You Will See Me

John14:15-21

05/01/05

Recently, my husband Sam went to L.A. for a business trip. Whenever he goes away, I get very, very happy.  All the wives in the audience know why… Seriously though, I have a very special reason. As your kids get older, they call less and less. And all three of my children are very busy putting in many hours at work, yet when my husband is away they find the time to call me whenever I’m alone at home to make sure that I’m okay and whisper “I love you” before they hang up.  Eventually, I found out that Sam always calls my sons to remind them to check in on me but I appreciate the thoughtfulness of both my husband and my kids. Jesus too when he departed this land and rose to heaven, called another Advocate to be with them forever when he is away from them.

Jesus said,‘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 for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” 

“The Greek verb for “to see” in Jesus’s word “you will see me” is theoro which has a sense of perception.  Jesus knew that he would die on the cross soon and he will be away. However he said to his followers, “you will perceive me” through the Holy Spirit who he would send after he goes to his father even though he is not visible. All of us have already been given Another Advocate.  However, where do we perceive Jesus in our daily life?  Do we perceive God even if we do not see God in our own life? Or do you serve the unknown God as the Athenians in the apostle Paul’s days did?

Jesus talks about the gift of the Holy Spirit that he is giving his followers (John 14:16-18). But what good will that do us? How has the gift of the Holy Spirit made us different from the old selfish persons we have always been? Besides, where is the Holy Spirit? We have no extraordinary manifestations of the Spirit, no miracles happening, in this church. What are we to make of Jesus' words?

 the “Paraclete”, the original word of the Advocate  means a comforter, companion, advocate, and counsellor.  The origins of the word “comfort” are “to bring strength,” which is closer in meaning to the alternate translation of “advocate” meaning “one who speaks on another’s behalf.” In this sermon I’d like to talk about how do we perceive Christ presence in our life

First, we will perceive Jesus’s presence through the Holy spirit who brings us strength.

No matter wiped out we have new strength, physical and spiritual strength every morning. No matter how frustrated and weak, those who love God are provided new strength and energy and start again. This is our common experience so we know Christ abides in me. We are called to bring strength we got from the Paraclete to others.

Time Magazine named New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani their person of the year for 2001. They chose him largely due to the terrorist attack September 11th. Since President Bush was out of sight for much of September 11 due to security concerns, Giuliani became the voice of the nation that day. His voice was filled with grief and strength, inspiring New York to inspire the nation. He said, "Tomorrow New York is going to be here. And we're going to rebuild, and we're going to be stronger than we were before. I want the people of New York to be an example to the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, that terrorism can't stop us."

He was the gutsy decision maker, balancing security against symbolism, overruling those who wanted to keep the city closed down. The mayor pushed key institutions—from the New York Stock Exchange to Major League Baseball -- to reopen and prove that New Yorkers were going on with life. He was the crisis manager, bringing together major players from city, state and federal governments for daily meetings that got everyone working together. Giuliani filled the role of "consoler-in-chief," as his voice brimmed with pain, compassion and love. When he said "The number of casualties will be more than we can bear," he showed a side of himself most people had never seen.

The most interesting thing about Time magazine's choice of Giuliani was the field of possibilities for the honor. The magazine admitted they were considering Osama Bin Laden as person of the year. Those two men stand in stark contrast after the events of September 11th.

We wonder who has the greatest impact on the lives of others? Those who inflict great pain and suffering, or those who offer comfort and strength in trying times?  When have you been the comfort and advocate for others? When have you experienced this? How might we in the church be this to others?

Second, we will see Christ’s presence through the Holy Spirit who reminds us of the truth. Jesus tells his followers that the role of the Holy Spirit is to whisper the truth in the ears of the faithful. When Jesus was present, he was the one who instilled in them the right words, coached them through the proper verses, taught them the joyful commandments. But now that Jesus approaches his death,  that task is to be handed over to the Holy Spirit: "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. This is the Spirit of truth ..." (John 14:15-17).

The primary task, then, of the Holy Spirit is reminding the faithful of the truth, jogging the memories of the followers of Jesus about all of his commandments so that they can keep them in love.  It may surprise us to think of the Holy Spirit in this way, as a quiet, whispering teacher of the commandments of Jesus. Often the Spirit is advertised in flashier terms: The Spirit gives ecstasy; the Spirit evokes speaking in unknown tongues; the Spirit prompts dramatic and miraculous healings. Indeed, the Holy Spirit of God does perform such deeds, but these are all derivative of the one, primary activity of the Spirit -- reminding the children of God about everything that Jesus taught and commanded (John 14:26), whispering the gospel  into the ears of the forgetful faithful.

The reason we need the Holy Spirit murmuring the gospel in our ears, of course, is that we are notoriously forgetful. As one commentator has pointed out, "an early Christian definition for being lost ... was 'to have amnesia.' " We are amnesiacs who cannot keep our calling clearly in mind.  We know that we are created to serve and love one another, but the pressure builds and the temptation to seek revenge is strong and we simply forget who we are and what we are purposed to do and be in life.

The doctrine of sin discloses that our loss of memory is not a momentary lapse. Having lost our memory, we now choose forgetfulness again and again, preferring the oblivion of amnesia to the sharp accountability of remembering the commandments. In his book Lost In The Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book, Walker Percy describes a frequent device of soap operas, movies and novels. A principal character will develop amnesia. He or she is in a new place, with a new job, a new set of friends, perhaps a new lover. This plot device, says Percy, is endlessly fascinating since it feeds our fantasies about a risk-free forgetting of the old self and the embarking on a new identity.

Percy decides to push the question of amnesia to its highest power. "Imagine," he writes, "a soap opera in which a character awakens every morning with amnesia ...." Every day, the character is in a strange house with a strange and attractive man or woman. Everything is new and fresh -- the view from the window, the partner, the sense of the self. "Does this prospect intrigue you?" asks Percy. "If it does, what does this say about your non-amnesiac self?" ( Walker, Percy, Lost In The Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1983), pp. 17-19).

Percy's point, of course, is the lure of forgetfulness. One way to describe sin is willful forgetfulness. We choose amnesia; we decide as an act of the will not to remember that we are God's very own son, God's very own daughter.

God's mercy is, in part, the grace of memory. God's Spirit whispers in our ear, telling us what we cannot -- or will not -- remember, refreshing our memory about who we are and to whom we belong. When, in situations of challenge and stress, we remember the comfort and demand of the gospel, it is because the voice of the Holy Spirit whispers the truth in our heart.

We, too are the people who are willing to forget the Great Commission Christ gave us. But we are glad the Holy sprit remind us the truth of great commission . After his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations….” (Matt. 28:19). And our own Presbyterian Book of Order lists the first responsibility of church membership as “proclaiming the good news.”(G-5.0102)

I believe that we all want to be more faithful to the Godspel. So M&O made postcard invitation to invite people to the Pentecost worship service. We ‘ve already sent 100 to the visitors back to five years ago and regulare absentees and we made extra to give you that you may participate in inviting people to the Pentecost worship service eon May 15. You’ve already received two cards. I’d like to ask you to hand deliver to your neighbor and help them to join you.