Day of Pentecost – 31 May 2020 – Year A

Grace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 2^nd Chapter of the Book of Acts: Verses 1–21:

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. ² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. ⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. ⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, ¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” ¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” 

¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. ¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. ¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 

 ¹⁷   “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, 

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, 

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 

and your young men shall see visions, 

and your old men shall dream dreams; 

 ¹⁸  even on my male servants and female servants 

in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 

 ¹⁹  And I will show wonders in the heavens above 

and signs on the earth below, 

blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; 

 ²⁰  the sun shall be turned to darkness 

and the moon to blood, 

before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 

 ²¹  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Father inspire us with your Word of truth, for your Word is true. Amen

No matter how often we read the Bible … no matter how familiar we are with its message, it always has something new to teach us.  Over the years the account of that special Pentecost in Acts 2 has often had new things to teach me.

One of the things that many people do not know is that, although this Pentecost was very special, it was not the first Pentecost.  The Lord instituted Pentecost about the same time He instituted Passover.  Pentecostwas originally called the Feast of Weeks.  Since the Feast of Weeks comes fifty days after the *Feast of Firstfruits (*Day after Sabbath - See Leviticus 23: 4-14), people began calling it Pentecost based on the Greek word for fifty.  Pentecost and the Feast of weeks are the same festival, and the Jews have celebrated Pentecost ever since the days of Moses.

Pentecost is also one of the three feast days that required the presentation of the males of Israel.  The Law of Moses said, ^{(Deuteronomy 16:16)} “Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.” The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one week long and begins the day after the Passover.  The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost comes fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits which happens to be the first Sunday in the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Feast of Booths is about six months after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Now, if we overlay these Festivals over the life of Christ, we learn that Jesus died on Passover, and He rose from the dead on the Feast of Firstfruits.  Then, the Holy Spirit manifested Himself in a special way fifty days later, at Pentecost.  The faithful Israelites who followed the instructions God gave to Moses would be in Jerusalem on those special days.  This means that the faithful who presented themselves in Jerusalem according to the instructions given in the Law were witnesses in Jerusalem for the crucifixion and resurrection as well as for the manifestation of the Holy Spirit on the following Pentecost.  In this way, the Holy Spirit gathered His Old Testament Church together to hear about ^{(Acts 2:11)} “the mighty works of God”. God, the master strategist, had this all worked out thousands of years before it happened.

For many seasons during my earlier days in the Christian church, I always enjoyed hearing about the Holy Spirit poured out on the Apostles on Pentecost.  How wonderful of God to give them the Holy Spirit in this way. To me it was a fulfillment of Jesus promise to the Disciples in the upper room to send them a ‘Helper” (or Paraclete) as written in John 14:16.

But after further study into Jesus’ sermon as written in John Chapters 14 to 17, I realised that the Disciples already had the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The evening of the day that Jesus rose from the dead.  ^{(John 20:19–23)}Tells us; “the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” ²²And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” Jesus already gave the Holy Spirit to the Disciples on the day of the Resurrection, so why would the Holy Spirit have to come upon them again on Pentecost?”  Didn’t Jesus get it right the first time?

You see this is why, every time we read the Holy Scriptures, we must be open to God’s Word.  I had a mindset about the sound like a mighty rushing wind, the divided tongues as of fire, and the apostles speaking in other tongues, and this prevented me from realising the major miracle of Pentecost.  This miracle showed up in the response of those who gathered on that day.  They came together.  They heard the mighty works of God.  Then they responded. ^{(Acts 2:37–41)}  Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹So those who received his word were baptised, and there were added that day about three thousand souls”.

