John 14:15-21 has the theme of Jesus promising to his disciples the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the advocate, the one who prays for us, the one who counsels and directs us. To live in obedience is to have a way of life lived in loving union with him. Jesus is not physically present to continue leading the church. That is why another counselor and guide is part of the Christian community, namely, the Holy Spirit. The world is still strange and puzzling place, for humanity has yet to fulfill the intent God has for it. God does not leave us without a family, united by Christ and the Spirit, to nurture us along the way. This community and this Spirit help us to make the world the home God intended it to be. Our fears inhibit us from moving toward the best God has for us. Yet, this community can experience peace beyond what the world experiences, for Christ and the Spirit unite the community to the future God intends for humanity.
15 “If you love me (ἀγαπᾶτέ), you will keep my commandments. Jesus is asserting his rights to have them love him and obey him, even as does the Lord in the Old Testament. While love is important throughout the New Testament, only in John do we find the object of love to be Jesus. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate (Παράκλητον, advocate, intercessor, counselor, protector, and supporter), to be with you forever. The material difference between the types of statement regarding the giving of the Spirit is not great. In each case both Father and Son work together in sending the Spirit, whether it is that the Father sends the Spirit at the request and in the name of the Son or that the risen Lord pours out the Spirit whom he has received from the Father. Regardless, the purpose of the sending is to continue the work of revealing Jesus. The Spirit glorifies Jesus as the Son of the Father by teaching us to recognize the revelation of the Father in the words and work of Jesus.[1] There is a close parallel between the work of the Spirit and that of Jesus. This word refers to a calling, summoning, inviting, demanding, admonishing, and encouraging, an address that both corrects and comforts. The Spirit will be for the community and individual Christian the great Paraclete. It describes the Spirit as the mediator, advocate, and spokesperson of Jesus Christ to the community of believers. The Spirit speaks both of Christ and for Christ, as the representative of the cause of Christ, seeking to make the cause of the community and the individual to become the cause of Christ. The Spirit sees to it that neither individual followers nor the community forgets Christ.[2] John distinguishes more sharply than does Paul the Son and Spirit. Here, the Spirit is the “other Advocate” whom the Father will send in the name of Jesus.[3] 17 This is the Spirit of truth (Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας), whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. The Spirit gives instruction to Christians in a way that never becomes identical with their own spirits. The Holy Spirit is superior to us as believers. As our teacher and leader, the Spirit is in us, but in a way that the Spirit remains Lord of our lives. The entire notion of Paraclete in this passage is relevant to this discussion. Note the difference in the notion here of “the Spirit of truth.” God is establishing and executing the divine claim to lordship over us by this immediate presence.[4] You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. Here, the Spirit is not present to believers in the way God will give the Spirit later.[5] In this passage, we see that the Holy Spirit is present to the church through the glorifying of Jesus Christ as the one whom the Father sent. This passage suggests an immediacy of individuals to Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit brings.[6] The people who have his commandments and keep them are those who love him. The Father will love those who love Jesus. Further, Jesus will love them and reveal himself to them.
Unless the eye catch fire,
The God will not be seen.
Unless the ear catch fire
The God will not be heard.
Unless the tongue catch fire
The God will not be named.
Unless the heart catch fire,
The God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catch fire,
The God will not be known.[7]
World history, having attained its goal in Christ and in his death, cannot continue as though nothing had happened. His community is now present in the world as witnesses to Christ. Yet, God does not leave them to their own devices. They cannot be without Christ in the world.[8]
Jesus presents the Father. In a world that is still a stranger to what God intends for it, followers of Jesus are to present Jesus to the world. The Spirit will be the one present to help followers of Jesus fulfill their calling.
