John 14:15-21
“Abiding Love”
May 17, 2020
What words of comfort do you yearn to hear right now?
What would make these days of masks and gloves, distance and closings not seem so scary?
What assurances would help you sleep better or soothe your anxious heart?
Could it be something like –
“It will work out in the end and if it doesn’t work out it’s not the end.
“Things will get better.” or
“You aren’t in this alone – I will be here and together we’ll get through it.”
Think about the things that you were told as a child that made it possible for you to do that hard thing. What did the trusted grown-ups around you say that made it possible for you to stay with the math problems that seemed insurmountable or made things better when a bully tried to intimidate you into doing something you didn’t want to do?
The reassurances from parents and grandparents, teachers and neighbors were an acknowledgment that your fears were real and that it would not always be like this. It’s not much different for grown-up fears – it’s just who we look to for reassurances.
The disciples were being prepped for the time to come when Jesus would no longer be there but his love would. He is emphasizing that the idea of the Holy Spirit is tied into the very being of who Jesus is.
What he’s saying is that the Holy Spirit looks like an Advocate – just what helps little ones and adults are needing in times of trouble. It’s the one who backs you up, who speaks up for you, who reaches out to help when you need them and who will stick by you through thick and thin.
The Holy Spirit, which can be a tough concept to grasp regardless of one’s age, looks like Jesus. The Spirit is referred to as another advocate because Jesus was the first one.
Bottom line – the Holy Spirit looks a lot like Jesus. And we probably don’t have to look too hard to find that essence of Jesus – that person who checks in on their elderly neighbor regularly and brings over the plate of meatloaf or big slice of pie saying it’s way too much food for them to eat;
that family who pays it forward for the car behind them in the drive thru at McDonalds;
that teen who shovels their neighbor’s driveway without notice before the single mom and her children have woken up;
or that person handy with the sewing machine who makes a bunch of masks and leave them for folks to take in the post office.
What Jesus wanted the disciples to know before he left is that that same love they were drawn to and admired and wanted to be close to in him, was also within each of them. What he left them was hope.
The Holy Spirit isn’t so hard to figure out because the Holy Spirit, that abiding part of Jesus, looks a lot like each of you. We are bearers or as some might put it, agents of God’s love. The love which the disciples would fear might disappear with Jesus lives on. We are that love.
Steve Garnaas-Holmes (Unfolding Light, 5/15/20) gives voice to the love that we are through his take on these assurances of Jesus’:
Breathe deeply
these words of Jesus.
“If you love me,
you will let my love flow through you.
My deep desire, which God shares,
is to give you a Companion,
to be with you forever.
You are part of me:
because I live,
you also live.
In love
I am in God,
and you are in me,
and I in you.”
These are the powerful words to hold onto for dear, dear life. They are the ones to face our fears with.
They speak of Jesus, the Spirit and God the Father who is with us and acting through us, as love abiding, this day and all of our days.