August 7: Community of the Spirit in John

Text: John 14:15-27

¹⁵ "If you love me, you will obey what I command. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-- ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." ²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" ²³ Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. ²⁵ "All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

The way in…

Life is full of departures. We depart after dinners. We depart at airports. We depart for vacations. Some departures are big for a long time and others are brief for just a few hours. Last night we experienced the babysitter departure which I believe we have reached a milestone.

I was thinking about that last night as Joanna came over to watch the kids so that Erin and I could go out for dinner to celebrate our birthdays. There have been times when the kids wailed and gnashed their teeth at our departure. And then there are other times, like last night when they were far more interested in blowing bubbles on the back deck with Joanna then the fact that we were leaving. Very often the biggest factor in which reaction the kids have is not so much where we are going or how long we will be gone, rather it is who will be here with us? Is it grandma? Yeah. Is it Joanna? Yeah. Is it Tracy, yeah. While we’ve never had a bad baby sitter, there have been some, no connection to anyone in here, who the kids were less than excited about and a bit more anxious about our departure. The peace of our goodbyes is often determined by the character of the person who remains.

Jesus departure

In the passage this morning, Jesus was preparing his disciples for a departure; his departure. This is the middle of a 3 chapter sermon that Jesus offers in the gospel of John to prepare his disciples for the time when he will not physically be with them. The bad news is that he is leaving. The good news is that someone else is coming. And I imagine that just like my kids want to know who is babysitting, the disciples wanted to know who was coming to replace Jesus. According to the gospel of John, the one coming is the “paraclete.”

Paraclete is a greek word here is variously translated as counselor, advocate, comforter, helper. But the Greek word is paraclete which literally means, ‘called alongside.’ As Jesus had walked alongside these disciples for 3 years, he was now preparing them for another who would walk alongside them. And just what was the nature of this paraclete? Let’s start with what he isn’t.

Score keeper

Some of the worst baby-sitters are the ones who only remember what the kids did wrong. My sister came to pick up my niece from Sunday School class a couple of months ago and the first thing the teacher told her was. “Well, Ms. Audrey was just a B-A-D bad little girl today.’ She then proceeded to go on to list all the things Audrey had done wrong. Now my sister is not unaware of her daughter’s faults and is not one of those parents who think their kid can do no wrong. But there was something really irritating to her about the way the Sunday school teacher described my niece as bad. “Well,’ she replied, “I understand that Audrey made some poor choices today, but as far as being bad. We’ll leave that up to God to determine.”

Some of us think of God’s Spirit like this scorekeeping Sunday School teacher. There to keep track of all the things we do wrong. This is not the case, but the flip side can be just as bad.

Buddy

The flip side of the score-keeping baby sitter is the buddy baby sitter. This is the sitter who comes over and more than anything, they just want the kids to like them. Now, there is nothing wrong with this. I want my kids to like me, but if that is my only goal, then I will often sacrifice what is best for what is easiest. The buddy babysitter allows the kids to do whatever they want. Wanna eat ice-cream for dinner, done. Wanna watch Cinemax, done. Wanna stay up until midnight, done. I will admit that I haven’t met too many buddy baby-sitters, most likely because being like that is a recipe for disaster.

And yet, sometimes we act as if God’s Spirit is just our buddy, supporting all of our decisions just so we’ll be happy. It may not be a good idea to spend $100 on new shoes, but it’ll make me happy and I think God wants me to be happy. It may not be a good idea to play video games all day, but God wants me to be happy.

Tony Campolo says its interesting the change in parent’s response to the question, ‘What do you want for your kids in life?” Ask that of parents today and what do you think you’ll get? I just want them to be happy. Yet, the same question asked 50 years ago resulted in the response, “I want them to be good.” And this, I think is more in line with the nature of the Spirit which Jesus left the disciples, one that will help them be good.

Spirit of Truth

So, if this replacement is not a judge and not a buddy, then what is it? Jesus explains it in two places. In verse 16 Jesus explains that he will give us a ‘counselor who is the Spirit of Truth.’

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Be it life or death, we crave only reality.” Sometimes truth is sweet and other times it is bitter, yet ultimately it is best. We may not want to hear that we have a booger hanging out of our nose, but the true friend will tell us even though it is uncomfortable. Conversely, we may think that we are inept, without talent, but the true friend will remind us of our gifts. The Spirit Jesus left with the disciples is one that reveals truth, be it life or death.

Spirit of Teaching

Later, towards the end of the passage, Jesus once again explains that he’ll be leaving the counselor who ‘will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.’ Jesus leaves the Spirit of Truth and Jesus leaves the spirit of Teaching. Notice how the spirit teaches, by reminding you of everything I have said. I know some of us feel as if we’re forgetting more and more. Yet, here we have the Spirit of good memory. Not just our memories, but the memories of what Jesus has taught. And there is more good news for if we forget what Jesus said, we have it written down right here for us to look at.

Spirit of Peace

Finally, Jesus reminds the disciples that what Jesus is leaving them is not a cause for fear or worry or anxiety. Rather, Jesus is leaving them peace. Not as the world leaves peace, a peace dependent upon wealth or weapons. Rather, Jesus is leaving them a peace that transcends understanding. Jesus is leaving them one who can bring peace in the midst of hardship and struggle. Which leads us to that good part.

Love command

When kids depart, parents often remind them to ‘be safe.’ But when parents depart, they remind the kids to ‘be good.’

Jesus says, If you love me, you will obey what I command. Have you stopped yet to wonder, ‘Just what did Jesus command?’ I mean that seems like a pretty important question to answer. If loving Jesus means obeying his command, then it seems pretty helpful to know what that command is. And the answer to this question is so simple it’s difficult. The answer appears so plain, so unadorned, so uninteresting that we are inclined to skip it to discover more interesting obscure answers. The answer isn’t academic or intellectual, it doesn’t require a PhD an MD an even a GED. The answer to this question is simply this…love. Jesus says towards the beginning and near the end of this 3 chapter sermon in John the same thing. In 13:34 he says, I give you a new command, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. And then again towards the end in 15:12 he reminds the listeners, This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

That’s the answer brothers and sisters. That’s the command. If we love Jesus, we will love one another. If we love Jesus we will care for one another. If we love Jesus we will nurture one another. If we love Jesus we will even, as Jesus says and did, lay down our life for one another; for greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friends. This, Jesus says, is how the world will know that we are Jesus’ disciples, if we love one another.

If we are always fighting, they won’t know. If we are always seeking our own way, they won’t see. If we are only concerned with money, they won’t know. If we are only concerned with our building, they won’t see. If we only talk about the people who God is angry with, they won’t know.

If we care for the sick, they might catch a glimpse. If we feed those who are hungry, they might get an idea. If we discuss our disagreements without degrading one another, their ears might start to tingle. If we lay down our lives for our neighbors, as Christ has done for us, then we may soon be overwhelmed by how much of Christ we start to know and see. In the end it may not be so much about seeing Christ but being Christ; to one another.

The way out…

Paraclatos (paraclate)means ‘called alongside.’ It just so happens that the early Christians ended up using a similar word ekklasia, which literally means ‘called out.’ This became their word to describe their community. It is the word for church. And so, brothers and sisters, we stand as those called out to encourage one another to pay attention to the one who called to walk alongside us through joy and sorrow, struggle and success and even life and death.