For Sunday, May 22, 2016 – John 16:12-15
With his departure drawing near, Jesus tells his friends, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” This small statement might be one of the most thoughtful things one person can say to another. I don’t know about you, but when I have many things to say, I usually just keep on talking, long after your eyes have glazed over and your mind has wandered elsewhere. When our own time comes, when death leans in close and personal, who could blame us for wanting to say many things, to leave whatever legacy we can of our hard-won insight?
What gives Jesus the humility to be able to acknowledge that, yes, he has much more he would like to say but he knows his listeners cannot take it in right now? For one thing, he knows this God-human enterprise does not depend upon him alone. He has his part, and others have theirs, and the ultimate accomplishment will be God’s. He can invite us into the great ease of this awareness because he grasps it in his own depths. He does not force us to grow into the likeness of God. He simply grows into that likeness himself and invites us along.
Jesus is privy to a secret that allows him to relax into union with God and into remarkable accomplishment. He now shares that secret with us, the community he says will do “even more” than he himself has done. The secret? We will not be acting alone. A Spirit will continue to guide and teach us, living God’s life through us. God’s intentions have no expiration date. The Spirit will show us little by little by little what is uniquely ours to say or do or be, and progressively, incrementally we will learn the Spirit’s customs and language. Doors locked in fear will open; staunchly held opinions against others will soften; forgiveness will begin to trickle in; suspicion will turn to curiosity will turn to compassion.
With the Spirit’s subtle constancy, we who thought we could not bear anything more find we have untapped capacity. We will not know if we are saying or doing or being all that God needs. It’s okay. The Spirit knows. We can ask that Spirit to guide us and teach us, to keep leading us on the little by little way.
