Resting in the love of God
Commentary
Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church. The descent and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The inspiration for Peter’s first sermon. The inception of speaking in tongues (not to be confused with the ecstatic experience of glossolalia, where it might be that no one can understand what the person is saying, though they may be equally inspired). The gift of Spirit is for all of the disciples, so that they are empowered and unafraid, ready to go into the streets and tell the story of Jesus, and what God had done through him. All of this is Pentecost, the festival of the wheat harvest, 50 days after Passover.
The readings for this day are all about what the Spirit does and is willing to do in our lives, in our churches, in our communities so that we might all feel safe and loved, not just by God, but by our neighbors, whether they are friends to us or not. It is the Spirit that enables us to pray for those who use us. It is the Spirit that comforts us when we have done as Christ preaches and are mocked, scorned or punished for our actions. And it is the Spirit who stands by us as we approach God for advice. All of this was promised to the first Apostles as Jesus left them after the resurrection. It is the next chapter in the life of those of us who call ourselves Christians.
When the world turns against us because we take the stances that Jesus taught us, when our best efforts are misunderstood or deliberately debased, it is the Spirit that conveys our needs to God and helps us to feel the presence of the Christ. The Spirit comforts the uncomfortable and stirs up the self-satisfied. The Spirit helps the dedicated pastor to find ways to convey the deep understandings that Christ wants all of his followers to have. And it is the Spirit that helps the pastor to rest after Sunday morning’s service (or any other service we might be leading this week). May the Spirit fill you this Sunday!
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Who amongst us has not sung loudly (probably as children) “Dry bones, dry bones, them dry bones”? The song was great fun when we were in grade school, since we’d never seen bones lying around on the ground in large numbers. We had no idea of the horror this scene must have carried for Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was given this vision by the Spirit of God. He found himself in a desert valley, surrounded by skeletons. They had apparently been there for a long time, because there was no flesh left on them, and the bones themselves were bleached out. The scene was probably bathed in deep silence, since the scavengers had long since finished with their work. It is amazing how many times in scripture the encounter with God is filled with deep darkness and/or a preternatural silence. In that silence, the voice of God asked Ezekiel, “Mortal, can these bones live?”
In the older translations of scripture, the phrase “Son of Man” was used, but that was barely adequate to say in English what God said in Hebrew. Ezekiel was not being called “Son of Man” simply to indicate his distinction from the divine.1 He was standing in for all of humankind, to receive this vision and report its form and meaning to the people of God. This was not a unique event in Ezekiel’s life. He had a very close relationship with God, nurtured by visions from its beginning, and had learned that God’s designs were not so apparent as they might seem at first. So, he answered, “Almighty God, you know.” He avoids guessing at God’s meaning and indicates his humility. He doesn’t have all the answers, but he trusts that God does.
“Prophesy to these bones, and tell them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord.’ And then follows the prophetic phrase: “Thus says the Lord2 God.” This phrase is universal among the prophets. It makes it clear that the prophet is not speaking on his or her own but is conveying the exact words that God has said.
While we have a hard time believing that anyone speaks for God today, the movement of the Spirit can come at any time. But, as Professor Allan McAllaster of United Theological of the Twin Cities loved to say, “We cannot tell a true prophet from a false prophet until after the fact.” This was true in Biblical times, as well. Many people came, proclaiming that they spoke for God, who spoke what they wished or hoped God was saying rather than having a clear message from the Almighty. Many came saying “Peace” in Ezekiel’s lifetime, when there was no peace to be had. Many today also claim to speak for God, and they can quote scripture quite well, but it has yet to be made clear who has actually heard from God and which are false prophets.
Ezekiel had been walking with God most of his life, and he listened as God said to the bones, “I will cause breath (Spirit) to enter you and you will live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” [Italics are mine; but the focus of the prophets has always been on turning (or returning) people to God. The foretelling of future events is always secondary to this primary purpose.]
