I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
They couldn't bear it then because they couldn't make themselves come to terms with passion of Jesus that was soon to come. It was something that they couldn't accept because it was both too terrible and too wonderful for them to believe. They sensed the sadness of the impending events, but could not bring themselves to ask Jesus about them. They were too afraid of how bad they might be and too afraid that the hope of which Jesus spoke was unrealistic. On the one hand, Jesus was so good, that it seemed hard to imagine that he could ever be taken from them. It seemed impossible that his life could ever be taken from him, or that the Father would permit it. Yet on the other hand, the cross was increasingly imminent as the foes of Jesus plotted to take his life. But what could this be but tragedy? What could it indicate except that Jesus was a failure, not truly the promised messiah? They wouldn't let themselves look at things head-on and so they couldn't conceive of why the cross would have a place in the plan of God. That he would be raised was something so distant from their minds at that time as to seem to be a fanciful fairy tale. This went hand in hand with in inability to learn the deeper truth of the identity of Jesus. Rather than seeing Jesus as a divine person for whom enduring the cross and being raised had the deepest purpose their minds fluctuated between seeing him as a man headed for defeat or escaping it and continuing teach and work as he had before.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
The Spirit was the living water that flowed from the side of Christ on the cross. Just as the Jerusalem temple had aqueducts to manage the large volume of blood from the sacrificial offerings so too did the water of life flow forth from the true temple of the body of Christ in order to cleanse the world. This gift of the Spirit was the result of sacrifice and could only happen through the cross. Previously "the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (see John 7:39). But on the cross this glorification was begun, as he was lifted up so as to draw all people to himself.
In seeing the glorification of Jesus on the cross, and in his resurrection, the Holy Spirit acted within the disciples to lead them to understand what they had not previously been able to bear. They were led deeper into the truth of the plan of Jesus, of his person, and of their destiny. The cross had previously seemed to imply that any tenuous link between the Father and the Son was unreal. But the Spirit showed them that the cross happened precisely because that bond was unbreakable. Just as Jesus was broken open by his passion for the sake of the world so too were those who witnessed it broken open to receive and accept it. The heart of Jesus was opened so the Spirit could flow forth. But our hearts were opened in turn to receive him.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears
Jesus too only spoke of what he heard from the Father, because all that he had and all that he was came from the Father. The Spirit was different in that he also declared what he had from Jesus, for the Spirit came from both the Father and the Son. The Spirit, since he is given to us by the Son makes us sons and daughters in him, and makes us cry, "Abba! Father!". Since he is the Spirit of the Father as well he helps us come to know and love Jesus himself. Thus the Spirit works to glorify the Father and the Son in us, and then through us. He not only speaks what he hears to us, but himself teaches us the words by which we can speak what we hear from him to others.
and will declare to you the things that are coming
The Spirit does give the gift of prophecy by which the future is sometimes revealed. But the things that are coming in this context are not merely isolated private revelations revealed only to a few. For he also declares with certainty the ultimate destiny of humanity, which is to stand in judgment before God, and to face either everlasting joy or sorrow. He definitively declares that this world is not ultimate, but that Jesus will come again and establish a new heaven and a new earth. The reality of these last things is more important and more pressing than any private revelation could be.
When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
some began to scoff
We need to rely on the Spirit because scoffing at the resurrection isn't new, and is in fact the basic human condition. Even the disciples, before the cross, could hardly countenance the idea. But the declarations of the Spirit, including even those that he makes through us, are powerful creative actions of God that open hearts to accept the truth of his message. The Spirit wants to continue to guide us deeper and deeper into the truth of our faith so that we can speak with ever greater confidence the reality that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Matt Maher - Come To The Water/I Will Run To You
Matt Maher - Overflow
No comments:
Post a Comment