.jpg)
I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
Let's take a second look at exactly what Jesus found it necessary to tell his disciples so that they wouldn't fall away since it happens to be important for us as well. He told them about the coming of the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, and about his role in their lives.
When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
Like the disciples we live in a world that is not exactly in perfectly alignment with the Gospel message. We participate in a society where there is no clear cut representation of Gospel values in mainstream politics. To be a completely committed Christian is to be somewhat alienated from the world. And in recent years we find increasing hostility against different aspects of God's plan. For the world, the way is anything that seems good to oneself and does not hurt others (at least not immediately and obvious). The truth is confined to what can be demonstrated by empirical science. And life is whatever one chooses to make of it while it lasts. There is clear gravity pulling us toward these values, a sort of downhill momentum that makes changing directions and doing something else difficult. But what is at the bottom of this hill, since the downward trajectory is not sustainable indefinitely? If we don't want to crash and burn we need the Holy Spirit within us in order to keep us tuned in to the real truth. Only he can prevent the sort of highway hypnosis that the world so easily inflicts upon us.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.
To speak against the world when it is wrong is a difficult challenge. Even in the cases where Christians are persecuted to the death those who do so are often in some sense true believers who think they are "offering worship to God", and doing what they do out of a misguided sense that it is a good thing. Such individuals, even if they go so far as violence, let alone if they use antagonistic harsh words, are not our enemies. They are people who do not yet know either the Father or Jesus, but also people who are meant to know them.
I have told you this so that when their hour comes
you may remember that I told you.
In addition to remembering the importance of the Holy Spirit Jesus also wanted his disciples to understand that suffering and persecution were not reasons to fall away, as though such things meant they were doing something wrong. It was not the case that his disciples would necessarily live lives of blessed luxury if they did everything according to the will of God. Rather, just as the path of Jesus himself led to the cross, so too would his disciples have crosses of their own which they would need to bear. And so too for us. But it is in particular when we suffer that other options become appealing and other truth claims seem more compelling. The only real way to stay grounded in the Gospel is by relying on the Holy Spirit, whose testimony within us can remain, motivate us, and give us strength, even in the most difficult of times.
We are meant to bring the Gospel to places where it never was, to places where it was but no longer is, and to strengthen it in places where it remains but has grown lukewarm. Sometimes there will be the useful infrastructure of a shared cultural understanding, like synagogues, from which we can begin. Sometimes we will need to start at simple places of prayer, like that where Luke and Paul met Lydia by the river. There is no one right way to proceed, nor a formula that will always work the same way every time. But if we follow the Holy Spirit we will find open doors in abundance.
One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth,
from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened,
and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention
to what Paul was saying.
No comments:
Post a Comment