“THE HELPER”
Saint John 16.5-15
Cantate - The Fourth Sunday after Easter: 24 April Anno Domini 2005
Fr Watson
The Son returned to the Father because His work of obedience and sacrifice were over. His work of Salvation was done, is done, but His work of delivering His Grace continued and continues. His visible tasks were completed. His invisible intercessions and comforts continued, and continue.
The Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity returned not to some spatial "Mount Olympus," some physical point, but rather He stepped off our retina screens to an even more real "reality," the fullness of inter-Trinitarian Communion. He is at the "Right Hand of Majesty."
This is good, right and salutary. Your Lord hasn't left you. Though He cannot be seen by eyes, He is seen by the gift of faith which He has poured into your hearts; by the "Helper." The Christ is not absent from your earthly "field of vision" to be away from you so that you mourn, weep, and disconsolately stumble through life, but rather He is where He constantly strengthens your faith; by the "Helper." There can be no faith in that which is seen and grasped only by the five senses: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." [Hebrews 11.1]
When the Lord became fully glorified upon His Resurrection, when He
had forever laid aside His "state of humiliation," He would no longer
interact with His disciples the way He had during His three-year ministry.
He chose in His infinite, omniscient, counsel to cease congregating with
them in groups of twelve; in places confined to upper rooms, Galilean
villages, boats and open markets. He chose instead to dwell with myriads
and myriads of His newly won brothers and sisters wherever two or three of
them were gathered; i.e. wherever His word would be preached and His
Holy Ordinances administered. He gives His Love and Compassion through
His Word, through His Word applied in Water and Body
So, now, your eyes are "held" from beholding Him physically, from "seeing" Him fully, for a while. But He is still here. How? He has sent you the "Helper." He has given to His Church the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit does not come to you by your own workings, preparation, "good deeds," inner struggles and prayers. The Spirit comes to you through the Word of God preached and delivered. The "Helper" arrives only through God's appointed means. But when He calls you by the Gospel and enlightens you with the free gifts purchased and won by Jesus' life, blood, death, and righteousness, you've got everything worth having. The Holy Ghost is not some "spooky" esoteric, spiritual feeling or trance. The Spirit is not speaking like a chattering chimp or being some kind of "super-Christian" who never sins. The Holy Helper is God giving you Himself the way He has chosen to impart Himself; through His Word. God is Spirit. God is truth. The Holy Spirit comes to you through, in, and with your hearing the Holy Scriptures. He brings you the Truth of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist. He convicts you of your sin when He stings, and then slays your conscience with the Law: the Holy Commands which you bend and break. He lifts you up and restores you to full life by giving you the beating heart of Jesus, the pumping and flowing blood of God, the embrace and tender forgiveness of the Good Shepherd.
We would wish that all of this might be more flashy; more interesting and dynamic. We yearn for our "staring role" on the stage of Redemption. We sin in our pride, with our ego and by our will. But by the power of God, the real dynamic, the Holy Ghost comes to you, points you in the direction of the real "stage," the Cross of Christ. The Spirit lets you hear the Word of God, the Words of Jesus Himself: "take eat, this is My Body for the forgiveness of your sins; take drink, this is My Blood of the New Testament." The Spirit declares to you through the Word, the Truth of Jesus' love. The Spirit through the Word, gives you the Truth of Jesus Himself; He is not absent, He is not distant; He is as close as the Scriptures, the daily drownings of your Baptisms, the Meal of Life, and the Word of Absolution.
In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost