Pentecost 2013 (John 14:8-17, 25-27)

“The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

Revelation is an inside job.

Moses, the prophets and apostles observed that there is more than adequate data in nature for a rational mind to discern the reality of God. Moses, the prophets and the apostles also observe that most people most of the time (including themselves) fail to perceive the Real Presence of God.

There is an old saying: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink. As with horses and water so with human beings and the Real Presence of God. No matter how much evidence God provides for us we still find ways to ignore the obvious.

By our own reason we cannot prove God’s existence. The atheists have the edge in the debates over God’s existence. They have the edge because they set the parameters of the debate. They also have the edge because the shared experience of all human beings is willful separation from the divine.

External evidence is subverted by the internal distortions of separation, sin and mortality. To put it bluntly: we see what we want to see. And, we hear what we want to hear.

 

Atheists and theists alike share the misconception that there is an objective reality only expressed and only discerned by the five senses of sight, scent, taste, touch and hearing. They miss the point the Biblical writers make. The point is twofold.

Point one is that under ideal circumstances people do have the capability of discerning God in the material world through the five senses.

Point two is that most people most of the time cannot and will not accept the reality of God that comes to them through their five senses. The reason for this is the choice our species made to separate from God.

Separation produces distortion. In a state of separation we cannot and will not recognize the obvious. We reject and repudiate the very pattern of Creation.

Revelation emerges in the context of relationship. It is God himself who initiates the relationship.

God revealed himself to Moses and the Prophets as he invited them into a relationship with himself. The invitation to relationship is universal and unconditional. The record of scripture is that few people value the relationship enough to cultivate the relationship.

Jesus understands this completely. The co-eternal Son  of the eternal Father became a human being in part so he could demonstrate to us that he not only understands what it is like to be human but that he himself experienced what it means to be human.

Jesus knows we are lost. He experienced that terrible condition in the personal relationships he grew up in. His family, neighbors, friends all revealed to him the pain of separation, the distortions of sin, and the fear of mortality. Jesus also felt the pain, distortion and fear first hand as he died on the cross.

Whatever sadness or suffering or pleasure or joy you experience you can trust that Jesus experienced it on the cross as he absorbed human sin. As he absorbed human sin he experienced human sin. And, he transformed human sin.

Having accomplished transformation of separation back into unification Jesus now offers that unification to us as a gift. This is called by theologians : justification. We receive the grace of justification in the waters of baptism. This is the new life that Jesus gives us. It is eternal because Jesus as the Beloved Son of the Father is eternal.

Justification is a one time event in history and a one time event in our lives. The second phase of grace is sanctifying grace. Our heavenly Father infuses the gift of a new way of living into our souls by sending the Holy Spirit to live in our souls.

The Holy Spirit facilitates the new personal relationship we have with the Father through the Son.

The Holy Spirit helps us to transform our thoughts, emotions and will. It is as we mature in sanctifying grace that we achieve clarity of thought, purity of heart and singleness of will. The process itself makes possible the revelation.

The Bible is a closed book apart from the relationship. The Holy Spirit encourages us to read the Bible. As we make a real choice to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit He becomes our teacher. He directs us to study the Bible. He helps us to select the proper commentaries and dictionaries to understand the Bible. And, he inspires us to memorize the Bible.

The relationship releases the revelation from the power of separation.

Resistance to revelation is a consequence of separation. The Holy Spirit will help us to perceive our own personal resistance. The awareness of resistance is the first step to transforming the resistance.

Where do you resist the Real Presence of Jesus?

For some the distortion is primarily intellectual. An intellect lost in separation creates powerful images to block revelation. The Holy Spirit leads such an intellect into a personal experience of Jesus in order to dissolve those images and replace those images. The Holy Spirit never argues in the context of intellectual pride. He offers us a new way of thinking that is grounded in authentic and personal experience.

Some of us are lost in the distortions of our emotions. The Holy Spirit brings these feelings into conscious awareness in the context of Jesus’ universal unconditional love.  Fear, frustration, anger, anxiety and hatred are all distortions of peace and joy. The Holy Spirit will remind us of the healing presence and power of Jesus to transform those emotions.

Many of us are lost in our individual will to power. The individual will to power is that voice of the Adamic nature, the false self, that approaches life, other people and God from the demand: I want what I want and I want it now.

As our teacher and as the holder of the memory of who Jesus is, the Holy Spirit designs a unique program and process of sanctifying grace to identify and transform the individual will to power as we choose to express it.

The primary tools that the Holy Spirit uses in sanctifying grace are: the Bible, the sacraments, the church, other people.

Jesus just didn’t leave us with a book and tell us: here. Study this. Do what it says and you will be fine.

Jesus just didn’t leave us with a religious institution and say: here. Join this organization. Follow the rules and you will be fine.

Jesus sent the third person of the eternal Trinity to live in our souls. The Holy Spirit constantly infuses sanctifying grace to teach us the truth and to remind us that the very principle of truth is Jesus himself.

Revelation emerges in the context of relationship. The Holy Spirit sets us free to grow into the personal relationship the Eternal Father offers us through the co-eternal Son, Jesus  Christ.