John 14:14-16, 26-27a [The Message]
“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in 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.”
When he was still walking with us in his human form, Jesus made this promise to his followers. He himself would be leaving them, but he would make sure that a “Friend” would come in his place to always be with them. Other translations refer to this “Friend” as a Guide or an Advocate. We can tell by the different names that this Spirit is not an easy one to pin down or classify. The Holy Spirit can be all of these, and more.
We, most of us, know the story of the first Pentecost day, when the disciples — who until now how been hiding out in a locked room afraid to go out — suddenly received Jesus’ promised gift of the Holy Spirit and were so overwhelmed by the experience that they were immediately accused of being drunk at an unseemly hour of the morning, or maybe even that they were just crazy. But that experience was just the showy introduction. It was after they had calmed down a bit that the real work of this “Friend” became apparent. It was after that they became, as Jesus said well, and, more importantly, whole.
Writer C. S Lewis, writing to a correspondent, reminded them that the fizzy fireworks like the first Pentecost are not the real presence of the Holy Spirit, they’re just a symptom. They soon settle down and as he put it, you might think that the real thing had gone away. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. It may even be most operative when you can feel it least. The Holy Spirit usually works in us when we are least aware of it – reminding us of the things Jesus taught us, helping us remember right from wrong, leading us in directions we didn’t even recognize as options. All while we probably believe these things are all our own ideas.
At that first Pentecost, it was the Spirit in them that eventually empowered the once frightened disciples to go out and start sharing -- telling the world about Jesus and the Reign of God ... and to do so in such a passion-filled way that, in time, the whole world knew their story.
The Spirit in us might not lead us to such notable acts as transforming a world. Anne Lamott often says that we most often see the Spirit at work in us in our relationships with each other, doing the things good people have always done: bringing thirsty people water, sharing our food, standing up for the underdog, demanding justice for everyone, not just the chosen few – all those things our hearts know are right.
The Spirit lives within you! Listen to it. Pentecost was not one single historical even that happened thousands of years ago. Pentecost happens every day, and it happens again and again, because we humans are a forgetful lot.
Come, Holy Spirit! Live in us and with us. Guide us in your paths. Speak to our hearts and teach us to truly see and hear each other. Come, Holy Spirit.
We, most of us, know the story of the first Pentecost day, when the disciples — who until now how been hiding out in a locked room afraid to go out — suddenly received Jesus’ promised gift of the Holy Spirit and were so overwhelmed by the experience that they were immediately accused of being drunk at an unseemly hour of the morning, or maybe even that they were just crazy. But that experience was just the showy introduction. It was after they had calmed down a bit that the real work of this “Friend” became apparent. It was after that they became, as Jesus said well, and, more importantly, whole.
Writer C. S Lewis, writing to a correspondent, reminded them that the fizzy fireworks like the first Pentecost are not the real presence of the Holy Spirit, they’re just a symptom. They soon settle down and as he put it, you might think that the real thing had gone away. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. It may even be most operative when you can feel it least. The Holy Spirit usually works in us when we are least aware of it – reminding us of the things Jesus taught us, helping us remember right from wrong, leading us in directions we didn’t even recognize as options. All while we probably believe these things are all our own ideas.
At that first Pentecost, it was the Spirit in them that eventually empowered the once frightened disciples to go out and start sharing -- telling the world about Jesus and the Reign of God ... and to do so in such a passion-filled way that, in time, the whole world knew their story.
The Spirit in us might not lead us to such notable acts as transforming a world. Anne Lamott often says that we most often see the Spirit at work in us in our relationships with each other, doing the things good people have always done: bringing thirsty people water, sharing our food, standing up for the underdog, demanding justice for everyone, not just the chosen few – all those things our hearts know are right.
The Spirit lives within you! Listen to it. Pentecost was not one single historical even that happened thousands of years ago. Pentecost happens every day, and it happens again and again, because we humans are a forgetful lot.
Come, Holy Spirit! Live in us and with us. Guide us in your paths. Speak to our hearts and teach us to truly see and hear each other. Come, Holy Spirit.
RSS Feed