A Reflection on John 14:15-21
One of the scary parts of more than a month of staying at home is the feeling of isolation we often feel. There is a disconnect from our loved ones, our friends, our family, our co-workers, and our churches. This disconnect is dangerous as it leads us away from the connection that we have with one another, and leads to situations where many of us feel as if we are going to crack, and break apart. We become weary of not being able to have the social connection and are more prone to think less about others, and rely more on fulfilling our selfish desires.
The lack of physical connection opens up the door for the opportunity to only think about how this affects us personally, and we begin to feel alone. Even for the person that doesn’t enjoy much interpersonal interaction, still is feeling the loneliness that this brings upon us. As a world we have a mental health crisis on our hands as depression, anxiety, and other issues are on the rise. For a long time this has led us to further isolate ourselves, which amplifies and perpetuates the problem. As a church, we must be part of the solution, and not further exacerbate the problem, in a world that is isolating for the purpose of health, we must be aware and respond to the “side effects” of self-isolating, by ensuring that those isolated physically, are not isolated socially or spiritually.
The disciples had the same issue as they approached ministry after Christ had ascended to heaven. We saw how they responded after Jesus died, they went and “self-isolated”, as an act of fear of what comes next. Then Jesus came back to them, gave them assurance that what He had said before was true, and yet, they still needed further assurance. Jesus, during His time with the disciples taught them that they would not be alone, but rather Christ would ask the Father to provide the Spirit, the Spirit is a gift, a gift that we are never truly alone, and by the power of the Spirit we are the blessing to the world, and an embodiment of God’s promise that no one needs to be alone, even in quarantine.
Jesus instructs His disciples in John 14 about the promise that they need not be alone because the Holy Spirit is coming.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
John 14:15-21 (NIV)
If you love me…
Jesus opens with these four words, not because they didn’t love Him, but rather He is appealing to them on the basis of love. Out of their love for Christ, they would listen to Him, and follow Him, and fulfill the command that He has over their lives. To help with fulfilling the charge to go out into the world Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth is present to ensure we are not alone.
Following God begins with love, first, God’s love for His people, and then our responding with love for God. From this love we act according to our faith, we follow God’s precepts, we act as God’s children, living upright lives, feeding the hungry, comforting the hurting, and living out God’s message for the world. Living in this manner may put us in situations where we feel powerless and alone, but God reminds us that we are not alone, we have the Spirit, and the closer our walk is to the Spirit, the closer we are to fulfilling God’s commands.
The world will not accept us, selfish thinking is contrary to the way of the Spirit. This is the ultimate irony, selfishness leads to isolation, but yet the world clamours to selfish thinking because they feel isolated. The Holy Spirit offers us all a different perspective, one that leads us to think of others, one that listens first and acts out of an understanding gained through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. This ultimately leads us away from isolation, into a deeper understanding that God is always with us, and will always work on us, in us, and for us.
While this does not make us immune from negative results, because there is evil in the world that is resistant to God’s purpose. There is evil that presents us from acting out of our own reading of the Bible, there exists a selfishness deep inside that allows us to act out of our impulses rather than what God desires of us. There are lies that we end up believing that ultimately we see humanity as our enemy and fight our neighbors driving us into isolated thinking, instead of having compassion and earnestly caring for one another, we look at each other with animosity. This type of thinking breeds, and infects society, this is the type of thinking that leads to people hoarding supplies, the type of thinking that leadings to people arguing and belittling one another on the street corners and social media, the type of thinking that leads to isolation, depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders.
Selfishness and isolation have a chemical and biological effect on us, and we must work hard to prevent this type of thinking. Jesus promises His disciples that they will never be alone, that He will come back to them, but even those that were closest to Him did not understand that, because when things did not happen the way they anticipated, they scattered and isolated themselves. We must do better than that, because our health is at risk. We threaten the very bodies, in which the Holy Spirit inhabits, and leads us toward the Father, and toward the Son. We cannot rebel against God, but rather we must rebel against the forces of selfishness, greed, and isolation that lead us inward instead of outward.
Outward thinking leads us away from protecting our idols, our institutions, our sense of what is mine, and prompts us to follow God wherever God may lead us. We find it difficult that we cannot go and celebrate a birthday, or come to a building and worship together, or even get our hair done, but God prompts us to think more about what we can do, and more about what we should do. Our needs are going to be met, we do not need to worry about that, we need to listen to where God is leading us right now.
We have an opportunity and an advantage to think about church outside the building, which is what a living church is, a living church is a prayer chain, a living church is giving to people in need, a living church is showing it’s love and appreciation for God by going out from the comfort of our church building and giving to our world. When we do this we listen to the message that God has given to us and we go out and break the chains of isolation, and bring God’s grace to a world plagued by selfish thinking.
When we switch our thinking, we begin to realize that God is our Father, a good Father that seeks to show us His love through the teaching of Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Holy Spirit breaks the chains of suffering, breaks the chains of isolation, and breaks the chains that we are alone in trying to carry out God’s mission in the world. The Holy Spirit breaks down the idea that we are in this world as orphans, but rather guides us into the understanding that we are members of the family of God. As brothers and sisters, and children, we must listen to how God wants us to act, and the Bible reminds us that these actions must be out of love and compassion, and away from self-centered action that does not think of others.
Elpis and Shalom 