THOUGH TROUBLED
Sermon on Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016
Acts 2:1-21 and John 14:8-17, 25-27
TROUBLED. Are you ever troubled?
Sometimes we are afraid – for specific reasons: our significant relationship is ending, either broken or death nears; change is approaching and we have no idea what that means or how we will deal with; we have a sense of uneasiness – we can't put our fingers on it, but it's there.
TROUBLED. Sometimes there is a sense of randomness to our lives that is beyond both our comprehension and our control. Accidents happen, but then they happen to us or to people we love. Illnesses happen, but then they happen to us or to people we love. Troubled.
The disciples know about being troubled. Jesus has just told them that he will be leaving them. Not on a vacation. Not on a study break. No. He will die. More exactly, he will be executed. And now they are troubled. Their hearts are afraid. Their minds race. What's all of this been about? All that he has done. All that he has said. All that he has promised. Is it all going up in smoke? Was it all – one big delusion or worse yet, a lie? THEY ARE TROUBLED!
He realizes this. He addresses them directly. He makes a promise – an important promise. His promises are important for two reasons. Firstly, He keeps his promises. And secondly – His promises address actual needs of the people, in this case the disciples.
He tells them that even though he is leaving them, that he will not leave them orphaned. God, His Father and their father will send them an advocate. The actual Greek word here translated as Advocate is Paraclete, which means one who will come alongside of them, one who is part of God's own self who will be with them and for them.
They so desperately need this Advocate, this Spirit of truth. For they live in difficult times. There is the Empire that they are caught up in, which tells them to be afraid, to do exactly as they are told. But this Advocate that God will send them as Jesus leaves will enable them to overcome their fear, to in the midst of all their experiences know the truth – that God is God, the Ultimate, that they are loved by God and called to love others no matter what, to share the truth of their experience of God in Jesus. They are after all, God's own children.
And so are we. And so we too also need this Spirit of truth. We need to know and experience who Jesus is and therefore whom we also are. Because we too are part of an empire, a culture that surrounds us, some of which is good, but some of which is deceptive, spinning truth – having us believe that we have to have this or we have to do that to matter, to belong, to count. It is so tempting to believe that – to get caught up in competition with others as our means of validation, which is all so empty, so delusory. The Spirit leads us through that to the truth of Jesus, God, ourselves and our world.
For this Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father sends is the \spirit of truth. He/She will teach us everything we need to know along the way of life. This Advocate sometimes comforts us. At others times this Advocate pushes , giving us wings to move out of our comfort zone. This Advocate reminds us of all that Jesus has said to us opening our eyes and minds for what that means right now. Love God with everything you have. This means trusting God with everything we have – time, talents and possessions – loved ones. Love yourselves. Not easy, but the Spirit guides us. Love your enemies. Impossible, but the Spirit changes impossibility into reality. Don't be afraid! Are you kidding. But the Spirit, this Advocate reminds us, we are not alone. God is present with us. And we hear Jesus' words in the rest of this chapter of John addressed first to the early disciples but also to we who come after them: "I am leaving. Where I am going you cannot go now. But I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am there will be. I will not leave you orphaned."
Yes, God sends us a part of God's own self after Jesus has died and been raised. This part of God is beside us, with us, for us. This Advocate, is truthful. He/she speaks in way not designed to hurt us, to grind our noses in our own sin and shortcomings but to help us, to lead us, to see God and others, to love as we are being loved, to forgive as we are being forgiven, to live not just exist. This One coming alongside of us is God's own Self, God's own Spirit, our advocate.
It sounds and seems so incredible because it is. After all we are just men and women, teens and children. After all we are just young and old, sometimes trying to get by – afraid, excited, happy, sad, joyful, mourning, forgetful, remembering. We are just mortals, creatures of the earth. But then God approaches in jesus and the Spirit and comes to live WITH US. AND everything and everyone including us changes. When the Spirit comes there is change – death to some things, some parts of ourselves but then , O thanks be to God, new life. Amazing!
Finally, both to those early disciples and to we later would-be disciples there is the promise Jesus also offers in speaking of the Advocate, God's own Spirit given to us, peace. This isn't peace in the sense of no hostilities or no unknowns or no uncertainties, some kind of floating experience like that when one has had too much wine. The truth is when we are following Jesus there is often opposition from without and within. There are forces both within and beyond ourselves that want to push us back from seeing the truth of God and ourselves, forces that would have us shut down, shut up, close our eyes. But these forces are not a match for God and God's Spirit the Advocate who is with us, working among us and even in the face of such forces, whether they acknowledge that or not. The Advocate brings a peace that passes understanding to us, among us even as our minds race, our hearts thump and our stomachs churn.
So, Jesus says, "Let not your hearts be troubled". These are words from our Lord to his earliest followers even as he faced death head on. Be not afraid. Woprds from our risen Lord to his earliest disciples hiding behind doors when they hadn't yet realized that he was alive, no longer dead. Dear children, words from the risen Lord through the Spirit of God to St. Paul, as he was writing to the early Christians in Rome.
My dear people, we have an advocate, God's own Spirit. This is God's promise to us – one that is bestowed first in our baptism. It is because of this Spirit of god that we have heard and hear God speaking to us. It is through the Spirit that we have been washed , die and rise. It is because of God's Spirit that you have come to worship today. And it is through this Spirit of God that we can live with hope and love, with new beginnings – that we can face death not with despair or resignation but trust.
Finally it is because of this Spirit, this Advocate alongside of us, with us and for us that we are called to testify, to be witnesses in word and deed to the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We do not need to be afraid. Our hearts do not need to be troubled. Believe in God and God's Son, Jesus the Christ – for the Spirit calls us, gathers us and enlightens us.
Thanks be to God! Hear the Spirit even now! Amen.