12
“I still have
many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the
Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not
speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you
the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will
take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has
is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it
to you.
Year C
Trinity Sunday
May 22, 2016
Cross~Wind Ministries
Crawfordsville First United Methodist
Church
God Takes Time
Introduction
I came across an article a few
years ago, that stressed that getting into the college of our choice can be
quite a difficult task. At the most academically competitive schools, thousands
of students apply, but they accept only a handful. Stanford accepts 5.1% of
their applicants. Harvard and Yale are a little easier as they accept 6%. Think
of it this way. Out of every 20 applicants, 19 will experience disappointment.
Notre Dame will accept 21%, but that means 16 out of 20 will find
disappointment.
For some families, going to the “right”
college is so important they want to improve the chances of their child by employing
the services of an independent educational consultant (IEC). These IECs will
help with the application essay, the admissions interview, the application
packet, and with which college will accept their client. They will tutor for
SAT and ACT tests. They will help the high school student select courses,
clubs, and other associations that may help with the appeal of their applicant.
Such help can be pricey, ranging from $1,000 to tens of thousands. Some parents
find the fees worth paying to help their child receive the advantage of the
"right" degree from the "right" college to help them
succeed for the rest of their lives.
Would it not be great to have our own
personal IEC? Some of you might answer in the negative, for you know what you
need to know. Right now, some of us might think back to certain moments of our
lives, such as a job interview, or the decision to marry (or not to marry), or
a critical moment for our children, and we might think, “It sure would have
been nice to have an IEC at that moment.”
We make many decisions in our
lives. Having some way to gain perspective, even a sense of right and wrong,
would bring us a level of peace.
Application
I invite you to pause for a moment. How do you receive wisdom and
guidance when you face a difficult decision? Do you think you give the Holy
Spirit the time and space necessary to guide you? How will you know if the
Spirit guides you?
I offer a few observations on this passage that I hope will help.
First, this passage reminds us that Jesus continues to speak to us.
The language is that of some Psalms.
Psalm 25:5
Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your
truth;
give me an undivided heart
to revere your name.
The disciples will receive this Advocate, Comforter, or
Counselor/Consultant because of their friendship with Jesus. He is the one who
will accompany them in life, and be at their side, to guide them into truths as
they need them.
We may think we do not need such a companion.
In The Lord of the Rings:
Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo decides to go on his quest alone, without his
companions, and he sets off in a boat to cross the lake. However, his faithful
friend, Samwise, finds him:
Frodo: Go back, Sam. I’m going to Mordor alone.
Sam: Of course you are. And I’m coming with you.
Sam jumps in after him, even though he cannot swim. Sam almost drowns
as he crosses the river, but Frodo saves him. He tells Frodo, “I made a
promise, “Don’t you leave him, Samwise Gamgee. And I don’t mean to. I don’t
mean to.”
Frodo says, “Come on, then.”
We are not in the Christian life alone. Some of us have very little
confidence in ourselves, so we are constantly seeking what other people think
we should do. Some of us have so much confidence that we instinctively think we
know what is best for us. Yet, the Spirit is a constant reminder that we do not
have the resources in ourselves. We need to look away from ourselves and give
time and space for new guidance to emerge. The Spirit is the one who helps the
church and individual Christians to navigate a world so different from the one
Jesus knew. The Spirit helps us navigate this world in a way that still brings
glory to Jesus.
The second valuable thing that Jesus’ words about the role of the
Spirit tell us is that no one of us understands all at once all that
Christ has for us.
If you think of it, the New Testament is itself testimony to how much
more the disciples had to learn.[1] They were not yet ready
for all that we read in the New Testament. The Spirit would teach them at the
appropriate time.
God takes our time, our history, seriously. God knows we need to grow,
sometimes dramatically, and sometimes in subtle ways, in order to receive the
truth.
In another place in Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo looks down at the ring in his
hand. He wishes that the ring had never come into his possession. Wise Gandalf says, “So do I, and so do all who live to see
such times. But that is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to
do with the time that is given us.”
Adlai Stevenson wrote on the importance of time in our lives.
