When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth

 

 "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 

 

 This week we have been reading through Christ's Farewell Discourse, which was given to the disciples at the Last Supper.  Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, which tell of the manner in which the Eucharist was instituted, John's Gospel gives us the meaning behind Christ's ministry and the institution of the Eucharist, the substance of communion.  Yesterday we read that Jesus said, "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 to 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. 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."  Here Christ elaborates on His warnings to the disciples of what is to come when He is no longer with them in the flesh, as Incarnate Jesus.  My study Bible explains that sorrow, in Christ's use here, means "extreme grief leading to despondency or despair," which is a sinful passion.  It quotes St. John Chrysostom, who comments, "Great is the tyranny of despondency."  Moreover, it adds that this sin is constantly referred to in the writings of the Desert Fathers.  When the world persecutes the believer or when God seems to be absent, Christians are called to fight against this despondency, taking comfort from the presence of the Holy Spirit (the theme of verses 5-15).  

 

 "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.  "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."  Once again, we recall that the word in Greek translated here as Helper is Παρακλητος/Parakletos, sometimes rendered in English as Paraclete.  It literally indicates one who comes by one's side when called, as in participating in one's defense at trial.  This title also means "Comforter," "Counselor," and "Advocate."  My study Bible notes on this passage that through the illumination brought by the Holy Spirit, the world will be convicted; that is, it will be proven wrong.  It will be convicted concerning first of all its sin, of which the ultimate is denying Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, of righteousness, which it failed to accept from Christ with faith and thanksgiving.  And finally judgment, for all who reject Christ, according to my study Bible, will receive the same penalty that Satan, the ruler of this world, has already received (see Matthew 25:41).

 

 "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."  My study Bible explains that because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and because this Spirit abides in the Church, the Church is the guardian of all truth.  

 

 My study Bible comments that because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and because this Spirit abides in the Church, the Church is the guardian of all truth.  While over the centuries, the Church has contended with many heresies, many sects, and many divisions, this comment may make some wonder how it is that the Church can be the guardian of all truth.  But the Church exists as the institution founded by Christ and built, in a particular respect, by the Holy Spirit.  The Church also contains within it the whole of the "great cloud of witnesses" referred to by St. Paul (Hebrews 12:1).  That is, all the saints and the angels, those who have come before us, and in the sense in which the Church is an eternal spiritual construction, those who will come afterwards.  The Church is also a kind of divine-human construction.  While the Spirit is active in the Church, the Church also relies upon human beings in its ranks.  That is true at every level, from the highest to the lowest in authority, from parishioners to priests and pastors and bishops and hierarchs.  In other words, in this divine-human effort, we are also fallible human beings who are capable of making errors and mistaking the ways in which we come to know and understand the truth of the Spirit.  Nonetheless, despite this and our own capacity for problems, the Church remains the repository of truth; as my study Bible puts it, the guardian of all truth.  For everything is there that we need to find when we seek Christ, and desire to come to know God and our place in God's salvific plan for creation.  In St. Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus begins speaking in parables about the kingdom of heaven, He gives three that are particularly pertinent to this topic (Matthew 13:44-52).  First He speaks of the kingdom of heaven as being like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid, and for joy he sells all that he has and buys the field.  Second, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.  Finally, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea.  Here we come close to our understanding of the Church and the working of the Holy Spirit in it, for this dragnet is cast out and gathers some of "every kind."  But when it was full, the good was gathered into vessels and the bad thrown away.  This is a parable of judgment at the end of the age -- that which Christ speaks of in today's reading when He reveals the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, and the Spirits active and ongoing mission, which convicts the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and at the same time guides the faithful into all truth, and glorifies Christ.  Finally, Jesus ends this teaching in parables by saying, "Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old."  And this treasure out of which every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven brings out things new and old is the Church.  This is the image of the repository of the Church as guardian of all truth -- a treasure to be cherished, upheld, lived, and grown into so that by its fruit it glorifies Father, Son, and Spirit.  Those who wish simply to use that treasure for their own gain or purpose will incur judgment, as will those who refuse to honor or receive its value.  That includes, as Jesus says in today's reading, "the ruler of this world," also called the father of lies (John 8:44).