Living the Life of Love in the Spirit—Lectionary Reflection for Easter 6A (John 14:15-21)

John 14:15-21 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 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.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 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.”

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                With his departure from the disciples being imminent, since death awaited him, Jesus sought to give comfort and encouragement to this community he had gathered together. In the Gospel of John, chapters 14-17 provide instruction and guidance to the community that faces life without their teacher and leader. We read sections of this Farewell Address during the season of Eastertide, as we reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection, and what that has to do with us. In this brief excerpt from the 14^th chapter of John, verses that are often drawn up, together with the prior verses we considered a week earlier, at funerals and memorial services, we hear Jesus tell the disciples not to worry because he won’t them orphaned. He might depart from them physically, but they won’t be left alone. In fact, he promises to return for them. However, before Jesus returns for them, he wants them to keep the commandments. Thus, if Jesus is going to return for the disciples and the readers who embrace Jesus, then they have the assurance that whatever happens to Jesus, death won’t be the final word.

                Here in John 14, we have the potential revealing of the Trinity. It’s not explicit, but this passage gives us some resources for envisioning the way God is present to us. John’s Gospel begins with the revelation that the Word (Logos), who is God, took on flesh and dwelt among us—that would be Jesus (John 1:1-14). For a time, the Word was physically present with the disciples, but if Jesus is to leave, how will God be present with them? Jesus answers that question with the promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit, who in this passage is known as the Paraclete (Gk. paraklētos), which is translated variously as Comforter, Helper, and Advocate.

                We hear the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit here in John 14, a promise that will be fulfilled after the resurrection, when Jesus breathes on them, giving them the Holy Spirit (Jn 20:21-23). Much like Luke, John speaks of the Holy Spirit mediating his post-Easter presence for the long haul.  While in John the Spirit is shared with the disciples after the resurrection, the promise is given here. Thus, in the Farewell Address, Jesus speaks of what it means to live in the Spirit of God, a life that involves living according to his commandments. The reason for giving this promise at this moment is that Jesus is pictured seeking to calm the nerves of a very anxious community. He wants them to know that he’s abandoning them, leaving them orphaned.

                The focus of this passage from John 14 is the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit. John uses the Greek word paraklētos to describe the Spirit. As I noted this word has several nuances that can help us better understand the way the Spirit works in our midst. I’ve explored these nuances in my book Unfettered Spirit.

As helper, the Spirit empowers members of the body of Christ to serve and care for their neighbors. As comforter the Spirit comes alongside us, bringing hope to the hopeless and comfort to the grieving and suffering in our midst. In this idea of the Spirit serving as advocate, we see the Spirit giving witness to Jesus, putting forward his case to humanity. The image of counselor speaks of one who offers guidance and direction. It is just one Greek word, and yet it offers so many possibilities for us to engage one another in Jesus’ healing presence. [Unfettered Spirit: Spiritual Gifts for the New GreatAwakening, 2^nd ed., p. 31].

While this word is meant, in John’s telling of the story, to comfort the disciples, he offers it to his readers and to us as a promise that Jesus has not left us on our own. It is through the presence of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, that Jesus is present with us, helping us help others while serving as the comforter when we struggle and suffer, and advocating for us when necessary. Because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus then and now can bear witness to the good news that Jesus is risen from the dead. There’s nothing for us to prove, whether to cultured despisers or anyone else. Rather than engage in polemics, let us simply live according to the commandments Jesus has given to us. And what is the first and foremost command? Jesus gave that command, that mandate, during that last supper before he went to the cross. Yes, Jesus gave them and us a new commandment, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:34-35).

                When Jesus speaks of living according to the commandments, he is summing them up in terms of the love of God and neighbor. So, there is no disconnect here between what John records and what Paul says about the Law. While Paul offers a message of grace, he also reminds us that though “'all things are lawful,’ not all things are beneficial” (1 Corinthians 10:23). That phrase “all things are lawful” is not Paul’s message, it is the Corinthian slogan. It is an expression of what we might call antinomianism. Paul agrees that in Christ we’re free of rigid legalisms, but that doesn’t mean anything goes. As Paul reminds the Corinthians in several places, not everything builds up or edifies. That is, not everything under the sun is an expression of the love of God and neighbor. That’s a word that’s needed today, especially in parts of the Christian community that has focused on defending their rights to say and do whatever they please—you know “Jesus, guns, and America.” There is freedom but it has its constraints. The primary constraint is love, and love is something that is an expression of what it means to abide in Christ through the spirit of the Living God.

                Now, the second reading for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, taken from 1 Peter 3:15-22, encourages the early Christians to ready themselves to make a defense of their faith if that should be required of them. That passage has often been used to encourage believers to engage in apologetics or polemics. It serves as an invitation to give proof or evidence that our belief system is true. That occurs in a variety of ways. We might think in terms of the young Friedrich Schleiermacher’s On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers, in which Schleiermacher sought to recapture the earlier primacy of religion in society. In every age there will be “cultured despisers,” but is it possible to recapture what once was true, when theology was the “Queen of the Sciences”? Or perhaps we might turn to theodicy. That is defending God’s honor in the face of the continuing reality of evil. I understand the motivation, but I’m not sure the answers are as compelling as some would like. So perhaps the best answer to those who question the value or validity of religion/faith/God, will be found in the lives of God’s people. Do we love God and our neighbor?

                The message Jesus has for the disciples and for us is that we have not been left as orphans. The Spirit is with us, encouraging and empowering us so that we might live according to the commandments of God. That primary commandment does not call for us to engage in polemics, because that usually doesn’t get us very far. Rather, Jesus’ commandment to us involves a call to express our relationship with God by loving one another. So, as Lindsay Armstrong notes: “Like disciples before us, we are neither helpless, powerless, nor abandoned. As Easter people, we declare and live into God’s new world, resisting the temptation to reduce our faith to a privatized narcotic and instead embracing the world-generating, world-changing commandments of Jesus” [John 14:15-21: Commentary 2” in Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship (Kindle Locations 9279-9281).]

                John 14 begins with Jesus offering a word of encouragement to a rather anxious group of followers. He tells them: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1). When we hear the word “believe” in this passage, let us hear the word “trust” not “assent.” The reason the disciples (and us) can let go of our anxiety in the absence of Jesus is that Jesus has made a promise to us. Jesus isn’t going to abandon us. No, Jesus might depart but he’ll send the Holy Spirit to be present with them. This Spirit, as we’ve discovered, is the Paraclete. With this promise in mind, we can live into Jesus’ commandments such that we love one another. When we think about this call to love one another, which will reveal to the world that we are Christ’s disciples, it is helpful to remember that this love is supposed to extend to all those whom God loves. According to John, that includes the entire world. After all, that is why God sent Jesus into the world (John 3:16).