Sermon 5/26/2019 “Holy Spirit primer”
Preacher: Jo J. Belser
Location: Church of the Resurrection at Immanuel Chapel, Virginia Theological Seminary
Text: John 14:23-29
Day: 6Easter Year C (May 26, 2019)
“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
Our gospel lesson today is from Jesus’ farewell to his disciples in John’s account of the Last Supper on the night before Jesus’ crucifixion. Basically, Jesus tells his disciples—Jesus tells us—he would be going away physically, but God would send a helper, a comforter, an Advocate (the Holy Spirit) to be with us and remind us of what he taught us.
This is when Jesus promised that God would give his Spirit one of those “other duties, as assigned.” From then on, God’s Spirit was to remind us of what Jesus had taught us.
You might be surprised to discover that God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, was already here, had always been active in our world from the very beginning. God’s Spirit hovered over the water during creation, helping to establish order in the world God was creating.
But that’s not all. God breathed into us the “breath of life.” This word “breath” (ruach) is the same word as “spirit.” So, each of us literally has God’s Spirit in us. This is how God sustains creation; without God’s Spirit in us, we could not survive.
There’s a debate going on in our country about when life begins. “Does life begin when our heart begins beating?” Or does life begin when scripture tells us, when God gives us his spirit? Psalm 104:29-30 also says our life ends when God removes his spirit from us.
We have a biological model for The Advocate’s teaching assignment with us. Don’t each of us have our parents’ spirit within us? We literally have their genetic material, giving us life, but we also still hear our parents’ voices, somehow, in our heads and our hearts long after they are gone, reminding us of what they taught us.
But God’s Spirit does more than just give us life: God’s Spirit helps lead us toward truth. God’s Spirit is a force—like gravity or magnetism or electricity is a force—but in this case a moral force, guiding us toward right and convicting us of wrong. When we cooperate with God’s Spirit, we train our physical being to perceive and adapt to this God-force.
Conversely, when we act against God’s Spirit, we become less and less able to even feel God’s presence. We might say, “I have a guilty conscience” rather than, “God’s Spirit is trying to get my attention.” Eventually we might not even feel guilty. For this reason, Genesis explains (6:3), God reduced human life span to about 120 years instead of the 900-plus years to help keep our moral compass aligned.
Throughout history, God’s Spirit empowered a few people in extraordinary ways. I’m thinking here of hero judges, prophets, warriors, and kings who Hebrew scriptures say were filled with God’s Spirit. However, God removed his Spirit, removed his power from some (for example, Saul) because of their disobedience.
On the Day of Pentecost Jesus’ disciples received God’s Spirit in this new way, just as he had promised. And initially each of them did truly great things in Christ’s name. But not everyone today channels God’s Spirit in the way Jesus’ original apostles did. Perhaps, though, what makes us able to do something great in Christ’s name is our awareness of and cooperation with each other and the spirit of God within us.
Not all people perceive and cooperate with God’s Spirit. Conversely, can’t insignificant people—like Church of the Resurrection—do something great if we let The Advocate lead the way and work together to channel God’s Spirit in and through us and act together in great faith? The point isn’t to do something great, you understand, but to do together what God asks us to do.
On a more basic level, God’s Spirit reveals the existence and nature of God. Could we have even imagined there is a God who created and sustains us if God’s Spirit hadn’t revealed those things to us?
In our gospel lesson today, Jesus said he was going away but God would send us The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, in his name—Christ’s name—to remind us of all that Jesus had taught us. But the Holy Spirit was already here at work in our world, animating us and inspiring us. What’s so different about THIS sending of the Spirit?
The Advocate, as Jesus called God’s Spirit, is a stand-in for Jesus. It doesn’t seem to matter to Jesus that he was flesh at this point and the Advocate was spirit. Actually, The Advocate MUST be spirit for her mission is to endure through the ages. And what is her mission? Simply this: to remind us of what Christ Jesus taught us while he was with us in person. And what did Jesus teach us? In a word, ???? [The people said in one voice, “LOVE.” And the preacher said, “Yes, you know this; you live this: love!”] Love the Lord with all our hearts and love our neighbor as ourselves. God’s Spirit will guide us to act on that love. When we sin, when we fall short, repent and God will forgive us because God loves us. Forgive as we have been forgiven. And, be thankful. Always. No matter what. Be thankful for life and love. If we are thankful, we can’t help but love others as God loves us and to forgive others as God forgives us.
Can’t you feel God’s Spirit ringing with the truth of Christ Jesus’ teaching? And can’t you imagine The Advocate’s final exam question, “And who is our neighbor?” [At this point the people responded, “Absolutely everyone.”]
