On the Day of Pentecost, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit / the coming of the Holy Spirit, the well-known story we have just heard in the Book of Acts…Many details are probably familiar to you: the tongues of fire, the languages, the new wine, the young people seeing visions, the old people dreaming dreams in the beautiful, poetic language of the prophet Joel.
It’s all quite exciting, and a bit confusing too. The Holy Spirit is also known as “The holy Ghost” (in old English) and a theologian said that maybe that’s the reason we’re a little afraid of Him (Or Her). Actually, we don’t know who the Holy Spirit is, it’s impossible to put a face in Him (on Her). It seems “easier” to know the Father (as Creator) or of course the Son (as Redeemer, as Jesus). We can at least put a face on them, even if the Father is probably not an old man with a bear, even if we don’t have an original portrait of Jesus. We can always elaborate. Not so much with the Holy Spirit.
It’s not really because of a lack of information though. If you open the Bible, you might be surprised, and to be honest a little a bit overwhelmed, by all the ways we define the HS:
The HS was present at creation, God used the HS to create all forms of life.
The HS also inspired the prophets (Ezekiel), gave the gift of leadership (Moses and the elders, Joshua), brought wisdom (to Solomon), strength (to Samson) and even inspired artistic work (to Bezalel who built the Ark of the Covenant). The list goes on. We find the Holy Spirit everywhere in the Bible as a source of strength and power. The Holy Spirit also brings peace, joy, comfort and purpose.
So that’s a lot. And maybe that’s also why we’re a little afraid of the HS and why we cannot picture Him (or Her). Too much going on. That’s the reason why for today, I would invite us to focus on the Gospel,on what Jesus has to say about the HS, according to John…
In John’s Gospel, the HS is defined as “an Advocate“, the HS testifies on behalf of Jesus, He glorifies Christ in the sense that he makes Christ known as He is. To the disciples, He will be He is a teacher, because He is the Spirit of truth. In Jesus’s words, the HS will make the disciples understand what they cannot understand yet. The HS is not going to add anything to what Jesus has said and done, but the HS will make them understand, more than that, the HS will reveal the truth about Jesus (that He is the Christ) and it will become real to them. Now you may wonder what it is all about, but think about it: Has it never happened that you that you heard a reading at church, and although you almost knew it by heart suddenly it was like you’d never heard it? And not only you heard it as new, but it spoke directly to you heart, like it knew something very personal about you? And then it made you want to change something in your life, to reconcile with someone, to pray more often, to leave behind a bad habit? Well, then you know what John is talking about, you have experienced the HS: The HS shows us that Jesus is not just a man, a character in a story, would it be a very sacred story, Jesus becomes real to you as the Christ, speaking God’s words, performing God’s deeds. (In case you’re interested in technicalities, theologians say that the HS “mediate Christ’s presence”)
But here is the bottom line: We cannot comprehend God with our minds. It does not mean we have to leave our minds behind. Our minds have to see the possibility of faith so we can be drawn into the mystery. Yet we cannot know Christ with our minds only, by studying the Scriptures, by argumentation, by trying to convince ourselves, as some do. Only God can comprehend God, only God can reveal God, only God can make God present to us – as Christians, we believe that God does that in Christ, through the HS, and that’s what John is talking about in this passage of the Gospel.
Now there’s something else that I think is worth pointing out in John’s Gospel, in this very passage: The HS might not come as we would have expected. If we have some passages of the OT in mind, the ones we have talked about earlier, we would assume that the HS is going to visit us to bring us joy, peace, comfort and all the good things. So it’s a bit unsettling to hear in our passage that the HS comes to “(…) prove the world wrong“.
According to John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit’s first job is to convince the world of sin. Sin in John’s isn’t characterized so much by an absence of morality (as it is now), sin is separation from God, the impossibility to for the world to find what John calls righteousness. According to John, righteousness is only found through Christ whereas the world still hopes to become pure and clean by its own work. Jesus was condemned by the world because they couldn’t acknowledge their need of salvation but the HS shows us that Jesus was the Holy one, the Christ. That’s why John tells us that the world has been judged: Satan has been condemned. Notice that the HS does not come to condemn people. The HS convinces people of sin so they can turn to God, be forgiven and adopted as God’s children (another big theme in John’s)
This is the truth of our faith. This is what the truth is all about, this is why John says that the HS is the Spirit of truth. The first gift of the HS, before the HS brings all the gifts of joy peace comfort and all the good things, the first gift is the gift of truth. Now we may not always think of truth as a gift and yet that’s the basis. Once we have acknowledged our sin and our need of being made right with God through Christ, once we know that it is the truth, that we are really reconciled with God then everything else flows from that! Comfort, joy, peace and also courage, wisdom, witness, you name it. As soon as we believe, not just with our kinds, as soon as it is real to us, we are saved because everything is changed.
Maybe that’s the source of our fear: we are afraid of the HS because the HS tells us the truth and I think that deep down we have this conviction that the truth is bad news. A philosopher [Nietzsche] is (in)famous for having said that actually there is very little truth that a human being can bear, he said that if we want to live a happy life we have to cultivate oblivion (about our human condition). Well, in some regards he is right: the truth about humanity is not good, and the HS convicts us of our sin. And yet, there is no condemnation but an offer of redemption. All that is broken can be restored. Someone captured it quite accurately saying: The truth will hurt you before it sets us free. And yet the truth is so good, so much better than anything we could have imagined. That is also the sense of Paul’s Epistle today: All creation is groaning through labor pains while the Spirit is birthing us into God’s children.
And maybe that’s an even deeper reason why we may be afraid of the HS: Because the HS changes everything: Everything is being made new including ourselves. I will remove from you you heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ez 36: 26-27).
So what can we take away from all this?
– Pray again and again to receive the HS, even if you have received the HS at baptism or confirmation. We have to keep praying to activate or to enable to work of the HS within us. What if we prayed to receive the HS as often as we prayed for healing? HS is Christ’s presence within us, there is nothing more we need (and nothing less).
– Cultivate the gift of truth as good news and give to others the gift of truth. Not to condemn the world but to tell the world that the truth is wonderful…Let’s share the truth of our testimony, of our experience like the Apostles did . Just because its such good news we want to tell the world.
Let’s say together a Prayer to receive the Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your people
and kindle in us the fire of your love
All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God and fellow-heirs with Christ
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people
Renew the face of your creation, Lord, pouring on us the gifts of your Spirit
and kindle in us the fire of your love
For the Creation waits with eager longing for the glorious liberty of the children of God
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your people and kindle in us the fire of your love.