The nation of Israel had had a series of bad rulers, and the people had suffered. The nation was dead, much as Iraq and Sudan can be said to be dead today. War had taken a serious toll on the nation, famine had set in, and still the people hoped their political leaders could save the nation by means of war, even though Babylon was much larger, richer, and had more men to be sent to war. It was no problem for them to assign soldiers to lay siege to Jerusalem and starve the people out; so, the image in this vision is not far-fetched. The people really were starving, really were facing the end of their nation, and worse, were about to be carried away into exile. They had no hope. But God, the author of life, has a plan that goes counter to the logic of people. Ezekiel was to raise the bones (the nation of Israel) by the word of the Lord.
In his vision, he began to preach to the bones, and the bones began to rattle. As he continued, sinews grew, and flesh appeared. But still, there was no breath in them. “Preach, Ezekiel,” said God, “and say, “Come from the four winds, and breathe life into them.” In Hebrew the word ruakh means breath, wind and spirit, so this is a play on words, but also a demonstration of the words of Genesis, when God’s spirit/wind/breath blew over the chaos and formed the earth out of nothingness. It reflects the belief that the human (the meaning of ‘Adam’) was brought to life out of clay when God breathed spirit into it. This concept is reflected in the healing miracles of the Bible as well, when prophets blew life into the dead and the dead awakened, or when Jesus simply spoke a word and the wind and sea were calmed.
We live in hard times right now, ourselves. Our world seems to be crazed, with war and rumors of war everywhere. Where nations had been forming alliances for trade and free movement of people, those alliances are falling apart. Wars in the Middle East have the superpowers taking sides and threatening each other. Much of Africa is in a major state of social disrepair. Sub Saharan Africa’s population has been reduced by 1,300,000 million people by AIDS/HIV, leaving 14.8 million children orphans. Many of them fell under the power of slightly older children, and were forced to be child soldiers or prostitutes. These factors as well as a pattern of corruption in government and large resource suppliers underlie the problems in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
Can these bones live? Can God stand us on our feet again? The answer lies in ourselves, always -- in our willingness to listen for the Spirit, and to be and do what God’s spirit tells us. And those who would avoid controversy can by no means do the work of God to uncover what the Spirit is saying in our day and age.
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost (fiftieth day after Passover, the festival of the wheat harvest) is the birthday of the church. It is seen as the time when the Holy Spirit comes to the apostles, giving them the gifts they will need to spread the word about the love of God made visible in Jesus. Like the breath that gives life to the dry bones, the Spirit gives new life to the fearful disciples and births the Christian movement.
Luke, the author of Acts, wants us to know that the coming of the Spirit made a major difference in the disciples. He has told us that the disciples were in hiding. With them on the day of Pentecost were about 120 followers of Jesus. They had been gathering on a regular basis for prayer, so it wasn’t unusual for them to be together. But this time their prayers were answered in a very different way.
“Suddenly, there was a sound like the rush of a violent wind,3 and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” And then tongues “as of fire” came to rest on them. The Spirit’s arrival is both audible and visible. There is no missing this event.4
The immediate work of the Holy Spirit is that the disciples begin to speak in the languages of the immigrants who were living in Jerusalem. These people were not in the city as visitors; they lived there (2:5). As the apostles left the house and started talking in the native tongues of all of these Jerusalemites, their listeners were ‘amazed, astonished and bewildered’ (vv. 7 & 6), because they each understood what the apostles were saying.
This is not the same as what many Christians experience today as glossolalia, the ecstatic prayers and prophecies of ordinary people in the congregation. The apostles were speaking in their own language, (and recognized as Galileans) but being heard and understood by those who spoke other languages. The point being raised is that the languages of the nations are all being heard on this day, much to the puzzlement of those in the crowd. (And to the amusement of those who like to sneer at anything new or different.)
This confusion gives Peter a reason to stand up and speak. Remember, this is the man who was so afraid on the night Jesus was arrested that he denied knowing him three times. But here he is, empowered by the spirit of God to emerge from hiding and on the street proclaim that the words of the prophet Joel were coming true in their hearing.
The crowd, as always in Luke’s writing, is divided. There are those who pay attention to what Peter is saying, and there are those who sneer and scoff. Even when God is doing amazing things, it is in the nature of some to believe and the nature of others to block out the words of the Lord. But when God grabs hold of us, we are called to preach like Peter, full of God’s wisdom, led by God’s spirit, relying on scripture and our personal experience with God.
