Recently a small child asked me with some forcefulness ‘why can’t we see God or Jesus?’ A question which might immediately follow is ‘where is God?’ A question which today’s readings consider in different ways- is God outside us or within us? Is he an external agent exercising control or is he within each of us directing our minds and actions from within? Paul, in his defence of Christianity draws on the cultural and religious background of the Athenians to suggest that God ‘is not far from each one of us’. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’.
Jesus, speaking to his disciples as he shares his last meal with them knows that he will soon leave them and they will feel the absence of the man with whom they have shared the last three years; they will feel like orphans. I imagine we have all been struck by the seeming absence of God both in the world and in our own lives. In grief, in illness, when we see loved ones suffer or when we find ourselves repeating the same destructive habits or behaviours.
But Jesus promises he will not leave them orphaned and that in his absence another advocate, another helper, will be present. The Father, at his son’s request, will grant the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit. And yet this does not seem to be unconditional. Jesus says: ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.’ Does this mean that only if we keep Jesus’ commandments that we can be assured of the presence of the Advocate, commonly interpreted as the Holy Spirit?
Does this possibility give rise to alarm or misgiving as we hear Jesus’ words? Well, if we contemplate Jesus’ words we will notice that he does not say ‘if you love me, you will obey my commandments’, the word ‘keep’ has different connotations. It seems that keeping the commandments is a natural consequence of loving Jesus and so we might think of keeping in terms of ‘treasuring’ or ‘holding dear’. If we love someone we are likely to savour what they say and allow their values, beliefs and behaviour to direct our own actions. I believe it is in this way Jesus asks us to keep his commandments. Our Christian behaviour comes out of relationship with him.
Sometimes parents say they want their children to go to church so that they will know the difference between right and wrong. I am inclined to say ‘well, you’ve sent your child to the wrong place’ not because the fruits of our beliefs aren’t seen in love and goodness but because if we see church as simply teaching us the difference between right and wrong we risk having a utilitarian and ultimately secular view of our faith. The Christian faith is much more fundamentally about relationship than about knowing right from wrong. After all it is possible to obey the rules and feel indifference or dislike and resentment towards the person or body who issues those commandments. Jesus never asks his disciples to do the right thing, he asks them to love him and hold his way of loving in the world within them. Through doing so they themselves will live out this life of love, compassion and sacrifice. In this way Christ is made present in the world. It is the Holy Spirit which enables us to be his presence.
But it seems we cannot avoid the fact that the word ‘if’ does imply that there is likely to be some struggle involved. And this is made clearer when Jesus speaks of the Spirit of the truth as unacceptable to the world. The world cannot receive the Spirit as it neither sees him nor knows him.
What might this mean? The spirit of truth communicates to us two important truths; firstly that we as human beings inevitably sin and that we are in need of redemption, secondly that we are redeemed and that God loves us infinitely more than we can ever love ourselves. These truths are both challenging and liberating. They are challenging because they leave no room for fantasy and the world, the way of the world, is built on fantasy. In this day and age we can be led to believe the world belongs to us because ‘you’re worth it’, and conversely that we’re worth nothing at all, unless we are beautiful, wealthy, educated and of course we can always be more beautiful or whatever it happens to be.
By seeing our value and self-worth in worldly terms we risk closing ourselves off from God’s liberating love. A love which sees both our sinfulness and our uniqueness, dignity and inherent value as God’s children.
Of course, it’s easy to say that we must live our Christian lives so as to be open to the Spirit of truth but the power of worldly perception can easily shape our innermost desires and our sense of self-worth.
There is a parable about a pilgrim who goes to see a wise guru. After a long and arduous journey, when at last he has reached the guru he shares his problems. The man says ‘it is as if there are two dogs within me. One dog speaks words of condemnation, of judgment, this dog tells me I’m no good. The other dog is gentle and encouraging and loves me. All day long the two dogs fight within me. Tell me, which dog will win?’ ‘Whichever dog you feed’ replies the guru.
‘Whichever dog you feed’. As we process and filter the many voices that we hear in our world and within ourselves which voices, or which dog will we feed? The Holy Spirit is like the dog that encourages, is gentle and loving. The spirit may reveal to us uncomfortable or painful truths but all within the context of the same love and compassion that Jesus had and revealed to the world. It is this which we need to feed both as we address ourselves, and as we address others.
Today, after this service we will be thinking about a parish pilgrimage to the Holy Land. How might it feed us, both as individuals and as a church community? How might it help us to be Christ’s presence in the world, especially in a place where the history of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ is observable in the landscape but where his love and compassion might seem absent? These are questions those of us going on pilgrimage might like to think about. If you are not able to join the pilgrimage you might want to think nonetheless about a pilgrimage of the spirit, which will lead you to the places within your self where God is present, where the spirit of truth reigns and which will lead you to be God’s presence in the world.
Amen