This is the great miracle of Pentecost!  The Holy Spirit added three thousand souls to His church on that day.  Pentecost is not about the Holy Spirit being poured out on the Apostles.  It is about the Holy Spirit poured out on those three thousand souls. The promised ‘Helper’ was there with the Apostles, expanding and growing the church in a way that was not humanly possible,

You see it is God, the Holy Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.  The Holy Spirit’s manifestation on Pentecost is an example of that.  Some 1500 years earlier, the Holy Spirit worked through His servant Moses to establish feasts that would gather these witnesses from the Old Testament Church to Jerusalem, and now Luke the Evangelist writes, ^{(Acts 2:5)} “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.” It was not an accident that these men were in Jerusalem on this day.  The Holy Spirit had called together the Old Testament Church to tell them that the long-awaited Messiah had come in the person of Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit was getting ready to convert the faithful of the Old Testament Church into the faithful of the New Testament Church.

That is the reason for the supernatural signs described in today’s reading.  The Holy Spirit was gathering His church together so that they could hear the call of the Gospel.  As the people of the Old Testament church drew near to the house, they encountered people who told them who Jesus was and what He had done for their salvation.  These people did not speak in the lofty language of the Hebrew of the temple, nor did they speak in the street language of Aramaic, or the commercial language of Greek, or even the legal language of Latin, but each one heard the story of salvation in his own native language … the language he learned from his mother and father in the home of his childhood.  Each one heard in his own language ^{(Acts 2:11)} “the mighty works of God”. 

All these amazing things were the Holy Spirit’s means to accomplish the goal of gathering together His Old Testament Church and telling her that her waiting was over … that the New Testament had begun.  The Pentecost Pilgrims and other righteous people who gathered together on that day had been looking forward to the Messiah.  They had been keeping the ceremonial law of the circumcisions and the sacrifices and all the other customs as a reminder that one day the Messiah would come and fulfil all the law and offer Himself up as the sacrifice to end all sacrifices.  Their faith looked into the future to the Messiah who was to come.  Now the Holy Spirit gathered the church together to tell her that the Messiah had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one.  On this one particular Pentecost the Holy Spirit called together the Old Testament church and transformed her into the New Testament church.

Amid all the amazing things that happened on that Pentecost, it is easy to confuse God’s goal with the means that He used to accomplish that goal.  After all, this is exciting stuff … a sound like a mighty wind … the appearance of what looks like flames of fire … the sudden ability to speak and understand a foreign language.  It is easy to get distracted by all these things and forget the main goal … the goal of creating faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  That was the goal of the Holy Spirit on that Pentecost long ago, and it is still His goal today.

Amid the signs and wonders of that special Pentecost, there were still those who resisted.  There were men in the crowd who mocked and said, ^{(Acts 2:13)} “They are filled with new wine.” In any crowd there will always be those who resist the call of the Gospel.

This can be a great comfort to us as we confess our faith to the people we meet in our lives.  Sometimes, they will be interested and want to know more.  Other times they will reject our confession.  When that rejection comes, we can take comfort in knowing that even when there was the sound like a mighty rushing wind, the divided tongues as of fire, and the apostles speaking in other tongues, that there were some people who resisted their message.  We should expect that and continue to confess our faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

On the day after that special Pentecost, there was no sound of a mighty wind.  The tongues of fire had gone away.  People spoke simply in their own language.  The Pentecost party may have been over, but the Holy Spirit was still at work.  This is illustrated later in ^{(Acts 2:47)}  which tells us, “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved”. God’s Church still had His Word and the Holy Spirit continued to work through that Word.

The Holy Spirit still works through the Word of God.  It has always been that way and it will always be that way.  The true sign of the Holy Spirit at work is the proclamation of God’s Word.  The Holy Spirit points to Jesus who is the God-Man who saved us from our sin with His suffering and death on the cross and promises us life everlasting with His resurrection.  The Holy Spirit works through God’s Word when we hear it with our ears … when we read it with our eyes … when we experience that Word in the water of Holy Baptism … and when we receive it with the true body and blood of Jesus in the Bread and Wine of the Lord’s Supper.  The Holy Spirit is at work when we confess our faith before each other and when we confess our faith before those who do not know Jesus.

In today’s Reading, the Holy Spirit used light and sound to call the Church to hear the proclamation that the Messiah they had been waiting for had come in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Holy Spirit transformed the Old Testament church into the New Testament church and the Holy Spirit continues building the New Testament Church to this very day.  The Holy Spirit still calls us by the Gospel, enlightens us with His gifts, sanctifies, and keeps us in the true faith.  As He gives each of us new birth into the Holy Christian Church, so He also calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies that whole Christian Church on earth and keeps her in the one, true faith.  In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.  On the Last Day, He will raise me and all the dead and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ.  This is most certainly true.  Amen.

The love and peace our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Easter 7 – 24 May 2020 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 17^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses 1 – 11.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ² since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

⁶ “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹ And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

Christ has risen!  He has risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

During the last half of the Easter Season, we have been listening to Jesus in the Upper Room just a few hours before Judas betrayed Him.  This morning, we had an opportunity to listen to the prayer Jesus prayed at the close of His teaching.  Soon they will leave the Upper Room and make their way to Gethsemane where Judas would betray Him into the hands of the temple guard.

This is one of the few accounts of the actual words of Jesus in prayer.  The Gospel accounts tell us that prayer was a regular part of Jesus’ life, but most of the time, they do not tell us the actual words that He prayed.  At this time, just before Jesus took the disciples to Gethsemane, Jesus wanted the disciples to hear the words of His prayer, and the Holy Spirit inspired John to record them for us.

In this prayer, we hear Jesus in His state of humiliation.  Although He is both God and man in one person, He did not use His Divine power for His own benefit.  As you listen to this prayer, you hear the prayer of a man who endures great stress.  He knows what is coming.  He knows that the next 24 hours will hold shame, torture, and death.  In His state of humiliation, He will not use His divine power to reduce the anguish of the suffering and death that is coming.  At the same time, His words tell us that He is fully aware of His divine nature.  He will speak of the divine results of His suffering.  He will also speak of His eternal existence in the presence of God the Father.

The Gospel that we just heard is only the first half of the prayer.  Never the less, it is useful to look at the overall organization of the entire prayer before we get into the details of what we heard this morning.

Jesus began with prayer for Himself.  Just as the flight attendant on an airline instructs you to place the oxygen mask on yourself first and then you will have the oxygen you need to help others, so also, when we pray, it is appropriate to pray for ourselves first, so that we may better pray for others.  That is exactly what Jesus did.

Second, Jesus prayed for His disciples.  He prayed that the Father would strengthen and keep them, not only during the next few days of grief for their dead teacher, but also for the years of persecution as they proclaimed the Gospel.

Finally, in the part of the prayer that we did not hear today, Jesus prayed for us.  He prayed, ^{(John 17:20)} “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word”. This part of the prayer is for all New Testament believers.  For it is by the proclamation of the Gospel that these people come to believe.  It is by the proclamation of the Gospel that we came to believe.

So, the prayer begins as Jesus prayed for Himself. ^{(John 17:1)} “When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come.” The Gospel according to John speaks frequently of this hour.  At the wedding in Cana Jesus had a conversation with His mother. ^{(John 2:3–4)}  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” At another time, He offended some people with His teaching.  ^{(John 7:30) “}So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come”. And again: ^{(John 8:20)} “These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come”. Now, in this prayer, Jesus acknowledges that the hour has come. 

The hour Jesus speaks of is His appointment with the work that will earn the forgiveness of sins for all people.  Jesus knows full well about the shame, suffering, and death that waits for Him.  He knows full well the wrath of God that He will endure as He takes our punishment onto Himself.  And so it is that He begins, ^{(John 17:1)}“Father, the hour has come.” 

Jesus continued His prayer, and said^{, (John 17:1)}  “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.” The Gospel according to John uses the words glory or glorify about forty times.  When we hear the words glory and glorify outside the Bible, they usually refer to fame, honour, wealth, and the like.  This is not what these words mean in the Bible.  Within the Bible, glory is lowly service.  In the case of Jesus, His greatest glory comes as He hangs on the cross.  With these words, Jesus prayed for the strength to submit to death on the cross.

