JESUS MAKES A COMFORTING PROMISE

3 Pentecost Sermons 1. JESUS MAKES A COMFORTING PROMISE  John 14:15-21

Imagine you were one of the twelve disciples. You just heard Jesus – your best friend – tell you that he was leaving soon. You’d be perplexed to say the least. How could Jesus say that he would leave when he promised to always be with you? The disciples must have wondered what all of this meant. How about you? Do you struggle with these words too? Many do.  People wonder – perhaps you’re one of them – why Jesus had to leave. Life would be so much simpler if Christ had remained on earth, then we wouldn’t struggle with doubts or questions. Right?  Wrong! Christ Jesus had to return to heaven so that our salvation might be complete. He did this not to complicate things, but to comfort us. In fact, in our text we find that JESUS GIVES US A COMFORTING PROMISE. 1) Jesus promises to care for us, and 2) Jesus promises to be with us.  1) Jesus Promises to Care for Us.  Everybody likes to feel needed. Everybody likes to feel cared for and loved.

And now for a small sum of money, you can pay people to tell you those things! In many parts of the country this very weekend select groups of people are meeting; hoping to find some secret power that will develop all their hidden abilities and bring  them to a new level of life experience. One advertisement for such a seminar reads as follows: “Start the major love affair of your life by spending a weekend with yourself. Take two days out of your life to spend just with you. Discover the most fascinating, wondrous, magnificent person you will ever know – yourself – in an experience you’ll never forget.” Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? That ad makes some bold claims. It promises wonderful results. You may be wondering, “What’s the catch?” Well, the cost of this particular seminar – a mere $250 per person! It seems seminars, retreats, and self-help groups are en vogue right now. You can find groups of people meeting for all sorts of reasons. Now, I’m not knocking weekend retreats or seminars. In a sense, the Gospel reading for today is an account of a first century retreat, a special seminar, which Jesus conducted for his disciples.

            In John 13, we find Jesus telling his disciples about true greatness.  He says greatness is found in humility and service to others. Then Jesus demonstrated that greatness by washing his disciples’ feet. Jesus told his disciples about a radical concept: Christian love. This was the very heart and core of Christ’s love shown his entire life.  This love would find its culmination on the cross as Jesus sacrificed himself for us. In order to do that, Jesus had to give up everything– the very glories of heaven – so that we might have a home with him in paradise.  Jesus gave himself wholly to his Father’s will. He dedicated himself to every law, decree, and command his Father  ever uttered. He did this for us, so that we might find favor in God’s eyes.

Everything Christ Jesus accomplished was for us. And this was all part of God’s plan to provide comfort and healing, care and mercy.  Now in chapter 14:15 Jesus expands on God’s plan of salvation. He promises to send another Person, whom he calls the “Counselor.”  Jesus was promising to send the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was foretelling the events of Pentecost. He did this to comfort his disciples. He knew they would be confused as they witnessed his crucifixion and death. Jesus wanted to let his disciples know that he would not forsake them. He cared for them. And so he makes a promise.

He would send the “Counselor.” Now, the original Greek word Jesus uses was “Paraclete.” That’s the word we translate “counselor.”  That Greek word has the idea of one who walks along side of you, encouraging and instructing. It’s a picture of someone who cares.  I can’t think of a better way for Jesus to describe God’s care and concern than his description of the Holy Spirit. It reminds me of when my father first taught me how to drive. He was a “paraclete, a counselor” of sorts. He sat in the seat next to me, pointing out the gas from the brake pedal, showing me the proper way to grip the steering wheel. He instructed and encouraged. Sure, my dad pointed out my mistakes, but he always did with care and concern.

As a counselor, the Holy Spirit comforts, guides, and instructs. He  does this with the Word of God. First, the Holy Spirit shows us that we need a Savior. The Bible tells us that we cannot love ourselves into heaven. No amount of self-esteem can earn salvation. The power of positive thinking cannot remove sin from a guilty conscience. A pow-wow with the Holy Spirit is needed.

Jesus promised this to his first 12 disciples and he promises it to us.  This is a promise he intends to keep. Just listen to the determination in his words: “and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of  truth.”

The Lord shows his care and concern by dealing with the truth. The truth is that God calls sin what it is: sin. It is an infraction of God’s holy commands. And the Holy Spirit reminds us that we have broken God’s decrees again and again. We encounter our sins every time we read the Bible.

We come face-to-face with the truth as the Holy Spirit convicts us. He shows us that we are sinners. The Spirit does this so that we don’t trust in ourselves for salvation.  God wants us to despair in ourselves, so that we trust in him for all things. The Holy Spirit’s main job is to turn us from ourselves and towards Christ for certainty of forgiveness and salvation. The Spirit needs to force us to look into the mirror of God’s law and see our sins.

Sadly, a lot of people deny this truth. Consider Christ’s words: “the world cannot accept the Holy Spirit because it neither sees him nor knows him.” As a whole this world looks at the profound truth of Christ’s love and pronounces it foolish. This world is happy enough with lust and sex. People enjoy romance, or the feeling of “being inlove.”

A lot of people talk about charity and peace, but rarely will anyone get close enough to anybody else to actually love, to come along side and help. It’s when we come alongside to help one another – to put our Christian love into practice – that the Holy Spirit feels at home in our hearts. He moves us to love each other even as we have been loved by God. In this way, we obey God’s commands. It’s all about humility and sacrifice. We do not love each other when we do things only to get a pat on the back, or some other kind of recognition or bragging rights.

Christian love gives when the sinful heart isn’t willing to do so. Christian love gives when it is inconvenient or unappealing. In short, Christian love is the willing response the Holy Spirit works in our hearts. And it’s evident in our lives, as he leads us to focus on God’s faithful love and promises.

2) Jesus Promises to Be with Us

Jesus made this clear when he said that the Spirit both dwells with  us and will be in us. Talk about loving faithfulness! The Spirit has been with us much longer than we ever knew. Before we knew Jesus or even thought about spiritual things, the Spirit has been calling out to us, drawing us to Jesus. This is not a relationship we can create on our own.

As Martin Luther correctly states in his catechism: I believe I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one truth faith.”

The Holy Spirit sought us out and made his home within us. He did this through the gospel: the message of salvation in Christ.  The Holy Spirit is responsible for our faith in Jesus Christ. He’s also responsible for keeping that faith alive and allowing us to live for Christ.

It might sound a bit unsettling for Jesus to say, “if you love me, you will obey what I command”, but those words need not frighten us. It would be scary to think that our obedience to Jesus was based on our merits or worthiness, but it’s not. We can’t even believe in Jesus Christ on our own, let alone obey him.

Again, this is  all credited to the work of our Savior-God. The Holy Spirit leads us to obey God, by reminding us of his faithful promises. The Spirit uses the Gospel in the Word and Sacraments to remind us that we have a faithful God who loves us so much that he died for our sins and rose again so that we might live with him eternally.

That message of love leads us to trust, listen, and obey.  It’s all because the Holy Spirit keeps whispering the song of the Gospel in our ears.

Have you ever been driving in the car, when suddenly an old familiar song came on the radio – one you hadn’t heard in years – and it made you smile? Why is that? When we don’t hear those old familiar songs for a long time, we fill our minds with other things and forget those old familiar songs.

There’s the possibility for that to happen to our faith. We fill our minds with other things and we forget the song of the Gospel. So many other songs come along and compete for our attention: songs of worry and fear, of lust and greed, and they fill our hearts leading us to forget that Christ promises to be with us.

Christ keeps his promise of abiding love by continuing to send the Holy Spirit to whisper the lyrics of the Gospel song in our ears. He reminds us that we are God’s children for Jesus’ sake.

At baptism, the Holy Spirit whispered, “You are mine. You are cleansed in the blood of Christ.” In Holy Communion our Lord says, “Take and eat; take and drink. Receive what I have given to you.”

The Holy Spirit leads us to know that the gifts of hope, forgiveness, life and salvation are ours. Our Lord promises it. When you come to worship, go to Bible study, or have a family devotion the Holy Spirit continues to whisper the mystery of  God’s love into your ears. He reminds you that the Bible was written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and by believing you may have life in his name.

Weekend retreats and seminars are nice. They provide a “shot in the arm”, rejuvenating a person’s outlook on life. In fact, it’s good to get away and focus on the simpler things once in a while. The Holy Spirit does that for us everyday. Each day he reminds us of the  simpler things of faith: forgiveness, salvation, and the hope of heaven. We don’t have to listen to a charismatic, world-renown speaker to inspire us. It’s all right here in the Bible. So listen to God himself.

And we don’t have to spend a small fortune to hear about the secrets of salvation. God’s love is a gift of his grace – it’s free of charge. So, don’t doubt. Simply believe. After all, your God promises it. Amen.

2. Acts 2:1-11, 1 Cor 12:3-13, Jn 20:19-23

                       Here are some stones I have overturned to see what ideas lay underneath. I hope you can grab hold of something, pull -- and discover that it has some homiletic roots for you.  When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the

entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which

parted and came to rest on each one of them.

And they were all filled with the holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.  Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem.

At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement  they asked -- Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language?

We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.

Whenever I read this scripture which tells of the inbreaking of the spirit I seem to focus on the power and majesty of its entrance. How mighty and forceful is a strong driving wind which can be heard from each corner of the walled city of Jerusalem? How loud is this sound which captures the attention of the tens of thousands inhabiting Jerusalem? Where else in all of scripture do tongues as of fire rest upon individuals -- enabling them to mysteriously overcome the divisions of native languages?

