WATCHWORD:
“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So, don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught. John 14:25-27 (The Message)
“I have spoken of these matters very guardedly, but the time will come when this will not be necessary and I will tell you plainly all about the Father. 26 Then you will present your petitions over my signature! And I won’t need to ask the Father to grant you these requests, 27 for the Father himself loves you dearly because you love me and believe that I came from the Father. 28 Yes, I came from the Father into the world and will leave the world and return to the Father.” 29 “At last you are speaking plainly,” his disciples said, “and not in riddles. 30 Now we understand that you know everything and don’t need anyone to tell you anything. From this we believe that you came from God.” 31 “Do you finally believe this?” Jesus asked. 32 “But the time is coming—in fact, it is here—when you will be scattered, each one returning to his own home, leaving me alone. Yet I will not be alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have told you all this so that you will have peace of heart and mind. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows; but cheer up, for I have overcome the world.” John 16:20-33 (New Living Translation)
Meditation:
You’re Leaving Us?
Time after time, throughout the book of John, over an extended span of Biblical weeks, Jesus speaks of the future, one in which He will be taken from them, and, in His absence, the help they would need to proceed with His work. Each time we see resistance on the part of the disciples to accept what He is telling them. These are goodhearted followers of Jesus, and yet the idea of proceeding without Him is inconceivable. He’s the one that does the ministry, He’s the one that has done amazing things. How can we carry on?
Jesus is telling His disciples (and us) about how He must return to His Father in Heaven. His hope is that they would have peace knowing that He is not abandoning them. He is returning to the Father to allow the Holy Spirit, another “person” of the God-head, to come upon the disciples and to us, the Holy Spirit, God within us!
We have seen multiple times where the disciples have displayed a talent for being hardheaded, dull and lacking faith, but this is different, this goes far beyond their ability to understand. They have seen miracle after miracle, the healings, the calming of the storm, the vast feedings, yet they remain shallow in their belief. Jesus loves them, and He knows that His leaving would cause great anxiety and stress. His promise of an “Advocate”, the Holy Spirit, was a promise that should have given them peace, but their faith was fleeting. How much like us in our “show me the proof” culture.
Have we been told “plainly all about the Father”? We seem to speak knowingly about the Trinity, but do we understand how pervasive the God-head is? How many of us have understood the reason that the Son had to return to the Father in order for the Holy Spirit to infill the believers at Pentecost? The “three-in-one” filling this physical world we live in.
The descriptors, all references to the Holy Spirit, should reassure us. One version uses the term “Comforter”, while another the term “Friend”, and still another “Advocate”. Each one meaning support and love, clearly referring to the Holy Spirit, within us, all for our benefit, for our peace.
Re-read that last sentence, emphasis on “our benefit” and “our peace”. Here and now, in our private places, this moment, the Holy Spirit is there for us. For us! Help is not on the way, it is right here, within each one of us. Can we get that through our foggy thinking, and live our faith in peace? Only with the help of our Advocate, the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
Prayer of St. Augustine:
The following prayer was written by Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354-430), an early church father and theologian. Augustine developed the doctrine of original sin and argued that the grace of Christ is central to the practice of the Christian faith.
Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is holy. Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is holy. Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be holy. Amen.
