Year C.The Holy Trinity John 16: 12-15 June 10, 2001
Title: “The Spirit of Truth”
At the Last Supper during his farewell speech Jesus teaches that human beings can only absorb his revelation gradually and that the Spirit, who is identical with him as he is with his Father, guides this process.
The Johannine Jesus is the truth (14:6); the Paraclete is the Spirit of truth (14:17; 16:13). Just as Jesus received everything from the Father and while on earth is the “way” to know the Father, so when Jesus goes to the Father, he will send the Spirit who will have received everything from Jesus in order to be the “way” to know Jesus. The difference between Jesus and the Paraclete is that Jesus is the divine Word become incarnate and the Paraclete is not incarnate in one body or person but dwells in all who love Jesus by keeping his word. Like Jesus the Paraclete is in a hostile relationship with the “world” which cannot see or recognize him nor could those “of the world” truly “see” Jesus- even though they could see him on the physical level. He also, like Jesus, serves as teacher, only now he explains the implications of what Jesus said whereas Jesus revealed and explained the Father. These were the themes of chapter fourteen.. They are now revisited and even repeated in chapter sixteen. Just as in chapter fourteen here there are two Paraclete passages: the first in 16:7-11, matching 14:15-17, regarding his conflict with the world; the second in 16: 13-15, matching 14: 25-26, regarding his teaching anew what Jesus taught. But in 14: 16, 26 the Father is said to send the Paraclete; in 16:7 Jesus is said to send him. This illustrates what Jesus means by saying in 10:30 “the Father and I are one.”
In verse twelve, “Many things to say to you,” this is the second function of the Paraclete, namely, to give further instruction to the disciples. This implies that the full apprehension of the truth is a gradual process.
You cannot bear them now. The basic idea of the Greek bastazein, the verb used here, is that they cannot understand now. Only after the resurrection and giving of the Spirit will there be fuller understanding of what happened and was said during Jesus’ ministry. Bastazein also carries the meaning of “bear up under” in the sense of persevering, under persecution.
In verse thirteen, “he will guide you into all truth,” John thinks of the Spirit’s guidance in exactly the same terms as Jesus’ teaching.
He will not speak on his own: Jesus constantly claimed that he was not speaking on his own authority, but saying only what the Father had told him to say. In the same way the Paraclete, the Spirit, is no independent source or force, but the transmitter and communicator of the Father now that Jesus is no longer physically present on earth.
And he will declare to you: The word translated as “declare” is Greek anaggellein. The Greek prefix ana has the force of “re-“ in English. Greek aggellein means “to tell” or “to announce.” The compound Greek anaggellein became a technical term for preaching the Good News. Thus, the Spirit will re-announce or re-proclaim what Jesus originally announced or proclaimed.
The things that are to come. Clearly this does not mean further revelation after the ministry of Jesus, since Jesus is the revelation of the Father, the Word of God. Rather it means that the Spirit will guide Christians of later generations in interpreting the contemporary significance of what Jesus has said and done.
In verse fourteen, “he will glorify me,” the Spirit will glorify, that is, make present and felt, Jesus by making present in the disciple’s consciousness what Jesus taught and Jesus himself and by actually performing Jesus’ mission through them, the subsequent disciples, the Church. He will do this by taking “take what is mine, my historical teaching, and “declaring it to you,” re-preaching it in the present historical situation. They, in turn, are to make it known to the world.
In verse fifteen, There is complete identity between the mission of Jesus and the mission of the disciples under the Spirit’s guidance. God has revealed and expressed his entire will and plan for humanity through and in Jesus. The Spirit, like Jesus, is the emissary of the Father. Thus, what the Spirit declares as given him by Jesus is the same as what Jesus received from the Father. Thus the Spirit continues to interpret the Father throughout history as Jesus did at a certain time in history.
Sermon
There are not three Gods in the one Trinity or each “person” of the Trinity is not one-third of the one God. The terms for the Trinity- Father, Son, and Spirit- are three different titles for the one God, describing a functional relationship. Just as the same person is father, husband, son, and brother, depending upon who is at the other end of these relational terms, so the same and one God is behind these three titles. Furthermore, each of these titles have sub-titles. The Father is also, in various contexts, called Creator, Sustainer, Most High, even Rock, Fortress, etc. The Son is also called Son of Man, Messiah, Redeemer, Savior, etc. The Spirit is also called the Paraclete, Spirit of Truth, even the Breath of God. So, the three terms that encompass and express the Trinity are different titles for the one God, titles, especially of address, more or less appropriate to a particular situation. Thus we use “Father” mostly when we experience and want to express God’s transcendence and our dependence or subservience. We use “Spirit” when we experience and wish to express and more fluid and less defined relationship with or experience of God. We, in fact, use many more titles for Christ- Word, Word Incarnate, Shepherd, Lamb of God, High Priest, King of Israel, Light. The list is long. Of course, these are more than honorific titles, just as father, son, uncle, brother, husband, wife, mother, sister are more than honorific. They describe functions and relationships we have with God. Moreover, “persons” in the Trinitarian formula refers not to “people-persons” but to its third century meaning of “aspect, mode, or movement.” Strictly speaking God is not a person, although Jesus is. God is more than a person, not less, not some impersonal or non-personal force.