Romans 8:22-27
Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome, who have been through a very difficult time. As a result, we can date the letter quite precisely to the spring of 57 CE. The Jewish population of Rome had been expelled from the city in 47 CE, because “the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.”5 Many historians consider this to be a corrupted version of “Christus” and would reflect the consternation of Jews at the preaching of the Good News of Jesus in the synagogues. Paul himself had yet to arrive in Rome, though he intended to visit, as he says elsewhere in this letter. He had met Priscilla and Aquilla in Corinth, where they had moved when the edict was proclaimed, and there he learned of the troubles the Jewish Christians were having. While they were working together, they heard that Emperor Claudius had died, and so Jewish Christians were reintegrating themselves to the congregations they had had to leave behind. Many were appalled to find that there were now Gentile Christians in their gatherings, and this was leading to more strife. This is the reason behind Paul’s very clear exposition of the Christian message and the inclusion of Gentiles in the movement throughout Romans. This, in turn, made the letter to the Romans instrumental in various reform movements, right down to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century CE.
Romans stands at the beginning of the collection of letters of the early church because it is the longest of them, not because of when it was written, nor by whom. But it has had such an impact on Christianity, its position is appropriate.
“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes (or awaits) for what is seen?”
Children seem to spend most of their time hoping. They hope for ponies and BB guns (or bicycles and skateboards) for their birthday or Christmas. Before they are old enough to attend school, they hope they’ll have a good teacher, that people will like them, that they won’t seem stupid in class. As we get older, we hope to be popular, hope to avoid pimples (especially before a big date), hope we’ll be able to get a car, hope for the right college or training or job. We hope to find a person we can spend our lives with. We hope to have children (or not). We hope our team will win. We hope our candidate will win. We plan for all sorts of contingencies and hope for the best.
But life has a way of presenting us with options we neither anticipate nor want. We hope for the best and fail. We hope our children will be healthy, and they get sick or hurt. We hope that our soldier spouse, 6,000 miles away, will stay safe and come home soon, but we know that they could die or come home direly wounded. We usually wait for what we do not see impatiently. But Paul says that we need to wait patiently. This is the meaning of faith: the trust that God is preparing good things for us, regardless of our circumstances. If we trust God, our hope will go hand in hand with patience. Impatience is often a sign of fear that what we want will not come to pass.
When things turn out as we want them to, we praise God and tell everyone how good God is. When we see our soldier coming home, we cheer and take pictures of the dog or cat greeting them on the driveway. When she comes home broken, it’s harder to take. Yet, even in the worst of circumstances, we can have hope in Christ that the tribulations and obstacles that block our view of glory will be dealt with day by day. Some circumstances alter what we hope for; we have to learn how to lower our expectations that trouble can be solved in a day and learn to take one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time.
We all know how it feels to lose. But do we know how it feels to have the Spirit help us in our weakness? When we’re wide awake at three in the morning, staring at the ceiling and letting our tears run into our ears, it’s hard to know how to pray. We all have times in our lives when we really don’t know what to say to the Lord, or are afraid to say what we feel, even though God knows what we’re thinking. That’s when the Holy Spirit prays for us. We may have no words to say. We may be sighing every few breaths. That’s okay -- that’s the Holy Spirit‘s cue to translate our sighs into words that God can act upon.
This is, for me, the most miraculous gift of the Spirit of God -- the ability to just rest in the love of God. To let the Spirit search our lives and our spirit, and intercede on our behalf. To make ourselves open to the one who searches the heart.
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
John’s story of the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples is different from Luke’s, but he has more to say about the function of the Spirit on our behalf. The term he uses in 15:26 is Parakletos, Greek for advocate. The function of an advocate is to speak for, on behalf of, or as a counselor for one who is going to speak at a trial. In Jesus’ time, the Jews used Roman advocates when they had to go before a Roman tribunal, because they didn’t know Roman law very well. These advocates both shepherded the accused, and helped them understand what was happening in court. The Parakletos (or Paraclete) functions in several ways: It stands alongside us when we go through the judgement; it guides us into doing the right thing in circumstances where we are unsure of what course to follow; it takes the place of Jesus in comforting us in times of trouble; and it communicates with God for us when we cannot, and bringing warning of persecutions and problems to come. (See the passage from Romans, above.)
