead earlier in this discussion Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and he
will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth,
whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You
know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”
Jesus says
that his departure will result in the sending of “another Helper.” Our Lord says that his departure and the
ensuing arrival of the Spirit is to our benefit. If we ask why, the first thing Jesus tells us
in our text is: “But when the Helper comes,
whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from
the Father, he will bear witness about me.”
The first thing we learn is that the Spirit will bear witness to Jesus.
Later in this chapter our Lord goes
on to say, "I
still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will
not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he
will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he
will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine;
therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
The role of the Spirit is to guide
us in all truth because he is the Spirit of truth. At the heart of this truth is Jesus, who is
the way, the truth and the life. The
Spirit bears witness to Jesus. He takes
what he hears from our Lord and speaks it to us. He glorifies Jesus because he
takes those things that belong to Jesus – his saving works and words – and
makes them known to us.
Jesus tells
his disciples that they will have a role in this. He says in our text, “But when the Helper
comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who
proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from
the beginning.” The disciples – Jesus’ apostles – are able to bear witness to
Jesus because they have been with Jesus from the beginning. They have heard the
Lord’s teaching and seen his miracles.
They will witness his death and experience the risen Lord during the course
of forty days.
The Spirit
bears witness to Jesus and the disciples bear witness to Jesus. And in fact it
is the Spirit who will enable to the disciples to do this. Earlier Jesus said, “But the Helper, the Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The Spirit will work through the disciples to
bear witness to Jesus and to give greater understanding about Jesus and his
saving work.
Jesus’
departure enables the sending of the Spirit. Why? We aren’t told. Apparently this is an aspect
of the way God is. We find the same idea
expressed in the book of Acts when Peter says that it is as the ascended and
exalted Lord that Jesus pours forth the Spirit on Pentecost.
Jesus’ departure enables the sending
of the Spirit. This is good for us because the Spirit bears witness through the
disciples about Jesus. The Spirit leads
us to understand Jesus’ saving work and what he means for us through the
apostles’ words.
What he means
for us first is life and peace. Jesus
Christ was sent as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was lifted up on the cross to die for us. And then the Spirit raised him from the
dead. Because of this we have life. We already
now have eternal life. As Jesus said to Martha at Lazarus’ grave, “I am the
resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he
live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Because of Jesus we have peace. Earlier Jesus had said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as
the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let
them be afraid.” At the end of this
chapter he adds, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have
peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome
the world.”
The Spirit takes what belongs to
Jesus and makes it to known to us. He leads us into the truth of Jesus’
words. That includes what Jesus says in
our text this morning, “I
have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. They will put
you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you
will think he is offering service to God.” The life and peace we have in the risen
Lord enables us to face rejection and even persecution because of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit’s witness to Jesus leads us to be faithful.
The Spirit
makes known Jesus’ love for us – a love that led him to the cross as he carried
out the Father’s saving will. And in so
doing he leads us to share this love with others. Our Lord said, “As the Father has loved me,
so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will
abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his
love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I
have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his
life for his friends.” This is what Jesus has done for us. This is what the Spirit makes known to us for
in the risen Lord we have life and peace.
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