This is what Jesus is teaching us in this text. Whatever can be said of the Father can be said of the Son. Whatever can be said of the Son can be said of the Spirit. It is just that different terms, titles, functions, relationships make one term more appropriate than another, depending on the context or situation.
The Spirit’s guidance along the way of truth involves more than a deeper intellectual understanding of what Jesus taught, although it includes that, of course. It involves a way of life. Revelation is not so much about matters of fact as it is about relationship. Matters of facts- the things of this world- are, of course, involved in learning about God. It is through them that God reveals his presence and the meaning of his presence. However, the attempt to reduce God’s revelation, revelation of himself as willing an intense, intimate relationship with humans, to doctrinal formulations or even moral principles is like making the shadow the reality instead of the other way around. Revelation is not about facts. It uses facts to communicate the reality of God and relationship with him. In eternity the facts will be irrelevant. Faith is first and foremost who “I believe in” and only secondarily and subsequently “I believe that…”
In the Old Testament the role of guiding humans was attributed to Lady Wisdom or, if you prefer, the more politically correct, “Wisdom Woman”. Just as Jesus patterned himself upon this personified divine Wisdom, so also the Paraclete’s role as guide is so patterned. The Spirit interprets what Jesus said and did in the historical past for the present generation and situation, as the living and continuing presence of Jesus. The Christian is not given in advance an exact knowledge of future facts but a deep understanding of Jesus for our time. Revelation goes on in us- not in the sense of factual knowledge or doctrine, but in the sense of deeper and ever growing personal knowledge of what it means to be in a relationship with the Triune God. This means that there is no end to our growth into God. Every experience of life- when seen in the light of revelation, knowledge- has a potential to deepen our identity with Christ and simultaneously extend the limits of our humanity or personality.
God can best be experienced as a community, a community who has entered into community with us, individually and communally, as Church, and whose love impels us to include others, all others, in this community of love.
Jesus revealed everything we need to know for salvation, but it has to be “unpacked” over each person’s lifetime and over the lifetime of the church.
We need guidance to determine what is truth and what is not and when and where to apply a certain aspect of truth to a particular situation.
The Spirit, that is, Jesus in spirit form or “mode”, gives that guidance.
The Spirit makes Jesus; now hidden presence manifest by recalling for us and interpreting for us the very words and deeds of Jesus during his earthly lifetime.
The Spirit is both the preaching, the Wisdom, and the prompting, the Power, of Jesus who is God.
Gradual Revelation: When Einstein formulated the theory of relativity, he did not create relativity. Relativity was always there as a truth hidden in the mystery of creation. It was not hidden to God, but to humans. It still worked before being discovered, however. The formulation of the theory did not start relativity in motion. It merely made explicit what was always implicit. So it is with the teachings of Jesus. When Jesus insists, throughout the Gospel according to John, that he is not speaking on his own, but only saying what his Father has told him or when he says that the Spirit “will not speak on his own, but will speak what he hears,” Jesus is referring to the same truth we just made about Einstein. Jesus did not make up what he taught out of whole cloth. He was telling folks, revealing to them, truths they could not or would not, discover on their own. Sin has blinded humanity to truth and even if humans can somehow see the truth, sin has also paralyzed humanity from applying that truth to real life. We require a savior, a divine emissary, to give us the “sight” we lost and to heal us from the paralysis we caused ourselves by sinning. Einstein did not discover the truth about relativity until the 20th century AD, but it was always there. Now, since Einstein, other great minds have been interpreting the meaning of this truth and applying its implications to all sorts of practical technologies as well as theoretical corollaries to that fundamental truth. While Einstein discovered the basic truth, the whole truth about relativity, he had to leave it to others to develop that truth and apply it to new contexts and situations. That is precisely what Jesus is saying in the text before us. Only, in the case of Jesus’ teachings it will take another divine teacher to “unpack” the truth he taught. Humans messed it up the first time and will do so the next time unless they are guided by the Guide, the Paraclete, the Spirit. Truth does not change, but when it is “unfolded,” not only discovered, the Greek word for “truth” is aletheia, un- or dis-covering, but applied, it can seem very different from its original form. Each growing person gradually broadens his or her vision of reality. The reality does not change; the vision of it and version of it seems to change because humans can only take and take in so much truth in one dose. In his wisdom Jesus gave us the power to gradually grow in the truth by giving us himself for all time in spirit form to guide, direct, empower us. Never again need sin blind us or paralyze us as we confront new situations, situations not specifically envisioned by Jesus in his teachings. Because he gave us the whole truth, however, we can listen to his Spirit to know what aspect(s) of his truth apply to what situations. But we do more than listen, more than intellectually know, we also have available to us the power to apply those aspects of the truth to concrete instances. We have both the light and the power, thanks to Christ and his Spirit, to be authentically human, an authentic image of God, “Truth.” There is no new revelation since Jesus, only the renewal of that revelation by living a life of love.
The Modes and “Moods” of God: The Father, Son and Spirit are not three realities or entities, but three modes through which the one God reveals himself to us and relates to us. They are human words for divine reality. We might say they are three sides of the same “coin.” The upside or front side heads, the downside or back side tails and the inside. Indeed, there are many examples of Trinitarian unity in the universe. “Persons” in the ancient formula refers to modes or aspects of God. We can also say that God creates certain “moods” or atmospheres whereby he comes us to us- transcendence as Father, immanence as Son and permanence as Spirit. Amen.
