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"These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.
"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."
- John 16:1-15
Over the course of this week, we have been reading Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His disciples, before His betrayal and arrest. We began on Monday, when Jesus taught, "In My Father's house are many mansions." On Tuesday, we read that He told us, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you." In Wednesday's reading, Jesus told them, "I am the vine, you are the branches." Yesterday, we read a final commandment Jesus leaves with them, and us: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.' But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."
"These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service. And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me. But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you." We remember that at the time John's Gospel was written, a terrible persecution was going on for members of the Church, so when Jesus warns of being put out of the synagogues, this is a very personal message for the disciples, all Jewish followers of Jesus. But the message of persecution can be taken everywhere that Christians have been persecuted, including the Roman world of the time period as well. It's important that we understand Jesus has specifically informed them that those who seek to kill them will believe that they offer God service, because it is a distinct preparation for what is to come. Indeed, St. Paul himself was one of these who did so. The warning is given now so that they will be equipped and prepared for what is to come, after He is gone.
"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart." My study bible notes here: "The word sorrow means 'extreme grief, leading to a state of severe depression,' which is a sinful passion. Thus, St. John Chrysostom writes, 'Great is the tyranny of despondency.' This sin is also constantly referred to in the writings of the Desert Fathers. Even when the world hates true Christians, they must not become despondent, but take comfort from the Holy Spirit. The disciples are troubled not only because Jesus is leaving them, but also because of the ongoing struggle between light and darkness, between Jesus and the prince of this world." Let us remember the sorrows the disciples have gone through, that none of us are immune to them, but that they must be endured as we abide in Him, along with others who help to strengthen us. Here the disciples seem to be so distressed as to be unable to even ask Him where He is going.
"Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged." Here is the light in the darkness: the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will come to them. My study bible says that "through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the world will be convicted, that is, proved wrong and judged about: (1) sin -- the ultimate sin is not to believe in Jesus as God and man, crucified and resurrected; (2) righteousness -- a right relationship with God, possible only through Christ, risen, ascended, and righteous before God; (3) judgment -- all who reject Christ, and are under the sway of the devil, will be given the same penalty their ruler has already received." Jesus seems to say that the ruler of the world is judged through His life and mission incarnate in the world, and thereby the Holy Spirit is free to do His work of witnessing and testifying as to this judgment. Let us remember that when we do the works of love He has commanded us to do, we too are witnessing and testifying, participating in this work.
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." Here, my study bible tells us that "Jesus Christ, the incarnate son of God, possesses all things the Father has and is fully equal to the Father." But the extraordinary teaching here is about the fact that it is out of the fullness of all things that truth will be shared and declared to us, through the Holy Spirit. Again, we witness to the loving nature of God the Trinity, and how we are included in that love: what the Holy Spirit takes and declares to us is not only from all that Christ possesses but also all things the Father has, which are the Son's as well. When Jesus speaks of "all truth" there is absolutely nothing held back from us, through the Spirit.
This great gift of the Spirit is one that is inestimable and unimaginable. Here, the promise is clear and unequivocal: Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, the Helper, "He will guide you into all truth." This word for "all" is an interesting one, and it may give us an insight to Jesus' promise. "All" in this sense means "every part," as if Jesus is literally saying, "every truth." One dictionary describes it by saying, "The emphasis of the total picture then is on 'one piece at a time.'" So this promise of all truth is important for us to understand, because we don't really think we possess all truth now, even 2,000 years after Jesus' Incarnation in our world. But through Tradition, through faith, we see the Church as whole as on a road, just as we each are on a road, the Way that Christ taught. This isn't a "one time only" kind of truth, but a kind of truth that holds nothing back, yet comes to us through time. It is such a grand and expansive whole that it is impossible for us to have it all at once, for its reserves are inexhaustible: they are all the things that are of the Son, and all the things that are of the Father. This is the great truth that is worth everything, the gift that far surpasses everything else in life, the fullness of the Kingdom that He promises to us. So, this is what the disciples have been promised, even as He leaves them -- the fullness of the gift which He leaves them is greater than what they can know at this moment. So let us consider the gift in our own lives. It is that which provides the light through the darkness, through our own times of sorrow or limitation or wondering where do we go from here. It is that which always promises the new and the future, even as the gifts of the past remain golden and transcendent, as we look to the earliest Apostles and seek also the holiness and the presence of the Spirit in our own midst, here and now. Let us consider this gift, and how we honor it and live with it, living through its help and guidance! Let us remember its code is love. Jesus has declared to us, in Tuesday's reading, "Not as the world gives do I give to you." In the fullness of the promise of the Spirit, we must realize the inexhaustible and uncontainable treasure that is offered to us, in complete love, from Christ, the Father and the Spirit. It is truly "not as the world gives." St. John Damascene tells us: "Just as the action of water, which like that of earth and air and the all-enlightening sun is simple and single, still adapts itself in a different way to each creature who shares in it, according to its nature, becoming wine in a grape and oil in an olive, so grace, which is simple and single, works for the good of those who share in it in various parallel ways, according to the need of each (cf. 1 Peter 4:10)" (Second Homily on the Dormition of Our Lady). In the same homily, he also adds that "grace is given without measure in all corners of the world." Let us remember the fullness of "every" and "each" in the truth that has been promised to us!
