If
you love me, do what I told you to do.
Jesus had just given them a
huge command. As much as I have
loved you so you must love one another.
Love so much that love
becomes your identity.
Put
yourselves in the shoes of the disciples.
I’ll paraphrase what Jesus put forth to them and maybe their thoughts.
Here’s
foot washing as my example of service.
OK, that one got me out of my comfort zone.
One
of you is going to betray me. I’m ready for
another miracle or parable or even getting my feet washed again, but not
that. That had to be gut wrenching.
OBTW—Peter,
you are going to wimp out here shortly and deny me.
Not Peter. Peter may not have
been the sharpest tool in the shed but he was always gung ho. If he wimps out, what about the rest of us.
I
know that you never really got the hang of loving your neighbor as much as you
love yourselves, but now I want you to love each other as much as I have loved
you. That’s
going from playing Legion Baseball to the Majors.
Just
to make things interesting, I’m not going to be with you for a while.
We have followed you for three years.
What will we do? For the past
three years we woke up and wondered where Jesus was leading us today. None of us even own a day planner.
Jesus
told his followers and friends that he was not orphaning them. They were not to be left without divine care.
The challenges might seem insurmountable, but the disciples would overcome the insurmountable and more.
Do
you remember when Jesus told Peter that what he was doing would not make sense
to him then, but later it would?
What
came later? The Holy Spirit, that’s
what. God’s own Spirit would walk with
and beside the disciples and in a short while would dwell within them.
Jesus
noted that this was a win-win. He would
finish the work that his Father sent him to do and then be with his Father once
more.
Jesus
would leave and the Spirit would come.
It would be a great trade. The
Spirit of God himself, who was present at the creation of the world would dwell
within those who sought God and worked to fulfill the words that Jesus gave
them.
This
Spirit that was to come doesn’t fit into one word. The Greek is pneuma. That is the
breath of God himself. This is God’s
Holy Spirit.
It
is the same Spirit that was at the creation of the world or ruach as the Hebrew people would come to call it.
Jesus
used another name, paraklétos.
We might say Advocate, Comforter, or Helper, but in all these names we
have God’s Spirit and we are not orphans.
God
is with us.
God
is within us.
This
is to paraphrase Jesus into the modern vernacular.
OBTW—all
that life experience that you have been soaking up but made very little sense
to you is about to come into focus. The
Spirit will bring into remembrance what you have been taught, observed, and
heard but did not understand.
The
Spirit will help you have a right-side up perspective on what
lies ahead of you. It won’t necessarily
be easy, but it will be evident that you are doing my will.
OBTW—receive my peace. Mine is way better than what the world is
selling. And I will say this again, do
not let your hearts be troubled. Do not be afraid.
Jesus coupled two statements that we
should receive together.
Do not let your
hearts be troubled and trust in
God and also in me.
So then…
Our hearts are not troubled because
the right people are going to win the elections. No.
Our hearts are not troubled because we
have a three-year supply of toilet paper. That's not it.
Our hearts are not troubled because
the stock market never really got that bad and the oil and gas industry is
slowly making a comeback. Nope.
Our hearts are not troubled because we
might get another stimulus check. Money
for nothing and your chicks for free… Not at all.
Our hearts are not troubled because we
might have a football season this fall. Close but no cigar.
Instead:
Our hearts are not troubled because we
are anxious for nothing.
Everything gets turned over to God in prayer accompanied with
thanksgiving.
Our hearts are not troubled because
our Father in heaven knows exactly what we need. He doesn’t give us a rock when we need bread. He gives good gifts and my heart will not be troubled.
I’m jumping ahead a couple
chapters. Jesus said that we would have trouble in the world.
He didn’t say it was a possibility.
He said that we would have trouble in the world.
That was not the end of the
thought. He said, take heart that he had
overcome the world. Take courage! The world is not in charge.
The psalmist counsels us to simply be still. That’s not just, stop talking. That’s be still in everything that we are so
we can realize that God is real and he is with us and he loves us and he will
not forsake us. In our stillness we hear his I Am.
So, do not let your hearts be troubled. Know that God is for real and he is for
us. Believe in him. We believe in God through our Master and
Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus.
Now we can
get into those times when it seems like we are left alone. Jesus told his disciples that he was going to
prepare a place for them. He wouldn’t
tell them this if it wasn’t so.
He told his
disciples that they should be happy for him.
Jesus was about to complete his mission and return to his Father.
But
the disciples were not going to be left on their own. They would not be orphaned. The Spirit would come.
We
are not left on our own. We are not
orphaned. We may be waiting with excitement
and anticipation for Jesus to come again, but he has not left us alone.
Jesus
told his disciples that darkness was coming.
We know that darkness has already come in our time, but we are neither
helpless nor hopeless for the Spirit of the living God is with us and within
us.
Yes,
it’s dark out there, but we have not been orphaned. We have not been left in the darkness
alone. Yes, I said it. We are not alone in the dark. God is with us.
Live
as one who is fully owned, fully obedient, and fully ready to respond to the
Spirit which lives within us.
We
have not been orphaned. Thanks be to God!
Amen.
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