But what is the benefit of Christ’s glory on the cross?  Jesus prayed for that as well as He prayed, ^{(John 17:1–3)}“Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”. The glory of Christ on the cross gives eternal life to all who know God, but not just any god.  Eternal Life is for those who know the only true God who sent Jesus Christ to suffer the glory of the cross.  It is not enough to say, “I believe in god.”  There are many religions that believe in god.  The true religion knows the only true God, and Jesus Christ who was sent from God.

There is also comfort in this prayer for those who are afraid that their faith is not strong enough … that they are not sure of their salvation.  Throughout this prayer, Jesus speaks of the disciples as those whom the Father has given Him.  The disciples were not responsible for their faith.  The disciples did not attach themselves to Jesus of their own will.  Instead, God chose them.  Jesus prayed for them as a gift to Him from God the Father.  Likewise, God has chosen us.  It is God who chooses those who receive Christ’s gift of eternal life.

After Jesus asked for strength for His glorification on the cross, He acknowledged the work that He already did.  He prayed, ^{(John 17:4–8)}  “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. ⁶“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me”. The cross is the crowning glory of Jesus Christ, but the cross would be no good if Jesus did not also lead a perfect life.  The blood that He shed on the cross must be innocent.  He lived a perfect life under the law.

Part of that perfect life involved the proclamation of the words that the Father gave Him to proclaim.  The saving work of Jesus Christ does no good if no one proclaims it.  It is when the Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of the Gospel, that God brings people to faith in Jesus so that they receive the gifts that He has for them.  Jesus conducted a ministry of teaching and healing.  He proclaimed the words that the Father had given Him.  Jesus had finished the work the Father sent Him to do before He endured the glory of the cross.  He had prepared everything according to the Father’s will.  Now it was the time for Him to submit passively to the cross.

As Jesus acknowledged the completion of the task of proclamation, He transitioned into prayer for His disciples.    He prayed, ^{(John 17:8–11)}  “For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. ¹¹And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.”

With these words, Jesus prayed specifically for those whom the Father had chosen.  He knew that they would endure incredible grief over the next few days.  He, their teacher and their friend, would be arrested, hung on a cross, and buried in a tomb.  He would not be with them to care for them as he had before.  Jesus did not want them to be alone at this time.

Jesus was also looking ahead to the time after His resurrection.  He knew that He would soon ascend into heaven.  Again, He would not be with them to care for them as he had before.  After Jesus ascended, they would continue to endure the attacks of this sinful world.  They needed protection.  Jesus prayed for the Father to keep them unified … not just in any unity, but in the unity of God’s name.  Jesus prayed, that in the name of God, they would have the transcendent unity of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

With these words, we come to the end of the Gospel reading for this day.  Jesus’ prayer continues to the end of the chapter.  I encourage you to take the time to read the entire prayer.

Jesus had fulfilled His ministry of teaching and healing.  Everything was in place.  The time had come for Him to endure the glory of the cross.  He prayed that God the Father would sustain Him so that He would glorify the Father and the Father would glorify Him.  By enduring the glory of the cross, He would give eternal life to those whom the Father had given to Him.  He prayed that the Father would watch over His disciples while He hung on the cross and laid in the grave.  He also prayed that the Father would watch over His disciples as, at the time of the ascension, His presence with them changed from the visible to the sacramental.  As we came to the ending of today’s reading, we heard Jesus pray for the unity of the church in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus went on to pray specifically for us as He prayed, ^{(John 17:20)} “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. He continues to pray for you to this very day.

