+ In the Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In this morning’s Gospel Jesus loses his cool: “Have I been with you so long, and still you do not know me?”
Have you ever felt like Jesus? Have you ever wanted to take someone by the shoulders and shake him or her and say, “Have I been with you so long, and still you do not know me?!”
This is one of the few passages in John’s Gospel where we see Jesus at his most human, and who can blame him? His disciples have been with him for three long and intense years. They have heard him preach and teach; they have seen him heal people and even raise Lazarus from the dead.
And now, tonight, he’s running out of time. It’s the Last Supper. It’s his last chance to prepare his disciples for what’s coming, and suddenly he realizes that his disciples don’t even know the basics! “Have I been with you so long, and still you do not know me?”
But having vented his frustration, Jesus gets right down to work, and gives his disciples― and us― 5 Steps to knowing him.
Step Number 1: Believe me.
“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves” (14:11).
When Jesus says “Believe me” the real meaning is “Trust me.” Of course then as now, words may be cheap, so Jesus tells his disciples to trust him if not because of his words then because of his works― his healing, his feeding, and his forgiving.
Step Number 2: Work for me.
“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” (14:12).
Jesus’ work is now our work because he is “going to the Father.” Now it’s up to us to heal, feed, and forgive. And yet, somehow, even though people are being healed, and fed, and forgiven through us, it’s still Jesus who’s doing it:
“I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it” (14:13-14).
Step Number 3: Love me.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (15).
Notice that Jesus does not say “If you keep my commandments, you will love me.” We can’t prove our love for Jesus by keeping his commandments, but if we love Jesus then keeping his commandments will naturally follow because all of his commandments are summed up in this one: “love one another as I have loved you” (13:34).
Step Number 4: Receive the Holy Spirit.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you” (15-17, 25-26).
To “receive the Holy Spirit” does not mean a kind a passive receiving, but like a receiver grabbing a football out of the air. We need to embrace the Holy Spirit so the power of the Spirit can break forth in our lives.
The Holy Spirit is often called “the Advocate” in John’s Gospel. The word is a Latin translation of the original Greek word for someone who is called alongside to intercede for another person, to plead for another person, or comfort another person.
Jesus calls the Holy Spirit “another Advocate” because Jesus is also our Advocate, as John assures us in his First Letter: “If anyone sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1b-2).
The Holy Spirit is also called “the Spirit of Truth” not because the Spirit is truthful, though of course the Spirit is, but because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus who is the Truth.
If you’re ever tempted to act in an unchristian way, and suddenly remember the inconvenient truth that Jesus wants us to love one another as he loves us, that’s the Holy Spirit reminding you.
Step Number 5: Receive my Peace.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” (14:27).
Peace is Jesus’ last bequest to his disciples before his death, and peace is Jesus’ first gift to his disciples after his resurrection: “Peace be with you.”
So those are Jesus’ 5 Steps to Knowing Him:
Believe him.
Work for him.
Love him.
Receive the Holy Spirit.
Receive his Peace.
“Have I been with you so long, and still you do not know me. . . Bill?”
I don’t know about you, but my shoulders are awfully sore.
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