In times when the church has been under persecution, the function of the advocate has been of singular importance. While some churches in Nazi Germany, for example, did their best to co-operate with the government, others went together to form the Confessing Movement, which opposed the goals of the Nazi state. Many of the pastors who went with the Confessing Movement found themselves imprisoned, yet they were able to stand up and speak out, empowered by the Spirit. In the early church, the Spirit comforted those who were thrown out of their home congregations because of their beliefs, and empowered them to stand fast in what they had learned from Jesus. The Spirit also gave visions to Peter and Philip so that the early church would continue to reach out to those who had not previously been welcomed into the faith (see Acts 10 and 8:26 ff.)
Today we still need to rely on the Advocate, as our neighborhoods change, and we must decide, “Shall we stay and change, or move our congregation?” As our culture changes, we must stand for truth and justice, as well as compassion for our “enemies” and learning to love our neighbors as ourselves. Standing for the immigrant, the refugee and migrant workers can make us very unpopular in our town, but it is the message of the Bible overall. Likewise, we must pray for the leaders of our country, regardless of our personal feelings towards those in power. Have we felt the leading of the Spirit for our country and the qualities of our nation that we hold dear? Have we felt the leading of the Spirit to love those who disagree with us at church? We can love one another or we can break apart. Either way, we need to turn to God in the midst of our decision-making and ask for the guidance of God’s spirit, that we can continue to be witnesses to the Good News.
1 The “Son of Man” designation also was used for a human figure who would stand in for humankind ion the End Times. Thus, Jesus is referred to nearly 200 times in the New Testament by this title.
2
3 The Greek pneuma, like the Hebrew ruakh, means both wind and spirit, so this wind is not a sign of the Spirit’s arrival, it is the Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit.
4 The NISB comments that in Luke’s Gospel, “all the characters in the infancy narratives are filled with the Spirit: John the Baptist, Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon. But once Jesus begins his ministry, only he is said to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now his followers are given this gift.” (p. 1958)
5 NISB, excursus on “The Letter of Paul to the Romans”, p. 2007-8
The readings for this day are all about what the Spirit does and is willing to do in our lives, in our churches, in our communities so that we might all feel safe and loved, not just by God, but by our neighbors, whether they are friends to us or not. It is the Spirit that enables us to pray for those who use us. It is the Spirit that comforts us when we have done as Christ preaches and are mocked, scorned or punished for our actions. And it is the Spirit who stands by us as we approach God for advice. All of this was promised to the first Apostles as Jesus left them after the resurrection. It is the next chapter in the life of those of us who call ourselves Christians.
When the world turns against us because we take the stances that Jesus taught us, when our best efforts are misunderstood or deliberately debased, it is the Spirit that conveys our needs to God and helps us to feel the presence of the Christ. The Spirit comforts the uncomfortable and stirs up the self-satisfied. The Spirit helps the dedicated pastor to find ways to convey the deep understandings that Christ wants all of his followers to have. And it is the Spirit that helps the pastor to rest after Sunday morning’s service (or any other service we might be leading this week). May the Spirit fill you this Sunday!
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Who amongst us has not sung loudly (probably as children) “Dry bones, dry bones, them dry bones”? The song was great fun when we were in grade school, since we’d never seen bones lying around on the ground in large numbers. We had no idea of the horror this scene must have carried for Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was given this vision by the Spirit of God. He found himself in a desert valley, surrounded by skeletons. They had apparently been there for a long time, because there was no flesh left on them, and the bones themselves were bleached out. The scene was probably bathed in deep silence, since the scavengers had long since finished with their work. It is amazing how many times in scripture the encounter with God is filled with deep darkness and/or a preternatural silence. In that silence, the voice of God asked Ezekiel, “Mortal, can these bones live?”
