Can't Get No Satisfaction?
The Day of Pentecost, May 19, 2013 (John 14:8-17, 25-27) with Acts 2:1-21 in b.g.
I speak to you only by the grace of God in Jesus Christ our Lord, through the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes its crunch time. Sometimes it's that time when we find out what really matters, what we truly believe in. Jesus has told the disciples that he soon must leave them. He will soon die. It is then Philip says to him, "Show us the Father and we will be satisfied!"
It's a monumental demand. Philip asks Jesus to somehow put God in a small enough "box" that he and the other disciples would then be able to "see" or comprehend God. Then they would be satisfied.
Ah yes, SATISFIED. Fill our stomachs and we will be satisfied (for a moment or two). Titillate our minds, tickle our curiousity and we will smile. Stroke our egos and for an instant we will feel good. Scratch our backs and like my chocolate lab we may utter a contented moan. But is satisfaction what we need? Is satisfaction what the world needs?
As we hear Jesus speaking in John's Gospel today, He has just told His disciples that He will soon leave them. He is going to suffer and be killed. The disciples are beside themselves. They are afraid, unsure of what to do. What will it be like without him? How will they be able to live. It is then that Philip makes this demand of Jesus: "SHOW US THE FATHER AND WE WILL BE SATISFIED!"
But Christ doesn't seem to be interested in such satisfaction. Rather Christ's intention (in John's Gospel) is for all to know God the Father, for all to somehow live in and from God the Father. To that end Christ promises that He will ask the Father. After Jesus has died the Father will then give the disciples the "Spirit of truth."
So we face this stark contrast. Philip wants to be satisfied. He wants this satisfaction, even gratification now! But Christ is about something very different. Christ wants Philip and all people to experience the very presence of God. From God being present they will begin to know God. There is a huge difference, a chasm greater than the regional disparities in Canada between these two realities of satisfaction/gratification and intimate knowledge.
My grandmother came to live with my father, my mother and me when I was 8 years old. Now my grandmother was old school. At her table each person was expected to take something of everything. Once you had something on your plate, you ate it. In fact you remained at the table until everyone there had eaten everything on their plates.
Nor did my grandmother's stickiness relegate itself merely to the kitchen. She refused to tolerate sloppy grammar, lack of respect for others or lies. Truth telling was near the top of my grandmother's list of important things to be and do. Whenever I was dishonest or disrespectful I would experience her hand on my bottom.
She stretched me in other ways too. As I grew older she would quiz me about my understanding of world events. We would then engage in a sometimes heated dialogue. In retrospect I suspect that her goal was to teach me to think clearly, to be able to express both my thoughts and feelings while providing logical support for them.
My grandmother loved me dearly. I could tell this both by what she said and what she did. Her words and actions usually hung together. I later figured out that much of her "stickiness" was for my own good.
When my grandmother died at the age of 96 I was 30 years old. Despite her death so long ago, I continue to remember her. In some ways it is like she is still present. After all I am using her relationship with me as an illustration of a strong, ever-present love even now. She often refused to satisfy my whim. Nevertheless she most certainly loved me. I am partially who I am because of her strong, unfailing love for me and for this world.
Now Jesus didn't come to satisfy Philip or us with magic or even miracles. Nor does Jesus come to prove some philosophical truth, so that we might feel we know something that others don't. Rather Jesus comes to introduce us to, to enable us to trust and experience God. Just as Jesus promised his earliest followers – after His death they will be gifted with His Spirit, the very spirit of God.
Through the Spirit we experience God's calling in our lives. Jesus keeps His promise. He prays to God the Father that God's very Spirit will inhabit us, live within us and among us.
It is God's Spirit that has brought us to this place this morning. It is that Spirit that invites us again and again to "see" Jesus, to trust Christ, to dare to obey Him. It is that Holy Spirit that commands us to share Christ's dreams of justice and mercy for all: where all people will have adequate food, shelter, educational and health care opportunities. It is that Holy Spirit that causes us to examine our own lives in this regard. Are we doing what we can to advocate for, to help others? Could we, should we change some of the ways we live to better serve others? It is God's Holy Spirit that causes us to honestly turn to God for forgiveness when we fail. It is God's Holy Spirit that then enlivens us and sends out with new energy, hope and perseverance to be an active part of Christ's dream.
That's what Pentecost was. That's what Pentecost is – the very Spirit of God coming to so many different people and uniting them in service to and praise of God. These people are often far from satisfied, frequently confused, sometimes terrified, even often unable to imagine that God could work miracles in and through them. Nevertheless God does work in and through them!
May this Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of God, blow like a rushing wind on us and among us. It is God's Spirit that can move us beyond selfish demands for satisfaction to a different reality – a reality that is marked by a deep hunger to know and obey God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such obedience will serve the well being of all! Amen.