Of course, God answered Jesus’ prayer.  Jesus did indeed endure the glory of the cross to earn eternal life for you, me, and all people.  Jesus opened the way to eternal life by rising from the dead.  God poured out the Holy Spirit to call us by the Gospel and enlighten us with His gifts.  Eternal life is already ours in Christ.  Although our understanding of God’s unity is imperfect in this life, we are unified in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

When we leave this world, God will fully glorify us with him forever in heaven.  There we will finally see and fully partake of the glory of the Father, not as a reward but as a promise … eternal inheritance for all believers. Until that day, we pray that God would use us to glorify his name in this world in all that we do.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Easter 6 – 17 May 2020 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 14^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses:15–21

 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 

¹⁸ “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Christ has risen!  He has risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

I suppose one advantage of growing old in the Christian Church is that you get to sing a wide range of hymns, back from the old books through to modern contemporaries.  This passage of scripture reminds me of a ‘golden oldie’ titled “Creator Spirit, by Whose Aid.”  In this Hymn there is a word that shows up twice.  It shows up at the beginning of stanza 2: ‘O Source of uncreated light, The Father's promised Paraclete’, and again at the end of the doxology in stanza 4: ‘And equal adoration be, Eternal Paraclete, to Thee’.  The first time that I saw this hymn, I wondered, “What in the world is a Paraclete.”  The hymn is about the Holy Spirit, and the context of the hymn clearly indicates that the Holy Spirit is a paraclete.  But what does that mean?  Well today’s Gospel gives us the chance to learn about this word.

Once again, we are in the upper room with Jesus and the disciples on the night that Jesus was betrayed.  In the Gospel we heard today, Jesus said, ^{(John 14:16–17)} “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” This is Jesus promising to ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit.  In fact, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit already dwelt in the disciples even as He spoke with them.

Now, if you look at verse 16 in the reading above (ESV), you will see that the word ‘Helper’ is a capitalised noun.  To me this indicates that the translator has a good understanding of the context.  You see, the original Greek for this word is “paraklétos”.  “Paraklétos” comes from two words.  The root is the verb  “kaleó”which means “I call”.  The prefix “para” means alongside or next to.  A “paraklétos” is someone whose calling is to be beside you … to stand with you.  “Paraklétos”  is the origin of the word paraclete in the hymn.  A paraclete is someone whose calling is to be beside you.

Now, if you are in a court of law, the one who is beside you is your lawyer.  In this context, your lawyer is your paraclete.  If you are deep in grief, the one who is beside you is a comforter.  In this context, the comforter is your paraclete.  If you are struggling with a project, the one who is beside you helps you with the project.  In this context, the helper is your paraclete.  If you find yourself stranded in an empty parking lot at 2:00 a.m. on a bitter cold winter morning, the one who will get out of the comfort of a warm cosy bed to give your battery a jump start is your paraclete.  If you are wounded in battle, the medic is your paraclete.  If you are mortally wounded in battle, the one who stays with you so that you don’t die alone is your paraclete.  The battlefield soldier that throws himself on a live hand grenade to save his comrades is a paraclete. You can see that the word paraclete is a very full and powerful word.

So, what does the translator do when he comes across the word (παράκλητον) ‘paraclete’ and the editor in charge of the translation informs him that most of the people who will read this do not know what the word paraclete means?  The poor translator must study the context and decide.  Does he translate this as helper, advocate, intercessor, counsellor, comforter, or any of the other words that might fit the context?  It can be a real challenge.

Now that we know about the word paraclete, we can put it where it belongs in the text.  Jesus said, ^{(John 14:16–17)} “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever, ¹⁷even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

Jesus then went on to say, ^{(John 14:18–19)} “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ¹⁹Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live”. Here Jesus was speaking of the next few days.  Later that evening, Judas would lead a detachment of guards from the temple to arrest Jesus in Gethsemane.  In less than twenty four hours, Jesus would die on a cross.  He would no longer be with the disciples as He was before.  The Eternal Paraclete would dwell with them and in them as they grieved the death of their Lord.

This is but one way that the Holy Spirit would be their paraclete.  Later on, Jesus would tell them another way in which the Holy Spirit will be their paraclete.  In verse 26, Jesus will promise, ^{(John 14:26)} “The Paraclete, 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.” This is Jesus’ promise that when the disciples bear witness to their time with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will watch over what they say and improve their memories so that their words will be accurate and authoritative.  This is one of the verses that give us confidence that the writings of the Apostles are the inspired Word of God.

So, Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to the disciples and He promises Him to us as well.  But this is not the end of it: There is still a little detail that is important in the words Jesus used.  Jesus did not say, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you the Paraclete, to be with you forever.”  NO, He said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever.”  To say that the Holy Spirit is another Paracletemeans that there is more than one paraclete.  You see, Jesus Himself is the first Paraclete that the Father sent.  He is the Paraclete who came to save us from our sins by becoming a servant … a servant who sacrificed himself on a cross.

Earlier in this sermon, I described a soldier who threw himself on a grenade as a paraclete to his comrades.  Jesus is an even greater paraclete than this.  A grenade brings death here in time.  Sin brings death in eternity.  Jesus put Himself between us and the eternal death of sin by living a perfect, innocent life and then allowing men to attach Him to a cross.  By His death, He became our paraclete who rescues us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  He has given assurance that He is our paraclete by rising from the dead.  God the Father has called Jesus to our side to be our paraclete … to rescue and protect us from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

But, in reality, neither you nor I could know anything about Jesus as our paraclete, or believe on Him, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel.  That is why it is so important for the Father to give another Paraclete.  It is important for “the Spirit of truth to dwell with you and be in you”.  For it is the Holy Spirit who calls us by the Gospel and enlightens us with His gifts.  He calls us by the words of the Gospel when we hear it and read it.  He calls us by the wet Gospel of Holy Baptism when water is combined with God’s Word according to Christ’s command.  He places the Gospel in our mouth as we receive the true body and blood of the Lord as we eat the bread and drink of the cup of the Lord’s Holy Meal.

The first Paraclete, Jesus Christ Himself, purchased and won us from sin, death, and the power of the devil with His holy precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.  He gives us the promise of life forever in heaven with His resurrection from the dead.  The other Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, offers this forgiveness, life, and salvation to us through the Gospel.  It is this other Paraclete who gives us the faith that believes and receives the gifts that the first Paraclete won for us.  As these two paracletes work together, they transform us from disciples of the world into disciples of Jesus Christ.

Not everyone is excited about this.  Jesus said, ^{(John 14:17)} “The world cannot receive [the Spirit of Truth], because it neither sees him nor knows him.” By nature, all people are born into this world as pagans.  Even before we are born, we are all enemies of God.  We have no desire to know God.  As long as we are part of the sinful world, we neither hear nor see this Paraclete.  It is as if He does not even exist.

When the disciples of the world saw Jesus die on the cross, they celebrated.  They thought, “That is the end for that troublemaker,” and they saw Him no more.  We who believe in Jesus Christ know better.  As Jesus said in today’s Gospel, ^{(John 14:19)} “Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me”. 

The world can no longer see Jesus for it is spiritually blind.  We who have the other Paraclete … the Holy Spirit … know the real presence of Jesus not only in the Holy Sacraments, but also in the rest of His Divine Service as well as in our day-to-day lives.  We are not spiritual orphans, Jesus is always with us.

Today’s Gospel tells us of the blessings we receive from the Other Paraclete … the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit offers to us the blessings Jesus bought for us with His suffering, death, and resurrection.  The Holy Spirit offers forgiveness, life, and salvation to us through faith in Jesus Christ.  Through this faith, God adopts us into His family.  We become brothers and sisters of Christ and children of our Heavenly Father.  God is with us in this life and, when this life is over, He will take us to be with Him in heaven forever.  Amen.

The love and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Easter 5 – 10 May 2020 – Year A

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

The text for this meditation is written in the 14^th Chapter of the Gospel according to St John: Verses: 1 – 14:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Lord open our hearts and minds to your word of truth, for your words are true. Amen

Christ is risen – He has risen indeed!

