Word to the Wise
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 - Tuesday in the Sixth Week of Easter
[Acts 16:22-34 and John 16:5-11]But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
The gospel scripture is still coming from the "Farewell Discourse" of Jesus at the Last Supper. Although scripture scholars debate why Jesus says " I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'" since Thomas has already asked that very question back in chapter 14:5, we must recall that the Farewell Discourse is the product of more than one "memory" of the event. In both chapters 14 and 16, the point of Jesus' statements about going away is to prepare the disciples for both his "absence" and his "presence." He will be absent in the sense that physically he will not longer be with them. He will be present through the abiding Spirit. It is only when the Spirit comes that the disciples will fully understand all that Jesus has taught them. It is this Advocate who would sustain them in the trials and persecutions that would come, and were already happening when the gospel was put into writing. Two thousand years later we are still being instructed by this same Holy Spirit in diverse ways. There is the presence of the Holy Spirit in each of us as baptized persons as well as in the collective reality of the Body of Christ. We cannot separate ourselves from that collective reality and hold on to our own individual special "portion" of the Holy Spirit. That would be a contradiction in terms because the very purpose of that "presence" IS to make us a part of the Body of Christ. There is also the presence of the Holy Spirit in the special teaching office of the church leadership - the successors of the apostles. Finally, the Holy Spirit is manifested in the various "gifts" that come forth to serve the People of God - the "charisms" that St. Paul speaks about in his letters. The famous 13th chapter of the First Letter to the Corinthians on "love" is an example of a gift from the Holy Spirit. The Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper can be a challenge to read or listen to. (It has this in common with many after-dinner talks!) But when it is placed in context with all that Jesus had previously said and done in the Gospel of John, and related to the other "memories" of Jesus in the New Testament, it's richness and depth become available. We would do well not to doze off over the coffee! AMEN
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