In the world of forest firefighting there is an aerial drop of water or other fire-extinguishing chemicals called a Salvo Drop. This is when a fireplane flies dangerously low and close to a small, concentrated area of intense fire and drops its entire contents in a single, lump sum. The crashing sound of thousands of gallons of liquid released in one, massive gush shakes the ground rendering an intense fire completely defenseless. In short, picture the contents of a few  swimming pools being dropped upon your back yard from only hundreds of feet up in the air.  That is power. That is an entrance. That is the kind of entrance we see in this scripture.

It is time for the dove, water, and a breezy wind that blows where it will to make the entrance of all entrances.  My first point? There is no mistaking that something important, unprecedented, and mighty is happening here. The Church is born in a spectacular display of power by the third person of the Trinity.

Because this third person of the Trinity seems to get the least press or attention, it would have been influential and effective to have experienced this entrance of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we would have felt more convinced of the power of the Spirit in the world and in our lives. We would have been sold on the idea that something new and spectacular has entered our world and our lives.

Instead, it seems at times that the Spirit only has enough gusto to blow a few birthday candles out once a year to celebrate another year gone by, or that the Spirit is only made present by  Charismatic prayer groups that invoke the name of the Spirit often.

But, of course, this is not true. The Spirit lives and the power and presence of the Spirit has not diminished with time.  A homily on this Feast of Pentecost might make the point that the Spirit came into the world in  a big, big way; but that the Spirit is still alive and well today; that the Spirit operates in each and every one of our lives; that the Spirit works for us; and that the Spirit works through us.  The Spirit primarily shows itself in individuals in Scripture by speaking through them.

As priests and deacons who preach the Word often, how often have we experienced this power in our lives? How many times have we finished preaching and have sat down only to say to ourselves-- Where did those beautiful or powerful words come from? Of course, we know the answer: the Holy Spirit.

How many times have we exited after ministering in very difficult or tragic situations unscathed and successful knowing that it was by the Grace and the Power of the Spirit that kept us intact and effective as instruments of God?

Of course, the workings of the Spirit can also be uncovered in the lives of our parishioners in many, many ways. By the sharing of our experiences and by reminding our parishioners of the workings of the Spirit in their lives may we remind ourselves and our parishioners that the Spirit, indeed, is alive and well and living in our world and in our lives.  The Spirit effects us, the Spirit works through us. The Spirit lives.

3. Pentecost Sunday (C)  fr. Denis Minns preaches on the sending of the Holy Spirit.

Two sounds are mentioned by St Luke in the Acts of the Apostles in connection with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The first was a sound from heaven 'like the rush of a violent wind'. The second was the sound of the disciples of Jesus, after they had been filled with the Spirit, 'speaking in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.'

Of the two sounds, it was the second, it seems, that was the louder. The first sound filled the room, but the second filled the city: it was at the sound of the disciples speaking in foreign languages that the multitude came together, drawn from all those from every nation under heaven who were living in Jerusalem.

What amazed the multitude was not that these fishermen from Galilee were speaking in strange tongues; for then, as now, it was not uncommon to encounter people babbling nonsense under the auspices of religion. What surprised them was that everyone was able to understand what was being said, that it made sense: 'we heard them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.'

Luke's account of the coming of the Holy Spirit squares with what, in St John's Gospel, Jesus said would happen: 'The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.'

One of the functions of the Holy Spirit, then, is to communicate the Word of God to us, and St Luke shows the Spirit doing this in two ways: enabling some to speak the mighty works of God, and enabling others to understand those spoken words.

So there is no comfort here for those of us who might wish for less chatter in the Church, whether from its leaders or from others. St Luke expects that the Church of God will be a noisy place; in a sense, he expects it to be full of windbags: for the Word of the Lord is active, and the Spirit blows where it wills. Our task is to hear this not as just irritating noise, but as possibly the Word of God, and ask ourselves what it might be that the Spirit is saying to the Churches.

Nevertheless, the Spirit is also called the Comforter, and communicating the Word of God is not its only function. In St John's far less dramatic account of the sending of the Holy Spirit, Jesus breathes on the disciples and says, 'Receive the Holy Spirit, for those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven, for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.' Words uttered under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit are not simply bearers of information, they have power to bring things about.

Jesus was once told that no one can forgive sins, but God alone. Nevertheless, Jesus claimed that he did have the power to forgive sins, and, with the gift of the Holy Spirit, he has given that power to his disciples.

In a Church filled with the Spirit of God, therefore, we must expect that prominent amongst the words the Spirit brings to utterance will be words seeking and giving forgiveness.

In the other Gospels we learn that unless we forgive others we will not be forgiven ourselves. In St John we hear the much more alarming claim that if we do not forgive others then they will not be forgiven. 

Perhaps the point of this is not that we should be puffed up with a sense of our own self-importance in being able to hold others in their sins, but that we should be mindful of what it is we do if, being able to forgive others, we do not forgive them: we frustrate the purpose for which the Spirit was  given to us, we attempt to prevent the Spirit from blowing where it will. Might not that be a sin against the Holy Spirit, a sin which does not have forgiveness?

fr. Denis Minns is prior of the Priory of the Holy Spirit, Oxford, and a member of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Oxford.