Word to the Wise
Tuesday, May 19, 2020 - 6th Week of Easter - Tues
[Acts 16:22-34 and John 16:5-11]"Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not on of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. 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." [John]
One of the reasons one can get lost in Jesus' Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper in the Gospel According to John is that it seems to be the memory of more than one person, woven together without concern for consistency!! In Chapter 14, verse 5, Thomas asks Jesus the very question, "Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" Yet, today's passage from Chapter 16, verse 5, Jesus says "Not one of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'" The difference lies in the context invoked by the memory. The first concerns the person of Jesus, "I am the way and the truth and the life." The second concerns the "Advocate" or the future coming of the Holy Spirit, which, in this Gospel, will occur right after the resurrection when Jesus appears to the disciples - John 20:22!
Both the person of Jesus and the person of the Holy Spirit and their connection to the Father come into play here and would provide material for one of the great disputes in Christian theology which resulted in the Nicene Creed, the "Filioque" dispute - who sent whom?!! Did the Father send the Spirit or did the Son or did both? The next time you recite the Nicene Creed, you will say the line: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord giver of life WHO PROCEEDS FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON! Lots of blood, sweat and tears were shed before those words were settled and left a division in the church that lasted centuries!
The Farewell Discourse will continue to challenge us until we celebrate Pentecost at the end of this month! Stay tuned! AMEN