Seventh Sunday of Easter + Exaudi

Text: John 15:26-16:4

+INJ+

Growing up in the Church, I often found these Sundays leading to Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit challenging to comprehend. To a child, the Holy Spirit might appear to be an inanimate object or an imaginary friend.

For these reasons alone, the beginning of today’s Gospel can also be challenging to fully comprehend as Jesus says to His disciples, “But when the Helper comes…."

The “Helper” sounds nice, doesn't it? One might think that Jesus and His Father are sending someone to assist and support you in your endeavors. Like a mommy's helper who gives a mother aid around the home or an administrative assistant to keep your schedule and life straight. In some ways, sending a helper might lead you to believe you are the one driving the verbs of life, which isn't helpful in this situation at all.

Another translation Luther liked was “When the Comforter comes.”

This isn’t wrong either, but what does it mean that He will bring you comfort? What does comfort look like in this world today? Money? Great jobs? Flexible leave and retirement benefits? Well-behaved children? Schools without homework?

A more literal and fitting translation would be “when the Paraclete comes…." But this isn’t familiar to our way of speaking. A paraclete sounds more like a parrot-cleat, and while the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove throughout Scripture; I'm unsure many of you are looking for or would welcome a parrot into your lives.

But in all seriousness, to be the Paraclete means that Jesus is sending you an advocate to defend and protect you. He is to be “the legal advisor of the accused or defendant, who takes on, to defend the accused, [or] get things in order.” (Martin Luther)

In some ways, as I take on more responsibilities for the care of my aging parents, I see the role of an executor or fiduciary the same – one who will defend those who are now unable to protect themselves, to give protection where it is needed, to help keep their lives in order.

But why would you need an advocate in your life?

Jesus said, “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.”

Well, this sounds just splendid, doesn’t it?

Jesus speaks here of the hour or time when the witness and testimony of the disciples will have them being cast out of the Church as heretics.

Notice Jesus says it will be the Church that will reject the disciples’ witness of Him. For this reason, one should carefully examine any confession of faith they might be led to believe is true. Because Jesus says again today, the stumbling block and scandal of the sin of unbelief is His Gospel – it’s Him.

As we heard in the Gospel for the Ascension of our Lord this past Thursday, Jesus said to His disciples,
Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:46-48)

Again, the big scandal is preaching Jesus' death and resurrection (in which the disciples were eyewitnesses). The preaching of these things, along with a message of repentance and the remission of sins, was enough to continue causing a stir among Jewish leaders of the infant Church.

Just as Jesus was chased from the synagogue of His hometown, His disciples would now endure the same fate to their death.

A similar situation occurred for the Belgian Augustinian monks Heinrich Voes and Johann Esch during the Reformation. Their crime was they refused to recant the glorious truths of the Gospel – they believed in the doctrine of the Reformation and a return to the teaching of Jesus Christ. For their confession, they were burned at the stake. In response, it is widely believed Martin Luther wrote his first hymn in their honor, “A New Song We Raise.”

While the times are changing, the Church today must continue to hold fast to her teachings as she is penetrated by a culture gone woke or the idea that God’s Word can be mutable – that is, easy to change as the world does.

For your unchanging faith in Jesus, He tells you to be prepared to suffer and defend your faith throughout all the hours of this life.

In fact, the confirmands will be asked next week, “Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?”

As we have heard, this is a serious question with significant ramifications. Therefore, it should not be discounted or taken lightly. But it is required of any disciple or faithful student of Jesus Christ.

In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”

The life of true faith is a struggle, and your own flesh and human nature are the greatest enemy. For one, because you wrestle with the idea that forgiveness could be entirely God's work applied to you, the devil leads you to believe you must somehow contribute to His sacrifice to earn His forgiveness.

But the book of Hebrews clearly states,
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:11-12)

What a mic drop, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

Atonement has been made upon the cross, Jesus has ascended, and now He sits at His Father's right hand, the place of power and authority.

From here, Jesus says, “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.”

I love it; the Holy Spirit will not only testify and give witness to Christ Jesus, “who is the way, the truth, and the life,” but through this testimony, create an enduring faith within you – the hearer, His disciple.   

A significant challenge the Church must wrestle with today is how to confess the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ – how do we teach and support not only ourselves but the young people among us in the struggle of faith as they go off to various schools and colleges and are exposed to competing worldviews and religious traditions?

Some would say we (the Church) need to change and adapt. Maybe we need a more prominent social media presence or a hip Twitter account (or whatever the kiddos are on today). But I believe the encouragement by the Apostle Paul to his pupil Timothy remains an incredible help to us.

Paul writes, “Follow the pattern of the sound words you have heard from me, in the faith and love in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:13)

The pattern of sound and words calls for Timothy and us to rely upon what was established by Jesus Christ and handed down to us today in Holy Scripture.

Again, as we learn from the book of Hebrews, “In many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2)

The words and testimony of Jesus are what the Holy Spirit delivers to you and the means to gather God's Church on the earth and in heaven.

So, we are simply called to repeat the sound words and teaching of Jesus Christ as we do within the Church every Lord’s Day, but also within our homes.

My friends, today is like a bit of an awkward stage in the life of the Church Year, Ascension Day has occurred, but Pentecost won’t come for another week. So now we are in a time of anticipation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Isn't this an image of life? We're here, but we're constantly waiting and anticipating our Lord's return, the day we will be gathered into His eternal kingdom.

While we wait, take comfort that you have not been abandoned, but Jesus has sent you the Helper to keep you in the one true faith. Through His Word, He will also be your comfort in times of trial, your advocate and defense against the false teachings that permeate the Church on earth.

So come and remain witnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection through the continual hearing and preaching of the apostolic Word of God. And as you strive to keep on the narrow way of faith, have the confidence to raise your voice with the martyrs of old in the confession of Jesus as the Christ. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA