Where We Belong / Based on
John 14:15-21 / Delivered to CCH on May 21, 2017
John 14:15-21
14:15 "If you love
me, you will keep my commandments.
14:16 And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
14:17 This is the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows
him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
14:18 "I will not
leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.
14:19 In a little while
the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also
will live.
14:20 On that day you will
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
14:21 They who have my
commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
Good morning, I am Darci
Strutt McQuiston, a Lay Speaker from the United Methodist Church up on the
hill. It is a blessing to share this
sixth Sunday of Easter with you all today.
Next week is the final
Sunday in Easter and then we’ll experience Pentecost on the first weekend in
June. The scripture for this Sunday
gives us a little taste of the purpose of the Holy spirit.
The ideas I’m hoping to
bring out are:
Knowing where we want to
be
Having help getting there
Being where we belong
Knowing where we want to
be
The disciples had given
Jesus three years of their lives. They had
seen miracles and done miracles themselves.
There was no doubt they had grown to love and respect Jesus. The first verse of this scripture, and also
to last verse of the passage, gave them something to show that love.
14:15 "If you love
me, you will keep my commandments.
14:21 They who have my
commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
This chapter of John is
often called the last discourse. It
takes place just after the last supper before Christ’s crucifixion. Jesus has just washed the feel of the
disciples and asked them to follow that example and wash one another’s
feet. His commandments are seen in how
he lived his life. He is our example of
how to serve God. His command in chapter
13:34 was this “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one
another. By this everyone will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
So our work as disciples
of Jesus is to serve one another and love one another as Jesus loved those
around him. All the other commandments
are a way to fulfill this commandment of love.
Scripture tells us God is love, and when we love we are like him. This place of love is where we want to be,
but it isn’t easy.
Having help getting there
It was hard enough for the
disciples to figure out what Jesus really meant while he was teaching with
them, let alone to figure things out without him there to ask. Jesus covered that need in verse 16/17 14:16
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with
you forever.
14:17 This is the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows
him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
There are many definitions
for the Holy Spirit, in Greek parakletos. This word means “one called to the
side of another”; to counsel or support the one who needs it. It is the image of a friend walking the path
alongside you. The disciples had Jesus
beside them most of the time for those three years. Now Jesus is promising that type of guidance
but from a spirit within us, and not just for a short time but forever. Jesus taught the people as a group. He was limited by his physical body. He couldn’t be with all people always. The Holy Spirit is within each of us, and
mentors us one-on-one. We don’t have it
in this reading, but 14:26 adds, “But the Advocate, 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.” Living a
life of loving service to others as Jesus did is not easy, but we have someone
walking beside us to help.
Being where we belong
The end goal was being
reunited with Jesus and finding our place in God’s family.
14:18 "I will not
leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.
14:19 In a little while
the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also
will live.
14:20 On that day you will
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
The disciples would have
felt very abandoned after Jesus crucifixion.
Jesus spoke these words of comfort to them before the events
happened. They are a promise and words
of comfort for us as well. As I read and
re-read these verses of scripture it hits me that Jesus isn’t talking about a
future beyond where you and I are now.
It was future to the disciples because he hadn’t yet gone to the
Father. We are living where this is
already true. The world no longer sees
him. He is in the Father. This means we also are connected to him as
believers now. A few months ago, I
shared a message where I said eternity with God isn’t something we need to wait
for after we leave this life. It starts
now. He isn’t coming “for us” to take us
away from this life, but he is coming “to you/us” within this life.
The companion scripture in
the lectionary from the New Testament was Paul’s teaching in Athens. He also brought out this idea. Acts 17:28 For 'In him we live and move and
have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we too are his
offspring.'
As I pondered this
scripture and thought about what I wanted to share with you today I knew I
needed to understand it better for myself!
Knowing I want to live a life of love is easy for me. Not easy to do, but it is easy to know. Whatever the question, love is the answer in
some form. We are called to love and
serve each other.
The thought of the Holy
Spirit is a harder concept. The Bible
talks often about the Holy Spirit, but we don’t often talk about him; the
Paraklete. One of the pastors I listen
to advised if we use the Greek we need to pronounce the “L” carefully or it
will sound like parakeet! I find that
somewhat poetic since the Holy Spirit will repeat what Jesus said. I guess that’s a way to remember the Greek
word!
Think on this for a
moment. Those times when we pause and
wish Jesus was here beside us, we need to look within for the guiding of the
Holy Spirit. We have a presence within
us that Jesus said was even better for us than himself because the Holy Spirit
isn’t limited by a physical body. Yet I
confess it is much harder to recognize for me.
A physical person is easier to comprehend. Listening for the spirit’s leading takes
quiet attention. I have had experiences
in the past where I felt a need to pray for another and then later found out at
that moment they faced a challenge. I
have had experiences when I felt I knew a choice was “right” and called it
intuition, but perhaps it was guidance from this “one who walks beside”.
We know Jesus commanded we
act in love, but those final verses bring it one step beyond that. Not only can our actions be ones of love, but
our being is called to be love. God
isn’t just loving; God is love. I am
blessed to have people in my life that live in such a peaceful way that not
only is that how they act, it is the feeling I feel when I am close to them. They bring a sense of peace just by being in
their presence. Jesus is saying we who
follow him can express that love through our being. A person who is this filled with love would
cause that feeling of love to radiate to everyone around them.
On this sixth Sunday of
Easter we can rejoice that Christ is risen and with God, our Father. Because of that, we can claim these promises
of Jesus for ourselves. Think on them as
we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in a couple weeks. He is one who walks beside us. May we together learn to listen to this part
of God within us, and live in love as our savior commanded. That is where we belong.
Amen
