Sixth Sunday of Easter – Year C – Byron Tindall
This section of John’s Gospel is a portion of what is called the final discourses. Among other things, Jesus is preparing his disciples for what is about to take place in Jerusalem. He is also getting them ready to take over his ministry after he is gone.
In 2 weeks, on June 8, we celebrate our yearly remembrance of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. To me, it’s the birthday of the church. Jesus’s work on earth is done. He has returned to his Father in Heaven, wherever that is.
This is the arrival of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, about which Jesus discusses with his disciples in the Gospel lesson from John appointed to be read today.
The spoken word and action-teaching of Jesus is rapidly coming to an abrupt halt with his arrest, death, resurrection and ascension. But fear not, Jesus tells his followers. The Counselor, The Spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost, and there are other names applied to her, is going to help the disciples, AND US, understand what Jesus was trying to teach them and us all along. Unlike the disciples, we don’t have to wait for that arrival.
“Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives,” Jesus told his followers. When you stop and think about the peace of Rome, it was fantastic, if you happened to be a Roman citizen. The people to whom Jesus was talking were not Roman citizens. They were the conquered, down-trodden, enslaved people whose land had been overrun and occupied by Rome.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you,’” Jesus continued.
At first glance, this is a little bit confusing. But 50 days after the resurrection came the ascension, which we remember Thursday of this week. And shortly after that, we celebrate the arrival of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Councilor, the Spirit of Truth.
“If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I,” Jesus continued. Now talk about some apparent double talk. The only way I can wrap my head around this, and some other statements recorded in the Gospels as well, is to climb out on the limb of possible heresy and to theorize that the man Jesus did not have complete and full “access” to the Christ, who we call the son, 100 percent of the time. This is hair splitting, I know, but it helps me and hopefully some of you as well.
“And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe,” is a statement to assist the followers through the troubling times which were immediately ahead.
I have intentionally avoided the opening part of the Gospel lesson for today from John, saving it for last.
In the lesson from Acts today, St. Paul knew he had to take off to Macedonia. I, too, feel I have to say a few words about the first portion of the Gospel lesson for today.
“Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. I have said these things to you while I am still with you….”’
If we love Jesus, we must love as He loved. If we follow Jesus, we must go into the world and fight injustice and the abuse of any and all of the creation. We must stand up against everything that doesn’t “respect the dignity of every human being.”
We must fight for the rights of those who society have pushed out of the way and marginalized. Then there’s educational opportunities, and don’t forget health care.
Unless we happen to be Native Americans, we must realize that our ancestors were immigrants at one time or another. The Old Testament is pretty specific on how the sojourners are to be treated.
Our Presiding Bishop, The Most Rev Sean Rowe, put it this way. “As Christians, we must be guided not by political vagaries, but by the sure and certain knowledge that the kingdom of God is revealed to us in the struggles of those on the margins.”
Richard Rohr’s daily meditation for May 21 quoted Center for Action and Contemplation faculty member Randy Woodley. “…Scripture is one the of tools we have to understand the right way to live. I appreciate it, not as a rule book, but as stories that align with creation. The teachings and creation align with our hearts and align with good solid communities whose values are soaked in love and caring. When I see something in Scripture that looks like the opposite of that, then I have to say, ‘Well, I’m supposed to learn something about that. I’m supposed to learn how not to do that or not to act that way.’” “Those who love me will keep my word…” The choice is ours to make.