What
a man knows at 50 that he did not know at 20 is, for the most part,
incommunicable. All the observations about life which can be communicated
handily are as well known to a man at 20 who has been attentive as to a man at
50. He has been told them all, he has read them all, but he has not lived them
all. What he knows at 50 that he did not know at 20 is not the knowledge of
formulas or forms of words but of people, places, actions, a knowledge not
gained by words but by touch, sight, sound, victories, failures, sleeplessness,
devotion, love — the human experiences and emotions of this earth and oneself
and other people; and perhaps, too, a little faith and a little reverence for
things you cannot see.
Philosopher Hegel
famously said in his introduction to his History of Philosophy that
every truth has its time. We ought not to beat up on thinkers of the past because
they did not have truths we now possess. The same is true for us as
individuals. We ought not to beat up on ourselves for not having insights or
truths sooner than we did. It is simply impossible to anticipate all that we
will need from Jesus as we mature and encounter the twists and turns of life.[2]
Third, our responsibility is to
listen faithfully.
We might think we would like to have every step in the journey of life
marked out clearly to its end. Yet, as Anaïs Nin put it, "There are very
few human beings who receive the truth ... by instant illumination. Most of
them acquire it fragment by fragment.”
Wisdom is not a state of being,
or a destination at which one finally arrives; rather, it is bread for the
journey -- a companion for one's pilgrim walk.
The beauty of the Christian life is that through the various twists and
turns of life, we have a divine companion. Oswald Chambers, in the classic
devotional, My Utmost for His Highest,
cautioned Christians against thinking of uncertainty in this life as a bad
thing.
The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our
uncertainty. … The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain
of God, just uncertain of what he is going to do next. If our certainty is only
in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly
critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and
settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of
spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Jesus said, ‘…believe also in
me’ (John 14:1), not, ‘Believe certain things about me.’ Leave everything to
him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how he will come in —
but you can be certain that he will come.
Conclusion
You do have
a personal Counsellor/Consultant. We often want this Consultant, the Holy
Spirit, to magically and obviously tell us what to do next.
God graciously
and wonderfully takes time with us and for us. God will teach us and guide us. Will
we take time for God? Will we pause long enough to allow the wisdom of the
Spirit to emerge and impress itself upon us?
Friends,
that is where you and I complete this sermon as we live our lives this week. Your
assignment this week is simple. Give the Spirit time and space to speak to you.
Going deeper
John 16:4b-15 has the theme of the
departure of Jesus and the coming of the Paraclete. It occurs in the context of
Jesus giving his final words to his disciples. He will soon experience arrest,
trial, and crucifixion. In fact, Jesus has warned the disciples that he will
depart from them in order to be with the Father. If you were to read the whole
chapter, you would read of the dominant theme of the grief of the disciples. They
cannot imagine life without his physical presence. Of course, we know they will
lead lives of witnessing through the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Such
a life is difficult for them to imagine. In these verses, Jesus assures them
while he is leaving, the Father will send another to be their companion and
guide.
In verses 12-15, in an effort to
comfort the disciples, Jesus emphasizes
the coming of the Comforter and the continuity between the Father, Jesus and
that comforter.
John 16:12-15 (NRSV)
12 “I
still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When
the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will
not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to
you the things that are to come. [See 14:26 as well. The
Spirit will glorify the risen Christ, because the Spirit will take what belongs
to the risen Christ and declare it to them. The Gospel of John says of the
witness of the Spirit that he will not speak of himself, but will take and
proclaim what Jesus is in verses 13-14.[3]
John 14:26
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.
Such a statement suggests the disciples will receive deeper insight after the resurrection. After
all, they will not be able to understand the power of the resurrection until
after it occurs. It was mystery religions of the Greek and Roman worlds
that believed the gods could give new revelations. Such insight helps followers
of Jesus to gain better understanding of what Jesus means for one’s own time.
The language is that of some Psalms.
Psalm 25:5
Lead me in your truth, and teach
me,
for you are the God of my
salvation;
for you I wait all day long.
Psalm 86:11
Teach me your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart to
revere your name.
These verses suggest the personal
relationship that existed between Jesus and his disciples. The disciples are
pivotal as the core witnesses to the good news of what God has done in Jesus
Christ. Given the closeness of the disciples to Jesus, and given the fact that
Jesus chose them, will lead to the world hating them. Yet, the disciples will
also receive this Advocate or Paraclete because of their friendship with Jesus.