In the older translations of scripture, the phrase “Son of Man” was used, but that was barely adequate to say in English what God said in Hebrew. Ezekiel was not being called “Son of Man” simply to indicate his distinction from the divine.1 He was standing in for all of humankind, to receive this vision and report its form and meaning to the people of God. This was not a unique event in Ezekiel’s life. He had a very close relationship with God, nurtured by visions from its beginning, and had learned that God’s designs were not so apparent as they might seem at first. So, he answered, “Almighty God, you know.” He avoids guessing at God’s meaning and indicates his humility. He doesn’t have all the answers, but he trusts that God does.
“Prophesy to these bones, and tell them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord.’ And then follows the prophetic phrase: “Thus says the Lord2 God.” This phrase is universal among the prophets. It makes it clear that the prophet is not speaking on his or her own but is conveying the exact words that God has said.
While we have a hard time believing that anyone speaks for God today, the movement of the Spirit can come at any time. But, as Professor Allan McAllaster of United Theological of the Twin Cities loved to say, “We cannot tell a true prophet from a false prophet until after the fact.” This was true in Biblical times, as well. Many people came, proclaiming that they spoke for God, who spoke what they wished or hoped God was saying rather than having a clear message from the Almighty. Many came saying “Peace” in Ezekiel’s lifetime, when there was no peace to be had. Many today also claim to speak for God, and they can quote scripture quite well, but it has yet to be made clear who has actually heard from God and which are false prophets.
Ezekiel had been walking with God most of his life, and he listened as God said to the bones, “I will cause breath (Spirit) to enter you and you will live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” [Italics are mine; but the focus of the prophets has always been on turning (or returning) people to God. The foretelling of future events is always secondary to this primary purpose.]
The nation of Israel had had a series of bad rulers, and the people had suffered. The nation was dead, much as Iraq and Sudan can be said to be dead today. War had taken a serious toll on the nation, famine had set in, and still the people hoped their political leaders could save the nation by means of war, even though Babylon was much larger, richer, and had more men to be sent to war. It was no problem for them to assign soldiers to lay siege to Jerusalem and starve the people out; so, the image in this vision is not far-fetched. The people really were starving, really were facing the end of their nation, and worse, were about to be carried away into exile. They had no hope. But God, the author of life, has a plan that goes counter to the logic of people. Ezekiel was to raise the bones (the nation of Israel) by the word of the Lord.
In his vision, he began to preach to the bones, and the bones began to rattle. As he continued, sinews grew, and flesh appeared. But still, there was no breath in them. “Preach, Ezekiel,” said God, “and say, “Come from the four winds, and breathe life into them.” In Hebrew the word ruakh means breath, wind and spirit, so this is a play on words, but also a demonstration of the words of Genesis, when God’s spirit/wind/breath blew over the chaos and formed the earth out of nothingness. It reflects the belief that the human (the meaning of ‘Adam’) was brought to life out of clay when God breathed spirit into it. This concept is reflected in the healing miracles of the Bible as well, when prophets blew life into the dead and the dead awakened, or when Jesus simply spoke a word and the wind and sea were calmed.
We live in hard times right now, ourselves. Our world seems to be crazed, with war and rumors of war everywhere. Where nations had been forming alliances for trade and free movement of people, those alliances are falling apart. Wars in the Middle East have the superpowers taking sides and threatening each other. Much of Africa is in a major state of social disrepair. Sub Saharan Africa’s population has been reduced by 1,300,000 million people by AIDS/HIV, leaving 14.8 million children orphans. Many of them fell under the power of slightly older children, and were forced to be child soldiers or prostitutes. These factors as well as a pattern of corruption in government and large resource suppliers underlie the problems in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan.
Can these bones live? Can God stand us on our feet again? The answer lies in ourselves, always -- in our willingness to listen for the Spirit, and to be and do what God’s spirit tells us. And those who would avoid controversy can by no means do the work of God to uncover what the Spirit is saying in our day and age.
Acts 2:1-21
Pentecost (fiftieth day after Passover, the festival of the wheat harvest) is the birthday of the church. It is seen as the time when the Holy Spirit comes to the apostles, giving them the gifts they will need to spread the word about the love of God made visible in Jesus. Like the breath that gives life to the dry bones, the Spirit gives new life to the fearful disciples and births the Christian movement.
