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“Pentecost II,” Rev. Jason-Paul Channels, 5/22/16

“Pentecost II”
A sermon preached at
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Fort Collins, CO
by the Rev. Jason-Paul Channels
May 22, 2016

John 16:4a-15 “I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. 5 But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow. 7 I assure you that it is better for you that I go away. If I don’t go away, the Companion won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will show the world it was wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. 9 He will show the world it was wrong about sin because they don’t believe in me. 10 He will show the world it was wrong about righteousness because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. 11 He will show the world it was wrong about judgment because this world’s ruler stands condemned. 12“I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That’s why I said that the Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you.

So if you looked at the Sermon title this morning and thought to your self…self…I thought Pentecost was last Sunday. You are correct. But since we only get Pentecost once a year I thought we might have a sequel this morning. I have been working hard on experimenting with some different ways to think about preaching and the sermon moment and this is one of those attempts this morning. Usually I try to have three things in every sermon: an exploration of the scripture text, a reflection of its value to us in the Christian tradition, and third why that matters to us in our current context. This method, as many of you can attest, can sometimes get a little cumbersome depending upon the complexity or importance of a particular text. So for this sermon I decided to focus almost solely on the reflection of this text. The third part of the Trinity is a hard concept to cover and so I thought we might look solely at what John has to say about it.

The Holy Spirit. Many of you may have grown up like I did with the Holy Spirit as that mysterious third part of the Trinity we sing about in hymns and used when making really formal proclamations in the church. Something we celebrated on Pentecost but pretty much ignored the rest of the year. A theologically important thing in the construction of Christian thought, talked about but never really explained in the Bible or in our third grade Sunday School Class. Something associated with feeling and emotion rather than thinking or logic. Just the thing many Mainline Protestants struggle with when the head has taken over the heart. In the churches I have grown up in we rarely talked about the Holy Spirit outside of Pentecost Sunday and even then we more often than not focused on the “Birthday of the Church” interpretation of the events in Acts.

Our scripture from the Lectionary, which is a way of reading through the Bible every three years, continues the focus of the Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit by lifting up these verses from the Gospel of John which highlight the gift of the Holy Spirit that was shared on that Pentecost Day so long ago. Jesus is speaking to his Disciples:

“I didn’t say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go away to the one who sent me. None of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ Yet because I have said these things to you, you are filled with sorrow. I assure you that it is better for you that I go away. If I don’t go away, the Advocate won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will show the world it was wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment. He will show the world it was wrong about sin because they don’t believe in me. He will show the world it was wrong about righteousness because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. He will show the world it was wrong about judgment because this world’s ruler stands condemned.

“I have much more to say to you, but you can’t handle it now. However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. That’s why I said that the Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you.

Today’s text in John takes place after Jesus has told his disciples to meet him in the Upper Room. He washes their feet, teaches a little more, proclaims that he will be betrayed and then proceeds to say goodbye to them. [note in this Gospel there is no Last Supper recitation of bread and cup as ways to remember Jesus]. Chapters 14-16 which take place before Jesus heads to the garden to pray, serve as a final parting session of teaching and preparing the Disciple for his departure.

This text is prior to the Crucifixion and the resurrection. This text is set weeks before the events in Acts at the Pentecost Festival. This is Jesus telling them about what is to come for them about the coming and the work of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word that John uses for the Holy Spirit is paraklhtov (Par-ak’-lay-tus, the noun being Paraclete). This word is translated as intercessor, counselor, advocate, comforter. The one that fits most closely to the use in John in advocate. He shares Jesus telling his Disciples about the coming Advocate or Paraclete that will pick up where he has left off. A necessity if his work and teaching is to be completed.

Now it is important to note that John does not dip into the other understandings of the Holy Spirit that we see in other places in the Bible. John does not spend time here sharing the other attributes of the Spirit. For him it does not have a role in baptism, or with specific spiritual gifts, or influencing or controlling the actions of the of believers. Instead the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete) is the continuing presence of Jesus in the post-resurrection community. The Spirit is teacher and witness.

In John’s understanding of the work and role of Jesus, the death and departure of Jesus would bring about the end of the incarnation. Gone would be the revelation of God because that was present in Jesus himself. When Jesus was gone so was God’s revelation. And so in John the Holy Spirit, when it comes, is the one who will continue the work of Jesus as revelation. The coming of the Spirit will make it possible for others to know God’s promise and what was revealed to humanity through Jesus. Even after Jesus is no longer on Earth.

For John the Holy Spirit will come to the COMMUNITY not just to individuals. For Jesus came for the world so too will the Spirit. We can read forwards in Acts and see this in the story of Pentecost when the spirit fell on those who are gathered.

So if the Spirit comes for all, and the Paraclete is what allows for God’s revelation in Jesus to continue, even when we can not see him then we have given the Holy Spirit a bit of a short shift in many of our churches. If John’s theological perspective is correct the only way we know the revelation of Jesus in our lives is through the Holy Spirit. If he is correct then that first Pentecost was not just the birthday of the Church and the welcoming in of the whole world to the Good News of Jesus Christ, but also the vehicle and reason we know that Good News today.

Now I know this seems a little odd so let’s take a look at just a small part of today’s text:

In verse 13 we read 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. The New Interpreters Bible says this about the last four words of this verse:

“What is to come” may refer specifically to the events of Jesus’ hour (which the Paraclete will help interpret to the community), but it also refers to the community’s future, to the events for which Jesus cannot prepare them now (v. 12). The Paraclete thus will proclaim the teachings of Jesus to them in the new and changing circumstances of their lives. That is, Jesus’ words are not locked in the Disciples’ past, restricted to a particular historic moment. Nor does Jesus’ death rob future believers of the chance to receive the word of Jesus in the changing circumstances of their lives. The promise of v. 13c is that the presence of the Paraclete in the life of the community will ensure that all believers’ futures are open to fresh proclamations of Jesus’ words.”

This my friends is the Good News. The revelation of Jesus is not stuck in a time period 2000 years ago. But is changing and fresh and relevant and connected to who and where we are today. Through the Holy Spirit we can experience the life-changing power of Jesus and the revelation of God that he lived out with his Disciples as if we were one of them! Through the power and the promise and the movement of the Holy Spirit we can know the fullness of Christ and live and forgive and be forgiven

for surely the presence of the Lord is in this place

for when the Spirit breaths on us we receive the breath of God