23 Oct 2014 - the most dangerous name

I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!

Jesus comes to give us the dangerous gift of his love. He comes to pour out the fiery presence of the Holy Spirit into our hearts.

John the Baptist warns us, "He will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire" (cf. Luk. 3:16). The Holy Spirit is a great gift indeed. But he is not safe. He has the power to unite us all in the bond of peace (cf. Eph. 4:3) but we are free to reject him. Jesus wants to save everyone. His desire is to unite all people, Jews, Gentiles, women, men, slaves, and free to form one new creation (cf. Gal 3:28, 6:15). But, like it or not, he is the perfect gentleman. He will not force us. We are allowed to opt-out.

Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.

We might expect those who don't accept the invitation of Jesus to just be indifferent. Why do we often find that those who are not for him are actively opposed to him (cf. Luk. 11:23)? What is it about his claim that people can't just ignore? Whatever it is, it results in what Jesus calls "a baptism with which I must be baptized". It results in the cross itself.

Jesus is anointed with the Holy Spirit and power (cf. Act. 10:38). He is anointed to proclaim the good news (cf. Luk. 4:18). But the good news he preaches is himself. He himself is the way the truth and the life (cf. Joh. 14:6). He himself is the resurrection and the life (cf. Joh. 11:25). There is no other name given under heaven by which we may be saved (cf. Act. 4:12). The Holy Spirit is dangerous precisely because he enjoys this truth. He will not censor it. He magnifies and reechoes it. He refuses to truncate it. For instance, he won't omit the fact that "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (cf. Mat. 10:39). He won't neglect to preach our need for repentance (cf. Mar. 1:15).  Different audiences need to hear it differently, but the truth that is given is one and the same, because the person being proclaimed is the same.

The Holy Spirit has the effect in Jesus himself, making it impossible to ignore his preaching. But the danger is amplified because if we listen to Jesus we too receive the Holy Spirit. And he has the same effect in us that he does in Jesus. He is no more content to keep quiet in us than he his in Jesus. We may even find ourselves asking to drink the cup Jesus drinks and be baptized with the same baptism we mentioned above. After all, if this is what it means for the fire of Jesus to catch throughout the world we should want it too. We may find the Spirit asking these things in us before we even really know what they mean. And we may hear, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized". He inspires the zeal and even though we ourselves are not ready he gives the strength we need.

It's a big deal. It isn't value neutral. It is almost impossible to ignore. But ultimately, it is so good that nothing can compare. To even comprehend this we need to be stronger. And here is another element of danger. The strength we need only comes as we accept the invitation. This is because, by definition, we can't have this knowledge through our own strength. We are called to "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge". To know it, we must "be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self".  This is, after all, no ordinary knowledge.  It allows us to "be filled with all the fullness of God."

Fortunately we don't need to understand everything. We never will, anyway.  Not completely. Even more than that, we need trust, trust in the goodness and love of God.  "The earth is full" of his goodness.

Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine,
by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

If we're nervous about letting the Holy Spirit have his way in us let us try to trust more in the goodness of God. The Holy Spirit himself will help us. As we lift praise to God the Holy Spirit moves inside our hearts and transforms us, filling us with faith.

Exult, you just, in the LORD;
praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten stringed lyre chant his praises.
For upright is the word of the LORD,
and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right;
of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.