Luke, the author of Acts, wants us to know that the coming of the Spirit made a major difference in the disciples. He has told us that the disciples were in hiding. With them on the day of Pentecost were about 120 followers of Jesus. They had been gathering on a regular basis for prayer, so it wasn’t unusual for them to be together. But this time their prayers were answered in a very different way.
“Suddenly, there was a sound like the rush of a violent wind,3 and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.” And then tongues “as of fire” came to rest on them. The Spirit’s arrival is both audible and visible. There is no missing this event.4
The immediate work of the Holy Spirit is that the disciples begin to speak in the languages of the immigrants who were living in Jerusalem. These people were not in the city as visitors; they lived there (2:5). As the apostles left the house and started talking in the native tongues of all of these Jerusalemites, their listeners were ‘amazed, astonished and bewildered’ (vv. 7 & 6), because they each understood what the apostles were saying.
This is not the same as what many Christians experience today as glossolalia, the ecstatic prayers and prophecies of ordinary people in the congregation. The apostles were speaking in their own language, (and recognized as Galileans) but being heard and understood by those who spoke other languages. The point being raised is that the languages of the nations are all being heard on this day, much to the puzzlement of those in the crowd. (And to the amusement of those who like to sneer at anything new or different.)
This confusion gives Peter a reason to stand up and speak. Remember, this is the man who was so afraid on the night Jesus was arrested that he denied knowing him three times. But here he is, empowered by the spirit of God to emerge from hiding and on the street proclaim that the words of the prophet Joel were coming true in their hearing.
The crowd, as always in Luke’s writing, is divided. There are those who pay attention to what Peter is saying, and there are those who sneer and scoff. Even when God is doing amazing things, it is in the nature of some to believe and the nature of others to block out the words of the Lord. But when God grabs hold of us, we are called to preach like Peter, full of God’s wisdom, led by God’s spirit, relying on scripture and our personal experience with God.
Romans 8:22-27
Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome, who have been through a very difficult time. As a result, we can date the letter quite precisely to the spring of 57 CE. The Jewish population of Rome had been expelled from the city in 47 CE, because “the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus.”5 Many historians consider this to be a corrupted version of “Christus” and would reflect the consternation of Jews at the preaching of the Good News of Jesus in the synagogues. Paul himself had yet to arrive in Rome, though he intended to visit, as he says elsewhere in this letter. He had met Priscilla and Aquilla in Corinth, where they had moved when the edict was proclaimed, and there he learned of the troubles the Jewish Christians were having. While they were working together, they heard that Emperor Claudius had died, and so Jewish Christians were reintegrating themselves to the congregations they had had to leave behind. Many were appalled to find that there were now Gentile Christians in their gatherings, and this was leading to more strife. This is the reason behind Paul’s very clear exposition of the Christian message and the inclusion of Gentiles in the movement throughout Romans. This, in turn, made the letter to the Romans instrumental in various reform movements, right down to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century CE.
Romans stands at the beginning of the collection of letters of the early church because it is the longest of them, not because of when it was written, nor by whom. But it has had such an impact on Christianity, its position is appropriate.
“Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes (or awaits) for what is seen?”
Children seem to spend most of their time hoping. They hope for ponies and BB guns (or bicycles and skateboards) for their birthday or Christmas. Before they are old enough to attend school, they hope they’ll have a good teacher, that people will like them, that they won’t seem stupid in class. As we get older, we hope to be popular, hope to avoid pimples (especially before a big date), hope we’ll be able to get a car, hope for the right college or training or job. We hope to find a person we can spend our lives with. We hope to have children (or not). We hope our team will win. We hope our candidate will win. We plan for all sorts of contingencies and hope for the best.
But life has a way of presenting us with options we neither anticipate nor want. We hope for the best and fail. We hope our children will be healthy, and they get sick or hurt. We hope that our soldier spouse, 6,000 miles away, will stay safe and come home soon, but we know that they could die or come home direly wounded. We usually wait for what we do not see impatiently. But Paul says that we need to wait patiently. This is the meaning of faith: the trust that God is preparing good things for us, regardless of our circumstances. If we trust God, our hope will go hand in hand with patience. Impatience is often a sign of fear that what we want will not come to pass.
