“THE SPIRIT: THE COMFORT OF CHRIST”
Saint John 16: 5-15
Cantate: 10 May Anno Domini 2020
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
God speaks. Jesus speaks. When Jesus speaks through His words recorded by the blessed Evangelists, or by His under-shepherds like Paul, Chemnitz, Penikis, and others, God speaks.
The Lord says “I go My way to Him that sent Me.”
Jesus is predicting two things. Yes, to be sure, He is prophesying that He will visibly Ascend to the “right hand” of Majesty, i.e. The Father, 40 days after Easter. That is the primary truth in this context of Christ’s words to the “12.” But, Jesus only Ascends, Glorified, to reign as your Intercessor, because He first went the “way of the cross.” The Father first sent The Son the way of actively obeying the Commandments and then passively the way of sorrows to Calvary—to suffering and death.
The Atonement and The Ascension are linked. Christ is not divided. His work for you is never to be parsed out and rationed. You don’t stop remembering your Baptism every day just because you receive a “corporate” Absolution on Sunday morning. You don’t abstain from the Weekly Mass just because you are Baptized.
The Disciples had sorrow fill their hearts because they did not want Jesus to leave them. They did not yet understand He would rise from the dead on the third day. They did not understand that after He Ascended that they, in fact, did NOT lose Him but rather had Him uniquely now in another miraculous, comforting, and sustaining way.
After His first “going away” into death and the tomb, Christ came again to them on Easter evening, but He did not come alone. He breathed on them—spirated on them the very wind/breath/air, of God the Holy Ghost—The Lord and Giver of Life.
But their own ordinations by Jesus—their being anointed with the Spirit to forgive the sins of the penitent and to retain the sins of the impenitent, would be officially recognized on the 50th day after The Resurrection. Then the Paraclete would fall upon them again—in the rushing of wind—signifying His own omnipresence and omnipotence. This comforter comes when the Sender departs visibly. The “12” would “see” Jesus no more, but they would have Him, have His Word, Have The Word, by way of The Holy Ghost. That is the comfort which is Peace with God. That is the comfort which surpasseth all understanding.
\What did The Comforter do when He came to the Apostles? Jesus told them: “but beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but The Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” [Mt. 10.17.20]. This same gift of The Spirit is your birthright, for indeed The Third Person gave you the same Spirit of Truth—Christ Jesus at your + washing, and Jesus in turn gives you the eternal presence of The Comforter—Who gives you Jesus again. What a seamless and interlocking web of love, family, and unity.
No one is a Christian, not the Disciples, not Saint Peter, not you, without the life-giving gift of faith worked by The Comforter. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “…no man can say that Jesus is The Lord, but by The Holy Ghost” [1 Cor. 12.3b]. Which is why you learned by heart from the Small Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith…” [SC. II.3].
The gifts of The Spirit are mentioned several times in complimentary ways in the New Testament, and they include: wisdom, knowledge, healing, prophecy, tongues, miracles, and administrations (i.e. oversight) all to aid the Apostles in their mission to “go and teach all nations, baptizing them in The Name of The Father and + of The Son and of The Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things…” [Mt. 28. 19-20]. But the greatest gift of The Comforter to them, and to you, is the gift of faith itself. For faith of itself is nothing. Faith does not believe in faith or live by faith, but rather faith is the “means,” the tool, the receiving hands, which receive, hold, and grasp tightly the content of Christ Crucified for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Jesus reproved the world of sin. He said “repent and believe.” His words then and those same words today—in your ears—are filled by The Holy Ghost with the same Jesus. You are judged as guilty as the Apostles and all other men who have lived or ever will live. But the Good News is that the same Word/The same Christ is your Righteousness by The Spirit. The Comforter guides you constantly back into the way of The Truth—The Way, Himself. He takes of Jesus’ words; of Jesus’ Body and Blood; of Jesus gracious washing in the water of life; and gives them all to you. The glory is not found in The Spirit for He always speaks Jesus not Himself.
The rightness of Jesus, Righteousness of God, is your comfort. The Holy Ghost guarantees this to you. You “see” Jesus no more but you hear Him and taste Him. You “see” The Father not at all but you pray to Him every day in The Name of His only-begotten Son, your Lord and your God. But what about The Comforter? Do you see Him? Do you hear Him?
Are you + Baptized? The answer is yes. Did you receive Holy + Absolution this morning? The answer is yes. Do you hear me now speaking Jesus’ obedient Love to the Father and His sacrificial Love on Calvary just for you, into your ears—Your sins are washed away in His precious Blood? The answer is yes. The Holy Ghost Comforts you!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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