His name is Homer Sewell, but total strangers tend to call him “Abe.” One look at the man and you know exactly why: Homer Sewell bears a spooky resemblance to Abraham Lincoln. This all started about 30 years ago in Orlando, Florida, when Sewell grew a beard and schoolchildren suddenly began to call him “Abe.” He completed the effect by adding a black suit and stovepipe hat, and developed a show called Abe Lincoln’s America. Sewell has now made over 2,400 appearances as the 16th president, performing for more than two million people. “As soon as I get my suit on and my hat,” he explains, “I become Abraham Lincoln.” Sewell is a dead ringer for Honest Abe, even without makeup, and you have to admire his attention to detail. The car he drives is a ... Lincoln, of course. The Association of Lincoln Presenters presented Sewell with the “Lincoln of the Year” award in April of 1999.
In the gospel of John, Jesus is laying the foundation for an “Association of Jesus Presenters.” Jesus knows that his death is coming, and he is preparing his disciples for the period that lies ahead, when he is not going to be physically with them. “Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus assures them, “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12). He promises his followers that he will do whatever they ask in his name, and then he goes on to predict that God will send them the Holy Spirit, to be with them forever (vv. 13-17).
Jesus invites the disciples to be Jesus Presenters — people who carry forward the words and works of Jesus Christ and offer his grace and truth to the world. Like members of the Lincoln Presenters, their mission is to educate and inspire, and to present the powerful insights and actions of their leader to the world. Disciples are to represent Jesus, so that when people see them at work, everyone will know that they are Christians.
The coming of the Holy Spirit should remind us that claiming to be followers of the historical Jesus is one thing but allowing the Spirit of the risen Christ to dwell fully in us is another. One can confine the former simply to knowing a lot about Jesus, while the latter involves representing Jesus and acting every day on his behalf according to his model of life and faith. Granted, Christians often obscure Jesus rather than present Jesus. Yet, their calling, vocation, and mission, based upon the model offered by Jesus, is to show God to the world. Fortunately, we do not function alone or in isolation. We have an association of Jesus Presenters we call the church.
In John 14: 18-21 we find the theme of the coming back of Jesus. This abiding spiritual presence of Jesus in the form of the Paraclete, dependent neither upon the earthly corporeality of Jesus in flesh and blood nor the eschatological return of Christ in some future age (necessitating a return to earthly corporeality), is the sum of the final verses of the passage. The conditions and promises contained in the second half of the passage parallel in striking ways the conditions and promises of the first half. It refers to loving Jesus and keeping his commandments (vv. 15, 21); the giving of the Paraclete and the coming (back) of Jesus (vv. 16, 18); the inability of the world to receive the Paraclete or to see Jesus (vv. 17, 19); the recognition by the disciples of the Paraclete and (the returned) Jesus (vv. 17, 19); and the indwelling in the disciples of both the Paraclete and Jesus (vv. 17, 20). This strong identification of the eternal Advocate/Helper with the risen Christ qualifies, in John's gospel, the emphasis placed in the Pauline and synoptic writings on the eschatological return of Christ. For the community of John, in whom the undying spirit of Christ dwells as sacrificial love, the promise of the Hebrew prophets has been fulfilled: Immanuel has come with final and eternal significance.
This presence is not for a mystical elite but for all Christians. The indwelling depends on loving Jesus and keeping his commands. 18 "I will not leave you orphaned. Plato says in Phaedo 116a that the followers of Socrates became orphans upon his death. I am coming to you. Some debate revolves around whether this refers to the post-resurrection appearances or a permanent coming. John offers a profound reinterpretation of the post-resurrection period and directs us to the real gift of this period, which is union with Jesus. The appearances are not an end in themselves. They initiate and point to a deeper type of presence. Even in Matthew 28:20, the risen Jesus says, “I am with you always until the end of time.”[9] Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, and the second coming are, in this passage, a single event: “I am coming to you.” It suggests a foreshortening of perspective. The event of Easter and the second coming, with the intervening history of the community under the present power of the Holy Spirit, are different moments of one event. Those scholars, like Schweitzer and Weiss, who go down the path of “thoroughgoing eschatology,” are quite wrong. Barth words himself strongly on this, seeing no need to suppose that there was unforeseen delay in the return of Christ, or that hope in it was repeatedly deferred, or that the primitive Church, or Jesus himself, were disillusioned or mistaken on the subject in consequence of an exaggerated enthusiasm. He thinks one should condemn such a view from the outset. He discusses this within the context of Jesus being Lord of time, and thus, not subject to human experiences of time. [10]
In verses 19-20, note that the life of Jesus is the basis and source of Christian life, a common theme in New Testament teaching. Once Christians have received life from Jesus, they will be able to recognize that it is a life mutually shared by Father and Son. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, in the sense of a shared possession of life with Jesus. Because I live, you also will live. The world has seen its last of Jesus, while the disciples will see him in his risen state, not merely physically, but with the eyes of faith. Jesus expects the disciples to remain close to him. Jesus is victor. Yet, I think it quite natural to wonder whether the notion of a new age in which being reconciled to God is not an illusion. The message of the coming of the new age and a new humanity is stranger than that of the passing of the old. We may well wonder whether the only option is a pure, supra-temporal, transcendent future to which one can only look forward with longing. Therefore, one would agree in practice that it has not yet arrived and that the positive declaration of the word of grace would have no validity here and now. Yet, ought we to dispose of the declaration so easily? The word of grace says that humanity is already this new humanity. It speaks of the eternal future of this new humanity as irrupting into the present, of the coming of the new humanity here and now, disrupting the “peaceful and merry life in fellowship within the present” that humanity now has. Its validity is because this word is spoken in Jesus Christ, and thus, “Because I live, you shall live also.” This focus on Christ makes it distinct from all illusions. Human “realism” is shown to be an illusion.[11] The phrase is the right order, in that the Christian community exists as Christ exists. It exists only as he exists. Therefore, the being of the community is a dimension of the being of Christ as well. It belongs to Christ and is the property of Christ. Christ is the source of its life and existence. It has no option but to exist in faith in Christ love for Christ and hope in Christ. It exists as Christ exists, for Christ does not exist without the Christian community. [12] 20 On that day, on Easter, in the period of the discovery of the empty tomb and the appearances of the risen Lord, when true knowing begins, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The knowledge comes through Father and Son dwelling in the believer. John is taking a decisive step in the train of thought in saying that Jesus himself, by the work of the Spirit, is with his own, being “in” them as they are “in” him.[13]
21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love (ἀγαπῶν) me. The ethical theme is that community with God is rooted in obedience to Jesus' word. We learn of the condition on which the indwelling of the Son depends. It depends on keeping the commandments of Jesus and loving him. Love motivates the keeping of the commandments and love is the substance of the commandments of Jesus. And those who love (ἀγαπῶν) me will be loved (ἀγαπηθήσεται) by my Father, and I will love (ἀγαπήσω) them and reveal (ἐμφανίσω informing, causing to be seen, appearing, and manifesting) myself to them." The community of Easter is founded upon love and reveals itself in love.
Those who follow Jesus have a certain type of mission statement. Since he will no longer be physically present, he wants them to know what they must continue to do. His advice is simple.
First, they are to love him. In the Shema in the Old Testament and the Jewish faith says we are to love the Lord with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength. For us as followers of Jesus, we are to love Jesus Christ. That is the mission. Martin Luther King sometimes spoke of the “weapon of love.” For King, love was a powerful force, more powerful than the forces of evil and wickedness. That was the only available resource for revolutionary Christians. King practiced nonviolence as an aspect of his weapon of love. King and his followers practiced nonviolence, not because it was effective, but because it was the only means available to him as a Christian. “We will outlove your ability to hate,” he said. “We will outsuffer your ability to inflict pain.” For him, nonviolence was not a savvy political strategy for the moment. Nonviolence was the only means of obedient service to Jesus.