When things turn out as we want them to, we praise God and tell everyone how good God is. When we see our soldier coming home, we cheer and take pictures of the dog or cat greeting them on the driveway. When she comes home broken, it’s harder to take. Yet, even in the worst of circumstances, we can have hope in Christ that the tribulations and obstacles that block our view of glory will be dealt with day by day. Some circumstances alter what we hope for; we have to learn how to lower our expectations that trouble can be solved in a day and learn to take one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time.
We all know how it feels to lose. But do we know how it feels to have the Spirit help us in our weakness? When we’re wide awake at three in the morning, staring at the ceiling and letting our tears run into our ears, it’s hard to know how to pray. We all have times in our lives when we really don’t know what to say to the Lord, or are afraid to say what we feel, even though God knows what we’re thinking. That’s when the Holy Spirit prays for us. We may have no words to say. We may be sighing every few breaths. That’s okay -- that’s the Holy Spirit‘s cue to translate our sighs into words that God can act upon.
This is, for me, the most miraculous gift of the Spirit of God -- the ability to just rest in the love of God. To let the Spirit search our lives and our spirit, and intercede on our behalf. To make ourselves open to the one who searches the heart.
John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
John’s story of the Holy Spirit coming to the disciples is different from Luke’s, but he has more to say about the function of the Spirit on our behalf. The term he uses in 15:26 is Parakletos, Greek for advocate. The function of an advocate is to speak for, on behalf of, or as a counselor for one who is going to speak at a trial. In Jesus’ time, the Jews used Roman advocates when they had to go before a Roman tribunal, because they didn’t know Roman law very well. These advocates both shepherded the accused, and helped them understand what was happening in court. The Parakletos (or Paraclete) functions in several ways: It stands alongside us when we go through the judgement; it guides us into doing the right thing in circumstances where we are unsure of what course to follow; it takes the place of Jesus in comforting us in times of trouble; and it communicates with God for us when we cannot, and bringing warning of persecutions and problems to come. (See the passage from Romans, above.)
In times when the church has been under persecution, the function of the advocate has been of singular importance. While some churches in Nazi Germany, for example, did their best to co-operate with the government, others went together to form the Confessing Movement, which opposed the goals of the Nazi state. Many of the pastors who went with the Confessing Movement found themselves imprisoned, yet they were able to stand up and speak out, empowered by the Spirit. In the early church, the Spirit comforted those who were thrown out of their home congregations because of their beliefs, and empowered them to stand fast in what they had learned from Jesus. The Spirit also gave visions to Peter and Philip so that the early church would continue to reach out to those who had not previously been welcomed into the faith (see Acts 10 and 8:26 ff.)
Today we still need to rely on the Advocate, as our neighborhoods change, and we must decide, “Shall we stay and change, or move our congregation?” As our culture changes, we must stand for truth and justice, as well as compassion for our “enemies” and learning to love our neighbors as ourselves. Standing for the immigrant, the refugee and migrant workers can make us very unpopular in our town, but it is the message of the Bible overall. Likewise, we must pray for the leaders of our country, regardless of our personal feelings towards those in power. Have we felt the leading of the Spirit for our country and the qualities of our nation that we hold dear? Have we felt the leading of the Spirit to love those who disagree with us at church? We can love one another or we can break apart. Either way, we need to turn to God in the midst of our decision-making and ask for the guidance of God’s spirit, that we can continue to be witnesses to the Good News.
1 The “Son of Man” designation also was used for a human figure who would stand in for humankind ion the End Times. Thus, Jesus is referred to nearly 200 times in the New Testament by this title.
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3 The Greek pneuma, like the Hebrew ruakh, means both wind and spirit, so this wind is not a sign of the Spirit’s arrival, it is the Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit.
4 The NISB comments that in Luke’s Gospel, “all the characters in the infancy narratives are filled with the Spirit: John the Baptist, Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Simeon. But once Jesus begins his ministry, only he is said to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now his followers are given this gift.” (p. 1958)
5 NISB, excursus on “The Letter of Paul to the Romans”, p. 2007-8
