Day of Pentecost
The Spirit’s Witness and Our Witness
“When the Advocate comes…(John 15:16).” Is there a day the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, does not come? I think not. Just as the Spirit of truth testifies on Jesus’ behalf, so do we. Sorrow, circumstances, opinions, personal hardship, arrogance – none of them is to deter us from testifying on Jesus’ behalf. The ruler of the world has been condemned. And just as Jesus had many things to yet say to the early disciples, I’m certain he yet has many things to say to us. Do you agree?
The Spirit is speaking. John asserts, “The Spirit of truth will guide us into truth.” This is the not the small “t” truths of our own makings, the cloud of opinions we wander around in, protecting ourselves from our complicity in Jesus’ condemnation. These are the truths spoken by the Spirit not on her own but on behalf of the condemned ruler of the world.
Today’s John text is incredibly deep, complex. One could easily pursue a host of paths. For the moment, I invite you to resist the notion that you have to figure things out, that you have to get your life straightened out, in order to witness to Jesus. It is in witnessing, following the Advocate’s lead, that our own sin, whether it be white privilege, abuse, ignorance, intransigent opinions, or __________, is overcome as we are connected both to the Savior and to the work entrusted to our hands by the Advocate.
Jesus recognized how the early disciples could not “bear” many of the things he yet had to say to them. I think the same is true for us. That’s okay. For it is a joy to hear the Advocate speaking, guiding our actions, and especially freeing us from getting things right!
James Hicks, pastor, Daggett Moravian Church, Daggett, Michigan