The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A, 2011

John 14:15-21

The Rev. Ronald N. Johnson

Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

The Easter season is nearing its end.  Oh, there is yet another Sunday of Easter, the seventh, which is next week, but Ascension Day, is hard upon us and we will celebrate our Lord’s bodily departure and ascension into heaven.  Today’s gospel reading tells us that our Lord prepared his disciples for this by assuring them that they would receive the Holy Spirit to be their advocate and guide.  You can imagine that his disciples were more than a little nervous as the time of his ascension approached.  In his compassion and mercy, Jesus offered comfort.  “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.  I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”  I’ve intentionally reversed the order of the text, here, for continuity, but the point is the reassurance.  “I will be with you, always, and in my love for you, I will make myself known.”

Because of the Lord’s love for us, we who are followers love him in turn.  And to show our love, to respond to his love and mercy, we obey him.  In the love that we share, Christ’s love expressed and lived out in our lives, and through us that love is spread in the world.  The church has a name for that love; it is called agape love, a love given without expectation, without demand – totally unselfish.  In the community of that love, we experience the risen Lord through the promised advocate, the Holy Spirit.

Through the Holy Spirit, we become the corporal extension of the Risen Lord.  We become the voice of the Savior; God’s Word is incarnate in us.  Our hands are his hands, our eyes his eyes, our feet his feet.  The Holy Spirit enables us to do the work of Christ in this world, to be witness to his glory, to bring his love to those in need of comfort.  God’s grace finds expression through our good works.  In love, in obedience to Christ’s commandments, we are doing what we promised in our baptism: to be disciples of Jesus Christ.

If we worry that we are inadequate, that we don’t know enough, that we aren’t skilled enough, we should set those worries aside.  We may not be perfect but we are good enough.  The Church is not perfect by any means, but it is adequate to do the work that Christ has given it to do.  And the reason that we are good enough is because Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit.  And it is because of the Holy Spirit, working in us and the church that the reality of Easter, the reality of the Resurrection lives on. 

Our task is to be the fruit of God’s holy vine, to proclaim the Gospel daily, to know Jesus and make him known.  If we do this, we meet the expectation of the Gospel for today; we keep our Lord’s commandments.  Amen.