Second, they are to obey him. Of course, the Old Testament must keep reminding the people to obey the Lord, but now, as followers of Jesus, we are to obey Jesus. That is the mission. Loving him means keeping his commandments. In John, the new commandment is love each other. A German pastor said when the Nazis came to power, it was the members of the more conservative Christian sects, those rule-keeping, simple-minded, dogmatic (or so he thought) Christians who were able to see the horror of Hitler and to resist Nazism. The more liberal, open-minded, educated, and sophisticated Christians tended too easily to mesh Nazism with their rather thin Christianity. In his opinion, “Those Christians who stressed obedience, simply doing what Jesus expected them to do, without question, had the greater resources for resistance.”[14]
Third, they are to receive the Spirit of truth. This Spirit is “another” advocate, counsellor, or comforter, suggesting that Jesus has been these things while with them. The world cannot receive this Spirit of truth, and so, people who follow Jesus will always feel some strangeness while they live in the world. Since they must receive this Spirit, it will not be identical with their own spirits. They must be willing to go where the Spirit leads, even if contrary to what they would do on their own. That is the mission.
This part of the Gospel of John is the basis for Christian view of the Trinity. The creator of the universe, the Father of us all, has disclosed who God is in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit becomes the subjective reality and presence of God in leading and directing our lives.
Jesus is opening to the disciples a new reality. They will have a new relationship with him. As the risen Lord, they will abide in him, and he will abide in them. Therefore, he will not leave them orphaned. The risen Lord will come to them. The risen Lord will love them and reveal himself to them.
Love Christ, keep the commandments, and receive the Spirit.
I want to have a little fun with the notion of what we can learn from dogs about the mission or vocation the risen Lord has given the church and we as followers of Jesus.
I came across this news item.
Lawmakers in Iran have proposed a bill to criminalize dog ownership. The law states that owning a dog “poses a cultural problem” and is “a blind imitation of the vulgar culture of the West.” – radicalislam.org
Since I came across this item after I thought of trying something new today, by sharing what we might learn from dogs, I found it interesting. It reminds me that not everyone likes dogs. For those who do, here is a video on God/Dog that has made the rounds on Internet, which makes it dangerous share. However, I hope you will bear with me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY
I have developed a soft place in my life for dogs. Beau and Toby were a father and son team that were part of our family. Beau was my jogging companion for a while. We made a game of racing to the top of the stairs. Toby had a wonderful way of cocking his head just right when you spoke to him, as if he was truly trying to listen. It was an emotional day when we had to put them to sleep. We cried all day, and laughed, of course. It is surprising how deeply attached one can become to their pet. We now (2020) have Annie, a little wire-haired fox terrier, and Tinker, a little Maltese.
The medical community has learned of the healing power of the dog. The patient, whom we will call Hazel, entered UCLA Medical Center for quadruple-bypass surgery. Since doctors moved her into ICU, she had barely moved, or even opened her eyes. It had been days now, and volunteer Betty Walsh was getting concerned. The situation was getting desperate. She decided to call in a member of the canine candy-striping corps. The new staffer, a pet-partner, if you will, arrived moments later. Koyla, a 145-pound shaggy white Great Pyrenees, crawled right up on Hazel's hospital bed and snuggled in beside her. There she lay beside her patient, nuzzling her warm and furry body in next to Hazel, who had not twitched a muscle for days. Betty and the other nurses gathered around to watch, tense and concerned. Then, they detected movement. Hazel's hand came alive. It was not long until her hand was inching toward the dog. She began to stroke its fur. Within minutes, she was smiling and talking, calling the huge dog her friend. Betty stood close by and monitored her vital signs. The blood pressure monitor began to go down, down, down to normal levels.
Koyla is not the only dog in the corps. There is a poodle, a greyhound, a pug, eight golden retrievers, four black Labs, two German shepherds, several mutts - and a partridge in a pear tree. What is it about dogs that evoke such a positive response? How are they able to provide such comfort and reassurance? Therapy Dogs International (http://www.tdi-dog.org/ ) screens dogs for personality, obedience and training and provides certification for more than 4,500 pet partners who provide service for 350,000 patients in the United States. Whatever it is, we know that dogs demonstrate loyalty and obedience, and offer comfort and a sense of well-being.
