Bob Maddox's Blog

John 16:12-15; Romans 5:1-5
May 30, 2010
Sunday morning, 9:00 in the Parlor
With Bob Maddox

John 16:12-15
‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

John 16:12-15
John inserts these verses in a much longer passage surrounding Jesus’ last night with his disciples. Chapter 13 opens with the scene of Jesus gathering the disciples for Passover Supper. Interestingly enough, John does not actually portray the supper as we find in Matthew, Mark and Luke. John concentrates on the act of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.

In this scene Jesus again predicts his death. He warns that one of them will betray him. In enigmatic language, characteristic of all four of the gospels, Judas leaves to do his dastardly deed. Did Jesus know what Judas intended? Did Jesus’ accusation turn Judas against Jesus? Did the other disciples figure out Judas intentions? The texts are simply not clear. But in the narratives Judas leaves and plays a despicable role in the betrayal and arrest.

In John’s gospel, after the foot washing and Judas’ departure, Jesus launches into an extended discourse that runs from John 13:31-all the way through chapter 17. That’s a long speech. Again, in all likelihood, we have here the compilation of memories of many such speeches Jesus made to his disciples in the course of training them for their future assignments. Or, these speeches could have come from John simply putting grand and noble words in the mouth of Jesus some fifty or sixty years after the actual events. Maybe these lines are what Jesus would have said. Certainly the speeches reflect the ideas and aspirations of the developing Jesus movement. The speeches also fit perfectly into John’s overall approach to the telling of his Jesus story. Whereas the other gospels contain parables and rather cryptic short sayings of Jesus, aphorisms, John has Jesus making long speeches. John’s gospel has Jesus drawing more and more attention to himself as the unique Son of God. The other three concentrate on Jesus’ teachings about the Kingdom of God and downplay notions that he himself might be unique. The way John spotlights Jesus reflects also the growing affirmation among the Jesus people of the late first century and early second century that he was indeed the Son of God, the unique messiah.

At any rate, this extended section contains some of Jesus’ most important and soaring statements. John 14 has blessed millions of mourning friends and families as they bid farewell to deceased loved ones: “In my Father’s house are many mansions…” “I go to prepare a place for you…” Then he says “If you love me, keep my commandments…” “Chapter 15 gives us Jesus’ “I am the vine, you are the branches…” And running through this long discourse Jesus says in several ways, “Love one another as I have loved you…”

In this discourse Jesus clearly promises the coming of the Paraclete, the “One Who Will Stand With You” the Holy Spirit, when the world crashes down around you. Again, this statement reflects the ever-expanding ways the third generation people of the Jesus movement were experiencing the powerful stirring by the infusion of God’s energizing spirit.

Chapter 17 contains the soaring last prayer of Jesus in which he identifies himself most directly with God as Father. This chapter came to play a major role in future generations as the church fathers worked out the doctrine of the Trinity trying to figure out how Father, Son and Holy Spirit interrelate.

Chapter 18 takes Jesus into the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus’ final drama actually begins.

Now to today’s text.
Jesus promises his disciples much more to come. Jesus wants to tell his close friends words they were not yet ready culturally, spiritually, emotionally to hear. Rich Smith will explore this tantalizing, forward-looking text Sunday morning. I have a sermon from this text by James Forbes, the magisterial UCC preacher and former pastor of the great Riverside Church in New York City. In his inimitable style Forbes tries to imagine some of the “more to come” words from Jesus. That particular sermon focuses on the need for the Christian community to hear God’s new words about human sexuality especially issues connected to Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender people as part of the human family. Forbes says we need to hear Jesus’ words coming down across the centuries that are, at last, finding lodging in our hearts and churches and society these days.

As I write, the US Congress has all but repealed the repressive laws dealing with “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” I believe that’s a word that Jesus would have told his friends back then that he certainly wants us to hear today. Of course, Jesus would probably have urged no wars and hence to military. Given the human bent to war and military, he would have advocated for fairness and justice. Still, given Jesus’ compassionate practicality he would not have wanted DADT.

What else did Jesus want to tell them they were not yet ready to hear? Abolish slavery. Treat everyone with justice. Women should have their full and rightful place in society. Children are not commodities. The earth does not belong to us, especially to us Americans. God pays no attention to skin color nor should we. The church should be in the world as well as in the sanctuary. And on. Take a minute and hear new/old stuff Jesus wants to say to you that hitherto you’ve not been willing to embrace.

The Spirit will give us guidance, Jesus says. John calls the Spirit a “He.” In reality, most scholars these days say the more accurate gender translation of Spirit should be “She.” Some say the Catholic world’s attraction to Mary comes from the church’s over-emphasis on male orientation of Christian theology, that we need the female dimension stripped away by male domination. Maybe as we re-understand that Spirit under a more female genre, some missing piece of our collective psyche can be reinvigorated.

Another cautionary word about being led by the Spirit: The Spirit can be trusted. Nothing takes the place of remaining open to the Spirit of God. At the same time we need the faith community, a good measure of history and a large dose of common sense to help us discern the difference between coaching of the Spirit and untutored, untamed impulse.

Romans 5:1-5
Now look at the passage from Romans especially the opening line “Therefore, {since} we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…”
That’s a word from Jesus his disciples that fateful night could not yet hear. They were still largely locked into a religious system that emphasized proper religious ritual. Jesus sought to alter that course for his friends, to redirect them to the profoundly spiritual, internalized relationship with God as seen in the greatest of their ancient prophets. It took Paul’s personal journey with the Risen Jesus to come to his own grand trek on the road to genuine relationship with God. As much as he loved the richness of the best of his Jewish traditions, he had to come to his own personal relationship with God. He found that way through faith in God, a way shown to him by his growing experience with the Risen Jesus.

Actually God had promised Abraham something like that a long time ago (Genesis 15:6). In a panic of doubt and confusion in his life, God came to Abraham assuring him that belief (faith) in God brought justification, relationship, with God. The word from Jesus that Paul got some years later says Abraham and the rest of us become connected to God through our faith. Lest we boast about our own faith, Paul reminds us in several places that even the capacity for faith comes as a gift from God. What we know about our collective humanity these many centuries down the pike teaches that all people everywhere have some measure, some form of faith. Faith is part of the human DNA. Faith, like breathing is part of human existence. So is prayer. So is longing for a better life. So is a profound desire for our families to be safe, housed, fed and cared for. What an astounding promise from God to Abraham, to Jesus, to Paul to us: faith is the way to God. Make no mistake, faith can run off the rails. On the other hand, the more focused on God, the Other, the Holy, the Here-and Beyond that our faith becomes, the greater the possibility we can live the lives God desires for us. The guys on the latest Staples TV ad shout, Wow! That’s a low price!” When I hear Jesus’ word through Paul I shout, “Wow! That’s a great promise!”

I hope you make an extra special effort to attend Westmoreland on Sunday. It’s a holiday. Sometimes folks (certainly not Westmorelanders I am certain) tend to play off even if they do not go out of town. As always we have a terrific service planned and it is next to the last Sunday worship for Rich Smith before he heads West.

Remember the celebration for Rich and Pam next Friday night. Get your tickets.

Robert L. Maddox