The Spirit is not bringing a message
from some new or unknown source. The Spirit's words, like Jesus' own words,
have their beginning in the Father. This common source -- God's own storehouse
-- guarantees that the Spirit's words will always continue, never contrast with
or contradict, Jesus' previously spoken words, or God's earlier prophetically
declared messages. The power of the Spirit will give them victory over principalities
and powers. For Karl Barth, only by faith can we grasp the promise that we
shall be led into all truth.[4] For Pannenberg the Spirit
leading the disciples into all truth means the truth of God as shown in the
Son.[5] The Spirit's role will be twofold.] 14 [First] He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to
you. [A main point of
distinction is that the Spirit will show the disciples the true significance of
Jesus.[6]
Proclaiming the glory of the risen Christ will be the hallmark of those who
have received the Spirit. Pannenberg says the purpose of the sending of the
Spirit by the Son is to continue the work of Jesus in revealing, here, by the
Spirit glorifying the Son.[7]
He will stress that in the life of the Church, it must always have a way of
recalling the foundation of the church in the gift of the Spirit. This
recalling and reviving can come through the many-voiced glorifying of Jesus
Christ in the light of creation and also of the eschatological future of God
and the destiny of those who belong to Jesus and hence also to the Father.[8] He stresses that the
glorifying of the Father by the Son will come to fulfillment, an event mediated
by the work of the Spirit who will glorify the Son in believers by bringing to
their remembrance Jesus and his message and therewith the Father.[9] Pannenberg says that to
extend the rule of God among us requires the Spirit, who glorifies Jesus.[10] In 17:1, 5, the Father will
glorify the Son, but that refers to what John says here about the Spirit
glorifying the Son.[11] Pannenberg expands upon the
theological significance of this passage. In
his prayer in 17:1, Jesus has desired that asked the Father to glorify him. The
answer of the Father is to send the Spirit. The Spirit manifests Jesus as the
Son. The Spirit completes the revelation of the Father by the Son. Glorifying
the Son, the Spirit also glorifies the Father and their indissoluble
fellowship. For Pannenberg, this theme opens up the notion of the
self-distinction of the Trinity. Jesus glorifies the Father, thereby showing
himself to be the Son of the Father. The Spirit glorifies the Son. He shows
himself to be the Spirit of truth by bearing witness to Jesus and reminding us
of his teaching. He points out that for Augustine, the Spirit is the love
that unites the Father and the Son. In the theology of the Trinity that
Pannenberg develops, the Spirit is the
condition and medium of the fellowship of Father and Son. On this basis, the
imparting of the Spirit to believers is also an incorporation into the
fellowship of the Son with the Father. The work of Jesus has as its
ultimate goal the glorifying of the Father, one can view it as the work of the
Spirit in him. John explains the way this glorification will happen in the rest
of the verse. Because the Spirit will take from what belongs to Jesus, possibly
his words and his presence, and report or pass on these things to the
disciples, this will result in a glorification of Jesus.[12]
Jesus summarizes his preceding discourse (and highlights elements of his
following prayer) in which he shows the direct relationship between himself and
the Father and himself and the Spirit. Even though Jesus is departing from
them, they can be comforted because the
Spirit, who is not a rogue Spirit, but the gift of the Father and the emissary
of the Son, will guide them and reveal to them the things of Jesus. Later,
Pannenberg refers to verses 13-14 as significant for the Lord's Supper as well,
for the Spirit glorifying Jesus presupposes recollection of Jesus in his person
and history. As “remembrance,” then, the Lord's Supper makes the risen Lord
present in the community.[13] He also thinks that
statements in the Gospel of John about the Spirit are helpful because they share
with Luke an interest in the Spirit as an independent entity. Yet, they also
deal with the theme of the link between the work of the Spirit and Jesus
Christ. The work of the Spirit is to lead to knowledge of Jesus as the truth of
God. Thus, in these two verses, the Spirit will not speak of the Spirit, but
rather, will glorify Jesus.[14]] 15
[Second] All that the Father has is mine. For this
reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
[If this verse clearly establishes the relationship between Jesus and the
Spirit, the next verse draws in the Father as well. Here Jesus asserts that whatever the Father has, he possesses as
well. John picks up on this again in Jesus’ prayer, which comes in the
following chapter. There he asserts, “All things [that are mine are] yours and
yours, are mine,” (17:10). In chapter 17, those people who belong to God and to
Jesus seem to be in view, but here in chapter 16, Jesus seems to be talking