It goes without saying that the human heart can become profoundly troubled. And when the heart is troubled, then everything is troubling, and nothing is right. We've all been there. Some of us may be there right now. It's an amazing thing really. When your heart is troubled, the things that normally give us great joy are completely ineffective. Normally we go about our daily life with a certain eagerness and excitement, but when our heart is troubled, there's a sense of fear and dread that overshadows almost everything and there's no escaping it until our heart is set at peace again.

What do we do when we have a troubled heart? I'm not talking about the superficial things that trouble us way more than they should. I'm talking about those things that trouble us to the very depth of our soul and that touch on matters of life and death, where God's ways seem to be unfair or He even seems to be against us, or not even there at all. 

Scripture tells us that when King David's heart was troubled, he didn't try to compensate by overindulging himself or going shopping. He prayed, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew in me a right spirit.'

It is important to know the setting for our gospel reading this morning. Jesus speaks these words to His disciples in the Upper Room just before heading out to the Garden of Gethsemane where He would be betrayed, arrested, handed over to the Chief Priests and the Governor of Judea, unjustly accused, hatefully mocked, unmercifully flogged, brutally crucified and die. 

Knowing all that is about to take place, we might expect that if Jesus really loved these men as He says He does, He would say something to the effect of, 'well men, we've had a good run. I hope that you've enjoyed the adventure as much as I have. But as the saying goes, 'all good things must come to an end' and this is it. Do what you can to save yourselves from the wrath that is to come.'  At best,  in similar circumstances, that's what we would probably say. A gracious salute at the end of the line.

But Jesus says, 'let not your hearts be troubled.' He'll repeat Himself at the end of this same chapter saying, 'Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.' That's not just advice from Jesus, that's a command; but certainly a strange command from a man who knows that by this time tomorrow He will be a corpse laid out in Joseph's tomb. 

So, what is the basis for this confidence that everything is going to be okay that Jesus commands His disciples to have? 'Believe in God, believe also in Me.' In other words, ‘Trust me; Trust only ME’.

It is important that we understand the nature of this command correctly, 'let not your hearts be troubled.' This is a command that challenges our ‘free will’ as humans. In other words, if you choose to believe in false gods, if you choose to believe that your good works will save you, or your money, or your church membership, then 'let your hearts be troubled.' If you choose to believe that all religions and their gods are the same, and although they may take different roads, but they all end at the same destination, then 'let your hearts be troubled.' Let them be very troubled. Let your heart be so troubled that you repent and cry out for mercy and forgiveness from the God of mercy who loves to forgive, that the Holy Spirit restores your belief in God, and belief also in His Son, Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, 'Let not your hearts be troubled.' 

We should be very thankful to St. John for capturing this sermon of Jesus to His disciples in the Upper Room. None of the other gospel writers record any of this. All of John, chapters 14, 15, 16 and 17 is Jesus' sermon in which He gives His disciples reason after reason after reason to 'believe in God, believe also in Me,' so that even when the very bottom will seem to have fallen out of their life, they will 'not let their hearts be troubled.'Despite all outward appearances to the contrary, Jesus confidently declares 'I am the way, the truth and the life.' 

Let's flash back for a moment to the Old Testament. In the book of Exodus, we read that God's chosen people had left Egypt after the Passover. They hadn't gotten very far along in their journey to the Promised Land before they came to the Red Sea that blocked their way forward. When they turned around, they suddenly realised that Pharaoh had changed his mind about letting them go and a great army was bearing down on them from behind. They were completely hemmed in. 

Moses, the man of God, said to Israel, the people of God, 'let not your hearts be troubled.' His actual words were, ^(Ex.14:13) “Fear not! Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” The one thing that Israel needed to do in the battle of their life was 'be silent.' In other words, 'cease your crying and complaining and watch what the Lord is about to do for YOU.' In other words, 'believe in God.'
And sure enough, God opened the Sea and provided a way where there was no way. All that the people could see and feel in their heart was sure and certain death. But their reason and feelings proved to be untrue. Instead, God's Word was true. God provided life where there was nothing but death. 

Standing on the other side of the Sea, looking back, seeing how God had delivered them from captivity and death to freedom and life, they believed in God and confessed that ‘He is the way and the truth and the life’.

