All Filled Up?
John 14:15-27
Given all of the options for this week, why do I feel myself pulled back again and again to this lectionary text? Isn't this just a pullout from an exceedingly wordy discourse in John? We seldom hear Jesus go on and on in sermon style. Rather than cutting to the chase or telling a neat parable, that is what these verses of John seem to do. But they contain so many nuggets. The words from this scripture have found their way into many things as words of comfort, frequently in funerals to comfort the bereaved. But while this scripture promises peace and comfort, it goes beyond that as well.
As a mother of two, I remember looking back to when I was pregnant with my second child. How am I going to find enough love, time and energy for another? My heart is surely already filled to bursting with my husband and daughter. Pete and I semed to spend hours just staring into the amazing eyes of our daughter when she was first-born. Will I be able to love another child as much? Amazingly, the human heart seems to have an ever-expanding capability. Larger families are often proof of this - I have a friend with 11 children, and she would gladly welcome more.
I am reminded of the school tale about a jar. The teacher asks the students if the jar is full when she puts as many rocks into it as it can possibly fit. The stuudents' answers are split with some thinking it might hold more. The teacher replies no that the jar is not full and adds some pebbles. She asks again. More students think it is now full, but the teacher pulls out sand. The sands shift between the rocks, filling in the crevices. "Now," the teacher asks, "Is it full?" The class responds that yes the jar is full now. Not quite - the teacher pulls out water and adds it to the jar. The water, gently condenses the sand, trickles between and fills the pockets left . The jar is now full.
What is going to fill the empty space in the disciples lives when Jesus is gone? How are we to exist in this world alone? Jesus offers comfort by saying He will leave us His peace and the the Father will send us the Spirit. The Spirit will teach us and remind us of what Jesus has said. The translation of the Greek parakletos is Advocate or Comforter. This is what the Spirt is for us - both a comforter, challenger and defender.
Think to your favorite teacher - be it in school or a special life lesson. I am reminded of my father teaching my children to fish. He began with the knowledge of equipment needed and how to dress and prepare yourself for a day of fishing. You need proper clothes and sunscreen to protect yourself. You also need a life jacket if you are going to be on the water in a boat fishing. He carefully protected my children.
Given all of the options for this week, why do I feel myself pulled back again and again to this lectionary text? Isn't this just a pullout from an exceedingly wordy discourse in John? We seldom hear Jesus go on and on in sermon style. Rather than cutting to the chase or telling a neat parable, that is what these verses of John seem to do. But they contain so many nuggets. The words from this scripture have found their way into many things as words of comfort, frequently in funerals to comfort the bereaved. But while this scripture promises peace and comfort, it goes beyond that as well.
As a mother of two, I remember looking back to when I was pregnant with my second child. How am I going to find enough love, time and energy for another? My heart is surely already filled to bursting with my husband and daughter. Pete and I semed to spend hours just staring into the amazing eyes of our daughter when she was first-born. Will I be able to love another child as much? Amazingly, the human heart seems to have an ever-expanding capability. Larger families are often proof of this - I have a friend with 11 children, and she would gladly welcome more.
I am reminded of the school tale about a jar. The teacher asks the students if the jar is full when she puts as many rocks into it as it can possibly fit. The stuudents' answers are split with some thinking it might hold more. The teacher replies no that the jar is not full and adds some pebbles. She asks again. More students think it is now full, but the teacher pulls out sand. The sands shift between the rocks, filling in the crevices. "Now," the teacher asks, "Is it full?" The class responds that yes the jar is full now. Not quite - the teacher pulls out water and adds it to the jar. The water, gently condenses the sand, trickles between and fills the pockets left . The jar is now full.
What is going to fill the empty space in the disciples lives when Jesus is gone? How are we to exist in this world alone? Jesus offers comfort by saying He will leave us His peace and the the Father will send us the Spirit. The Spirit will teach us and remind us of what Jesus has said. The translation of the Greek parakletos is Advocate or Comforter. This is what the Spirt is for us - both a comforter, challenger and defender.
Think to your favorite teacher - be it in school or a special life lesson. I am reminded of my father teaching my children to fish. He began with the knowledge of equipment needed and how to dress and prepare yourself for a day of fishing. You need proper clothes and sunscreen to protect yourself. You also need a life jacket if you are going to be on the water in a boat fishing. He carefully protected my children.
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| No - not my family - but cool fishing pic.... |
You need to be prepared with the fishing pole, the bobber, the hook, and proper bait for the kind of fishing you are going to undertake. He prepared them for their work in the world.
But, then the real lessons begin. How to place the bait on the hook, how to select the right spot to try for a fish, how to cast the line to that spot. And then... the teacher sits by your side - sometimes in silence of accompaniment, sometimes in friendly conversation, sometimes in challenge of task at hand. The work of the task alongside the teaching of patience.
The gift of time and being with us is the closest comparison to how the Holy Spirit is with us for God does not give to us in the ways the world does but in ways beyond our wildest expectations. Sitting with us throughout our life journey, comforting us in times of need, bring peace to a world that seems to overwhelm with tumult and then pushing us to open our hearts to be willing to expand and then expand some more. The Advocate will be a defender when we need protection, but then much like our many teachers will push us out of the comfortable nest to fly and work in this world.
For isn't the best teacher the one who works themselves out of a job. The one who teaches us to serve and work for justice in the world. To be the tools of God - so filled by the Holy Spirit that we do not feel alone, and we serve so that none of the children of God are allowed to feel abandoned and alone. The Advocate is with us forever, we are never alone. The Spirit abides with us and is in us.
This Holy Spirit moves beyond and is more than our imagery of a peaceful dove, beyond and is more than the protector, the vengeance of a roaring flame, expands beyond the giving waters of life to imagery of a breath. A powerful breath that expands us and then expands us again to be more and more filled, never alone but filled with the love and power of the Holy Spirit.
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