John 16:12-15
Jesus’ ongoing presence with the disciples
will be made known through the coming Spirit who will guide them and
communicate to them Jesus’ will and glory.
[Jesus said,] 12 “I still have many things to say
to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of
truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his
own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things
that are to come. 14 He will glorify me because he will take
what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has
is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it
to you.”
Reflection
(This reflection, from Pastor Jira's archives, was written by Pastor Jira and preached while he was on vacation, thus the use of the third person.)
Truth. “What is truth?” That is the famous cynical question from
Pontius Pilate just after Jesus indicates that everyone on the side of truth
listens to him. Truth.
The idea of “the truth” has fascinated Pastor Jira for much of his life. What is truth?
His first serious venture into the question of truth fell upon him when in fifth grade and playing in the woods. Most of his time in the woods was spent playing war with his brothers. But, in between the battles, he would find a nice log and just sit and enjoy the beauty of nature around him. And, while sitting, breathing in the smells of the wind and feeling the breeze on his face, he noticed a remarkable truth: squirrels talk! Well, not exactly talk, he had not stumbled into a live action Disney cartoon, but he saw that squirrels actually communicate.
He watched the squirrels as they hid their treasured acorns away in the trees. Right after doing so, the furry creatures would make a very distinct chirp while facing fiercely out into the world…as fierce as a squirrel can be anyway. He soon realized that the sound the squirrels made was the same each time they hid an acorn. And, he could also hear a reply in the distance each time. The squirrels were talking!
Though Pastor Jira usually does not go around telling people that squirrels started him on a path of philosophical inquiry…they actually did! There was this truth…this whole world that was going on out there that he did not understand or know. He yearned to learn more. He yearned to learn the truth.
That sent him on a path to learn a lot about nature. But, even after studying that, he did not feel like he yet had “the truth.”
The lure of “the truth” sparked once again the day he realized that paintings are more than an extremely time consuming and expensive ways to do a photograph. He learned that there was deep meaning in pieces of art. There is meaning in the way the people face each other. There is meaning in the colors chosen and the shapes taken. There is meaning in the emotion that is evoked through the colors. Yes, because of that, there is meaning even in the splattered and smeared colors of modern art that lead those without an artistic eye simply to say, “My granddaughter can do better than that.”
But, as deeply moved as he was with art, it still did not given him the answers to “the truth.” Rather, it only did what all good art does; pointed beyond itself to a higher truth and created a yearning to reach for more.
He still yearned to know the truth.
Some of that art pointed him to the world religions. He was fascinated by humanity’s attempts to understand and commune with truths that were higher than we could possibly imagine. Buddhism especially struck a chord the Lutheran boy’s heart. The very idea of quieting the mind in order to become one with reality; one with God; one with the source of all compassion; was very appealing to the youthful Pastor Jira. The truth seemed so close to his grasp that he could virtually taste it.
There is a reason for all of this story-telling of Pastor Jira’s life, of course. It is about the truth, and where that search led him. It is also about where your search leads you.
There were other forays into truth of course, which included learning a deep respect for science and understanding the depths of human psychology. Needless to say, though Pastor Jira is happy that he wandered through all of these truths in life, he never found “the truth.” At least, not until he discovered what was in plain sight his entire Christian life.
He had never seen “the truth” that was right in front of him, because he had never truly understood that “the truth” is not about a philosophy or a feeling or a law of nature or law of the universe that can be grasped, held, and fully understood. The truth is a relationship. You will understand what Pastor Jira means in just one moment.
His epiphany concerning “the truth” actually came during a boring church service. There was nothing great about this service. The notes of the hymns were too high. The pastor’s monotone voice was as fascinating as watching dust on a shelf. Despite droning tone of the preacher, Pastor Jira still heard these few words that changed his world right there in the pew. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).
His mind was simply blown away. For all of these years he had searched for the truth as if it were something that he could grasp and understand and hold. But, he realized in that moment that the truth is not something, it is someone.
Jesus is the truth. If you want to understand God...if you want to understand the heart of all eternity, you need look no further than Jesus.
We always joke in Sunday School that the correct answer is always Jesus, but Pastor Jira had not fully realized before that the answer actually is Jesus. You want to know about the truth, look at Jesus!
Pastor Jira’s yearning to know the truth, naturally, turned into wanting to know everything he could about Jesus. And this is where the scripture reading for today comes in. Obviously, we cannot see Jesus today. He is not physically present. He has ascended to God the Father. And, that would seem to be a problem. Just imagine that you find out that the truth used to be right here on the first floor, but the elevator man tells you, “Just before you got here he ascended up to the 118th floor. Oh, and the elevator is broken.”
Jesus used to walk and talk with us. “The truth” used to live right with us.
But, all is not lost. The “Spirit of truth,” or another way to say it, the “Spirit of Jesus” has been left with us as a gift.
Jesus promises, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me because he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-14).
The Spirit is here. The Spirit will lead us and guide us just as Jesus would have led us. “He will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). The Spirit will love us just as Jesus would has loved us. The Spirit will do this, because the Spirit is one with Jesus. The Spirit is Jesus’ own Spirit.
The Spirit will create a yearning in us to search the scriptures, especially the stories of Jesus. And when we do that, we will see who The Truth truly cares about.
The Spirit will open our closed eyes to our neighbors.
The Spirit will fill us with a forgiving love that is almost impossible to grasp.
The Spirit is here. Jesus is here. God the Father is here. The truth is here, now, among us, speaking to us through the scriptures and through love.
“All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:15).
Now, Pastor Jira admits that he does not have a complete grasp of “The Truth.” He does not understand Jesus fully, just like he does not understand his wife fully. He probably never will. He thinks that is OK, because he understands that the truth has a firm grasp on him. Jesus has a firm grasp on him and us. And that firm grasp makes us yearn to know the truth more and more. May the Spirit fill you with that yearning, so that we can learn together what it is to follow Jesus who is “the truth.” Listening to the Spirit and following “the truth” together is the way Jesus wants it.