The truth is that the experience of Israel at the Red Sea is the experience that we must all one day have. Just as they stood face to face with their death, so, one day we will have to face our own death. Dr Martin Luther wrote: 'As we approach the shore of yonder life and are to disembark, we find death blocking our path. We cannot escape it. We must take a most perilous leap. My human reason judges that this is indeed a wretched end to life, to be carried away, to be buried under the earth, to be reduced to dust. And yet Christ declares that this is the very way to gain life and to come to the Father. So in that hour, you must ignore physical death, the grave ... Instead, Christ says, 'you must look upon Me. I have been for you the Way and the Truth and I have led you all through your life. I have protected you in all kinds of danger, lies, and deception; and I will also be the Lord in your death, and you will have life as surely as you now feel death.' (Luther’s Works: American Edition 24:49f: St. Louis: Concordia, and Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1958- ). 

Now, we return to our Gospel reading. Here, in the Upper Room, we see Jesus. Who is this Jesus whom our eyes are fixed on? It is important to understand that this Jesus whom we see here, is Israel, the people of God, all rolled up into One Man. God is bringing His people face to face with their death, and through this One Man, Jesus Christ, He is going to deliver them all. 

Jesus has come face to face with His death. He is hemmed in by the Chief Priests and Scribes and Pharisees in front of Him, and by Pontius Pilate and the Roman soldiers behind Him. There is nowhere to turn, no place to flee. He cannot escape death.

Incredibly, as Jesus faces His death, we hear Him say, ^{(John 11:27)} 'now my soul is troubled.' As He prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, he was ^{(Luke 22:44)} 'in agony and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.' Why doesn't He take His own advice to His disciples ' 'Let not your heart be troubled'? Why is Jesus in such deep agony as He faces His death? He is Israel hemmed in by the Sea and Pharaoh's army and He is experiencing their terror. He is you and me hemmed in by the devil and this sinful world and our own sin and our death that we cannot escape. He is experiencing our fear. And His heart is 'troubled.' 

^{(Hebrews.4:15)}  Reminds us: 'For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our  weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.'    

For all the times I have read the account of Christ's passion, it has always struck me that there is this complete change in His attitude after He finishes praying in the Garden. He goes from 'troubled soul' and 'agony and bloody sweat,' to remarkably calm and at peace throughout the entire gruesome ordeal. It is as though the Father had answered His prayer in the Garden saying, 'Let not your heart be troubled.' 'Fear not, stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.' 

And Jesus, being the perfect being, as the people of God were initially created in the image of God to be, 'believed in God' ' with all of His heart and soul and mind. He believed that God would provide A way where there was no way. He believed that God's Word was true, even when every ounce of reason and senses was in total disbelief; and firmly convinced that even out of death itself, God would bring life, Jesus went to the cross. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead, just as He promised He would. 

You see, Jesus is Israel. He is the one, holy, Christian Church all wrapped up in One Man. Do you see what that means? 

In our baptism, we have already stood before the Sea, hemmed by the devil, the world and our own sinful flesh behind us, and our death in front of us. But God has brought us through the water to the other side. Not apart from Christ Jesus, but in Christ Jesus. For 'We were baptised into Christ Jesus.' The enemy He defeated is our enemy. The sin He crucified in His body was our sin. The death He died was our death. And when God raised Jesus from the dead, He raised us as well. 

So, do not let your hearts be troubled, when you find that there is a cross that you must bear. Jesus has already brought you safely through it. Do not let your hearts be troubled, that your faith is weak, and you continue to doubt and fall into sin. Jesus has already atoned for your sin by His precious blood shed for you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, that you cannot escape death. Jesus has already prepared a place for you in His Father's house. Believe in God, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, who by the Holy Spirit will create in you a clean heart, and renew in you a right spirit. Do not let your heats be troubled, I love you and my grace will always be sufficient for you. Amen

The love and peace of our Great triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.