The question it raises for me today is what disciples would look like in this world if they loved God, loved Jesus, and obeyed the commands of Jesus, which is to love one another? The use that pet partners make of dogs in the lives of others is interesting on this point. The dog lives in obedience to its trainer, loves its trainer, and loves the people to whom the trainer brings the dog. Therefore, the dog has a healing influence upon others.
What I would like to think I am doing is that I am helping us to look at the world around us and see if we can learn something about discipleship by paying attention. In this case, of course, I want to pay attention to the dog. I hope you can have some fun with this, as well as learn. I came across ten elements of dogness or doghood that might help us learn what it means to love Jesus and obey his commandments, which, as we just learned, is to love others. I also came across some comments by Don Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz. He imagines himself as the dog, thinking dog thoughts about people.[15]
1. Greet loved ones with wagging tail. Don Miller put it this way, “Seriously, if you are excited about people, you improve the chances of them being excited about you.” We might refer to this as hospitality. Nothing is more important than feeling loved, and there is no creature on the planet that does it better than a dog. The wagging tail affirms that this is where we belong: This is our home, where we live, where we are safe and where someone loves us.
2. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm. You know how dogs eat. Some will have slobber flying everywhere, and most will lick the dish clean until every scent of the food is gone. Dogs know that eating is a celebration of life. Most of us share a little of our “human” food with our dogs. If we do, they find ways of letting us know how important that moment is. In my case, our dogs learn that if I get something to eat, just get close to me and stare. Breaking bread together is holy. To nourish the body is not a chore, but a sacrament. Animosities are dissipated at meals, barriers broken down, friendships renewed and strengthened. So, eat with gusto. Enjoy all the flavors and spices of creation.
3. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree. Relax, slow down and enjoy. Give yourself a time out. Opt out, unplug, and get lazy.
4. Run, romp and play daily. Physical exercise is as important for the soul as it is for the body. An unhealthy lifestyle will hinder your ability to be a disciple of Christ. When we learn how to play, stretch, and get in some exercise, we will feel better from the inside out.
5. Be loyal. Don Miller, says, “I will never turn on a friend. Never.” Loyalty is a good thing, and if your dog is nothing else, he is loyal to a fault. Loyalty has fallen on hard times. Commitment has become hard for many of us to make. Yet, loyalty is a critical element of discipleship, for it speaks to our relationship with others: our spouse, our vocation, our community and our friends.
6. When you are happy, dance around and wag your tail. Thankfulness and celebration are powerful dynamics for successful and healthy living. Gratitude is a gift we give ourselves that enables us to affirm the essential goodness of life. Even when adversity strikes, gratitude helps us maintain our perspective and carries us through the low moments.
7. If someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle gently. We all have bad days. That is why we need encouragement and affirmation. When we are depressed, we know that it takes only a quiet word, a gentle touch to bring us around. A dog has this instinct that tells it when to be dancing and jumping around and when just to be there beside you. Words are not always needed, or even helpful, to convey empathy. A gentle nuzzle will do.
8. No matter how harshly someone scolds you, do not pout - run back and make friends. Carrying grudges makes life a drudgery. Make friends and keep them. Overlook faults and assume the best. Do not keep a scorecard of rights and wrongs. Do not take offense.
9. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do. We do not need to injure others by what we say or do. We can be strong with love; firm with kindness.
10. Bark with your buddies. At least in our house, barking at something outside is way of alerting us to pay attention. Barking is an act of commonality. Barking says we belong in this together. We are one.
Well, that is it, my lessons on discipleship from dogs.
Love Christ, keep his command to love, and receive the Holy Spirit. Properly understood, John has given us as followers of Jesus a statement of mission that works, even today. They can then bring the healing this world needs into reality.
Maybe God put dogs on earth to remind us of some important truths, for on one level dogs seem to do better at displaying human traits than humans. Sometimes, they are much more Christlike. Think about it. Consistently humbler, more loving, more grateful, more joyful, more kindhearted, and so on. Which should compel us to vow - if not to bow-wow: I will never let my dog be a better Christian than myself. Amen. Arf. Arf.
