Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-april-25-2025
John 16:7-15
7 “But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”
Our gospel readings are now coming from the part of John that describes the Last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples. In today’s reading, Jesus is talking to the disciples about the work of the Holy Spirit. He had already foretold its coming, and in today’s reading, Jesus tells them more about how the Spirit would play a part in the ministry of the church.
First of all, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit would not be sent into the world until he returns to the Father. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t mean the Spirit had not been at work in the world up to that time. We know the Spirit was at work before the creation of the universe, and in various places in the Bible — especially in the gospel of Luke — we are told about the work of the Spirit as part of God’s unfolding plan. Jesus doesn’t go into detail about how this new outpouring of the Spirit will work, but it’s consistent with things he says in other places that suggest there’s a great plan unfolding in salvation history.
Jesus tells the disciples that when the Spirit is sent freshly into the world, it will reveal the real nature of sin and righteousness and judgment. Our NIV Bible actually says the Spirit will “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness.” That’s a little confusing, because we’re used to the word ‘convict’ meaning ‘to declare someone guilty.’ And in a passage that’s talking about “judgment,” that’s what we assume the word ‘convict’ is meant to mean.
But in this case, the Greek word that’s translated “convict” really means something closer to ‘convince.’ It seems that the point Jesus is making is that the Holy Spirit will reveal the real nature of sin in a way that people can take to heart. In this passage, and throughout the gospel of John, the only real sin is a failure to embrace Jesus as the Messiah.
Jesus seems to be saying that true righteousness will be revealed by his return to the right hand of the Father, where he will share in the Father’s righteousness. And true judgment will be revealed as the condemnation of the powers of this world, which deny that Jesus is the Messiah and stand in opposition to the kingdom he came to establish.
The word Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit – it’s translated “Counselor” here – is the Greek word paraclete, which has a lot of other meanings like ‘advocate’ and ‘encourager’ and ‘the one who exhorts’ (not far from ‘coach’). Here in today’s passage, the Spirit – the paraclete – is portrayed as a sort of prosecuting attorney who reveals the evidence against those who oppose Jesus.
At the end of today’s reading, Jesus says something that can lead to some pretty controversial interpretations. He says that he has more to say to his disciples than they’re able deal with at the moment. So, Jesus says, the Holy Spirit will help the followers of Jesus understand and deal with those things in the future. And Jesus says that these teachings of the Spirit will be taken from Jesus’ own teachings, but will be revealed in new ways.
So maybe you can see why this might lead to some discussion or argument: When the Spirit reveals these new understandings of Jesus’ teachings, they’re likely to be different from the understandings followers of Jesus have had in the past. So that means they’re not likely to be accepted as “God’s Truth” by all believers. The Spirit moves hearts one at a time, and what some people understand to be a new revelation by the Spirit, other people might regard as a dangerous heresy. In my mind the best example is the abolition of the institution of slavery. When the Holy Spirit moved Christians to believe that it was time to abolish slavery in America, it took a war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives to make it happen.
In our time, followers of Jesus are confronted with issues that his first disciples could never have imagined – issues like stem-cell research, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, fake news on social media, etc. So it seems almost inevitable that there will be periods of messy debate while we sort out these issues. Some believers will regard them as God-inspired advancements, but others will regard them as tools of the devil.
It seems that the Spirit is now leading us through times of transition on issues like relationships between spouses, women in leadership and same-sex relationships. But it probably goes without saying that people of faith have not yet come to full agreement on these issues.
For those of us who follow Jesus, it would seem that the most faithful approach is to hold up every new issue to the ministry and life of our master. That means asking ourselves not only what he might have said about an issue, but also what his actions reveal to us. Because whether we like it or not, the further we go into the future, the more issues we are likely to encounter that Jesus never mentions in the gospels.
And history shows that the trickiest issues are those ones on which we have no words from Jesus. If you just listened to Christian radio, you could be forgiven for concluding that Jesus focused all his teaching on abortion and homosexuality. But as far as we know, he never said a word about either.
A Reflection like this is doesn’t allow the time or space to adequately debate these issues. But I think you could make a case that the most faithful way to approach them is by humbly listening and watching for what the Spirit is saying to the hearts and minds of Jesus’ followers as a movement. When I say, “humbly listening and watching,” I mean considering the possibility that we may be wrong.
But I also mean not allowing ourselves to be ‘bullied’ into a position by those who are absolutely sure they’re right about what God thinks. Personally, I suspect that there’s no surer sign that a person is not being guided by the Holy Spirit than the arrogant certainty that they’re right and others are wrong.
Let’s pray. Lord, we pray for a fresh outpouring of your Holy Spirit to guide us as we wrestle with the issues that challenge our faith. Help us to be listening for that Spirit speaking into our lives through others, and guard us against thinking that those who disagree with us are always wrong. Remind us that the Holy Spirit is still at work, guiding us into all truth, as Jesus promised. Amen.
Have a great weekend! May you worship God joyfully on Sunday.
Henry
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