about the words or the teachings of God. In some way, this mutual sharing between Jesus and the Father provides the basis
upon which Jesus can assert that the Comforter will speak only that which is in
the possession of Jesus. Thus, in verses 13-15, we find an emphasis on the
fellowship of Christians with God and each other resting on their participation
in the one Jesus Christ to whom each of them is related by faith and baptism.[15] Pannenberg notes that by
baptism, believers come into relation to the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ as the Spirit of Christ reminds Christians of Jesus.[16]This
verse has affected Trinitarian debates. The text refers to revelation
communicated to people. The verse clearly defines what
is accessible to the promised Spirit from Jesus, as Jesus himself declares,
"All that the Father has is mine." The Holy Spirit's work, then, is to remind the disciples of what Jesus
has said and done (cf. 14:26). The Spirit "declares" in the Spirit's
own way, in the way of the Paraclete, but the content of these declarations is
taken directly from what Jesus describes as "what is mine." However,
since God has given Jesus complete access to God's own storehouse, the Word of
God is what the Spirit declares. Thus, Jesus' words are contiguous with God's
own treasury, making Jesus the "Word" that John had described at the
outset of his gospel as being "with God" and "was God" from
the beginning. Pannenberg says when John says that the Spirit will take what
belongs to the Son and proclaim it, the reference is not just to the history
and words of Jesus. Rather, all creation is to glorify the Son, for all that
the Father has belongs to the Son. In the last analysis, the glorifying of the
Son by the Spirit serves the glory of the Father.[17]]
Jesus’ discourse might have gone on longer, for the text
notes that he had many things he wanted to say to them. However, at that moment
they were not able to bear it. Either their flesh was weak and they could not
continue to attend to the lengthy sermon or they simply did not have the
capacity to understand what Jesus had already said, much less more instruction.
However, we can think of it as the rest of the New Testament. They had much
more to learn, and only life in the Spirit would teach it to them. Most obviously,
the apostle Paul was not yet among their number. They had much to learn about
who Jesus is, about the Spirit, about God, and about the witness of the church
in the world. John Calvin reminds the reader of the debate between Protestant
and Roman Catholic at this point. For the Roman Catholic of his day, this
passage justifies the Pope disclosing truths that the disciples were not able
to learn. His answer is to quote Augustine on this passage. If Christ is silent, we should remain
silent. It seems more likely, then,
that they did not have the capacity to understand yet, especially since the
questions raised by the disciples reveal their lack of understanding. Peter
misunderstands exactly where Jesus is going and overestimates his own ability
to follow (13:37). Thomas misunderstands the way to follow Jesus (14:4-6).
Philip misses the fact that in seeing Jesus, they have seen the Father
(14:7-8). Judas does not perceive the difference between those who keep the
commandments of Jesus and those who do not (14:22). Finally, after all that
Jesus teaches them, they still do not understand what Jesus means by his
departure (16:17). It seems clear from the way that John has portrayed the
disciples in this interchange that they are not yet ready to receive any more
teaching from Jesus.
[1] The four gospels are differing ways of
telling the story of who Jesus is. Before the cross and resurrection, they
would not have had this awareness. The writings of Luke and Paul are still
ahead. The growth of communities that follow Jesus into Greece and Rome
happened quickly. These disciples would suffer and most would die for living
their lives bringing glory to Jesus and living in the name of Jesus.
[2] But the Holy Spirit, operating by the primary
rule of usability, declares to us what is Christ’s, as we need it, as our
experience of people, places, actions, touch, sight, sound, victories,
failures, sleeplessness, devotion, love, faith and reverence makes us capable
of hearing it.
[3]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
2, 288.
[4] (Church
Dogmatics, I.1 [1.3], p. 17)
[5] (Systematic
Theology, Volume Two, p. 395)
[6]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
2, 454.
[7] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 5.
[8] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 19.
[9] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 625.
[10]
Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume
2, 394.
[11] Pannenberg,
Systematic Theology Volume 2, 395.
[12] (Systematic
Theology, Volume One, p. 315-316)
[13] (ibid.,
Volume Three, p. 307)
[14] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 16.
[15] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 15.
[16] Systematic Theology Volume 3, 275.
[17] Systematic Theology Volume 2, 395.
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