[1] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 5)
[2] Barth (Church Dogmatics IV.2 [64.4] 326)
[3] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 270)
[4] Barth (Church Dogmatics, I.1 [12.1] 454)
[5] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 1, 267)
[6] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 134)
[7] --Attributed to Enlightenment poet William Blake.
[8] Barth (Church Dogmatics, IV.2 [64.4] 326)
[9] Raymond Brown
[10] (Barth Church Dogmatics., III.2 [47.1], 497)
[11] Barth (Church Dogmatics IV.3 [69.3] 249)
[12] Barth (Church Dogmatics., IV.3 [72.1] 754)
[13] Pannenberg (Systematic Theology, Volume 3, 16)
[14] William Willimn, Pulpit Resource, 2005.
[15] How to Love and Be Loved (from a dog’s point of view) by Don Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz
I pretty much like everybody. I don’t like them instantly, though, but if they show the slightest bit of niceness I like them immediately and I like them a lot. When somebody first comes to the door I bark at them to let them know this is where we live. I set very clear boundaries. And then I get so excited to see them and be with them I just about explode. Not all dogs are that trusting, but I am.
Here’s the thing about people, though. Not everybody is going to like you back. But that’s okay. You should hardly think about that at all. A dog can only take so much love. I have more than I even know what to do with. Here’s how I got it:
1. I am genuinely excited about seeing and being with people. Seriously, if you are excited about people, you improve the chances of them being excited about you. It’s best to genuinely love them and want to be with them. One of the differences between people and dogs is that people can fake whether they want to be around somebody but dogs can’t. People like dogs because dogs are genuine. But people can be genuine too if they practice and they learn to trust and forgive.
2. I don’t get bitter when somebody doesn’t like me. If somebody doesn’t want to pet me, I could care less. I will be very nice to them and excited to see them all the same. I don’t take it personally at all. Remember, there’s plenty of love to go around. The cool thing about dogs is we really don’t care who loves us. I don’t place the value of one person’s love higher or lower than another’s, except for my owner. If you show partiality, you are going to have a very hard time loving and being loved and you’re going to be miserable. It’s a sad thing about humans that they want people to love them who just don’t, and they don’t accept love from the people who really do love them in the first place.
3. I know my place. I know that I am just a dog, so I don’t get all up on people too much. Okay, I do it a little too much, but not too much too much. I seriously love people. But I also know that any creature can feel like a burden if they don’t have good self esteem and the ability to be okay with just themselves, laying on the dog bed, for a little while. You can still watch them from the dog bed. People are so awesome. I love them.
4. I avoid people who hurt me. If somebody is mean to me, I will remember it and I will associate that person with a mean time. I don’t hold it against them, but I don’t get too close to them. In fact, I’d just prefer it if they weren’t around. But I certainly don’t sit around thinking how I’d like to hurt them. When they are gone, they are gone. My life is really good in this way, and I think it’s sad that some dogs have to be with people who hurt them. It’s sad for people in that situation, too. If they can get away to a better place, I think they should. Or maybe they should try their hardest to talk it out. But if they keep getting hurt, they need to move on.
5. I don’t hold grudges. Sometimes you meet people who don’t love you. They may even not like you at all or want to be with you. With these people, I am just as nice. If they don’t want to be with me then they walk away. That’s their thing and I don’t take it personally. And if they ever come back and want to be friends, I am all in. Like I said, I don’t take it personally. The best way to be forgiving is just to wipe the slate clean and call it even as often as you can. Actually, though, that’s a human thing, because I don’t keep score. I just like people all the time.
6. I am loyal. I will never turn on a friend. Never. I understand going into it that I am going to love them more than they love me, and they won’t always be so loving, but that doesn’t matter. I can only control me, and I really like people and will never turn on them. Some dogs will but those are not good dogs.
Cute liked the Dog conversation. If the spirit is to lead us to all truth, and the church is a group of Christ presenters it would appear that something is wrong. Christians disagree violently on truth and the group of Christ presenters present a different Christs. What has gone wrong?
ReplyDeletei think you know where it went wrong. We still screw it up. We are sinners.
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