Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Monday, June 13, 2022 - John 14:18-31
Monday, June 13, 2022
Daily Lectionary Readings: Proverbs 13:1-25; John 14:18-31; (1 Maccabees 12:24-53)
John 14:18–31
[18] “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. [19] Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. [20] In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. [21] Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” [22] Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” [23] Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. [24] Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
[25] “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. [26] But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. [27] Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [28] You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. [29] And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. [30] I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, [31] but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. (ESV)
How do we know we are Christians? How are we confident that we are born again? The world can not help you because the world does not have or acknowledge the Holy Spirit. That is part of bearing the cross: the world's unbelief, disdain, even ridicule. Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to dwell in them. And since the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has been with every believer. That makes you God's child. That is what Jesus means when He said, “I will not leave you as orphans.”
When Jesus says He comes to us, He is referring not only to His coming on the last day but His eternal presence in Word and Sacrament in this age. He ascended to heaven, and His disciples no longer saw Him as they once did, but they saw Him in His Holy Supper just as we do. The Holy Spirit grants you the faith to discern His presence.
In God's family, there are no orphans, no lost or abandoned souls. The saints of Christ's church on earth all share the same Holy Spirit. Those who love Jesus are loved by the Father, loved by Jesus, and Jesus manifests Himself to them in His holy Word, and His body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith. Because He first loved us, we can love our neighbor, we can love God, we can do truly good works of benefit to our neighbor (which is what keeping the commandments looks like), and we can have knowledge of our sins and seek repentance. The Holy Spirit does all of this. Because of Christ's love and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can face our problems head-on and dwell in the midst of an unbelieving people in a hostile world. While the nature of God is a mystery and the Holy Spirit especially so, there is no mysticism involved. There are no incantations, spells, or potions. No peculiar behavior. Just a simple life lived for others, abiding by simple rules and believing a simple truth – though to the world it is a hidden one – that God so loved you that He died for you. All we do is believe. That is true peace.