Theme: WITHOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE ARE ORPHANS
Acts 8:5-8,14-17; Psa 65(66):1-7,16,20; 1 Pet 3:15-18; Jn 14:15-21
Chapter Fourteen of John’s Gospel is ladened with a farewell and consolatory discourse of Jesus to his disciples. He has been with them throughout his earthly mission, now, he is about to go back to the Father through his passion. But at this point, what worries Jesus is not his suffering nor the glorification
that follows. Rather, his worry is what would be the situation of his disciples after he has gone. At the beginning of Jesus’s earthly ministry, the disciples abandoned their parents and occupations to follow him, that means, they left everything about their old lives, becoming a new people, a new family of
Christ and around Christ. So, Christ understands that though he must go to fulfil the wish of the father, his disciples need him still.
[Lesson: Sometimes we are occupied with what we want to do, attending to our mission, going on in pursuing our goals, that we sometimes forget to make adequate provisions for those around us. We build a community of friends, co-workers etc, but we are so occupied with our own things that we do not bother about others, how they go in life. We should not live a life of ‘Use and throw away”, using people when we need them, and abandoning them when we think our mission with them is over.]
Jesus knew that the disciples would become orphans when he is gone. But he says to them “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (Jn 14:18). An orphan, as we know, is one without father and mother. An orphan lacks protection, guidance, provision, caressing, security etc which father and mother stand for and provide. An orphan is susceptible to danger and reckless life. No matter how others try to occupy the father’s or mother’s position which an orphan lacks, they can never take away the fact that
the orphan is without his/her father and mother. In order not to leave his disciples orphans, Jesus promises that he will send them another Paraclete (ἄλλον παράκλητον). The Greek word παράκλητον (Paraclete), in this context means one who gives protection, help, a security provider, comforter and
counsellor. It is important to note that Jesus did not ask the disciples to go and find this other Paraclete by themselves.
The community which the disciples have entered in Christ, is not the one that they seek for themselves a guide, a leader and a protector, but the one that Christ himself provides the Paraclete by himself. Who is this paraclete which Jesus will ask the Father to send? The Spirit of truth. Without the Spirit of God in us, we are orphans and susceptible to danger and evil. The Spirit, who is our
Paraclete, is not from the world because the world does not even know him (Jn 14:17).
Yes…Christ will ask the Father to send the Paraclete, but there is a condition. If we do not accept Jesus as our First Paraclete, the ἄλλον παράκλητον (another Paraclete) which will come from the Father through Jesus, will not be for us. Only those who are part of the family of Christ, will Christ not leave as orphans. And in order to show our acceptance of Christ as the Paraclete, we have to love him, that is, we have to keep his commandment. In fact, this point is so important that Christ bases it as the only condition for which we can have another Paraclete. He says: If you love me, you will keep my commandment. And (then based on this), I will ask the Father to send you another Paraclete (Jn 14:15-16).
In the first reading, Philip proclaimed Christ to the Samarians, and they accepted the word of God preached to them. Having accepted the word of God, believing in Jesus, and belonging to the family of
Christ through their baptism, the Samarians are now ready to receive the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. This is because once one accepts Christ, and accepts to live entirely Christ’s life, loving him and following him, he initiates a war with the anti-Christs. Accepting Jesus is forsaking every other thing that is not Christly. And once that happens, one faces battle against all other things that are Anti-Christ. And so, he needs the Spirit of the Truth, who is Christ’s new way of advocating, protecting, helping, counselling,
and comforting his children. This is why, in the first reading, immediately the apostles in Jerusalem heard that the Samarians had accepted the word of God, becoming members of Christ’s disciples, they sent the apostles, Peter and John, to pray for them and lay hands on them so that they receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit therefore becomes a ‘not-to-do-without” force and figure for every Christian, because it is the Spirit of Truth who guides the family of Christ in Christ who is himself the Truth.
Since Christ is the Truth, and the Spirit who the believers receive is the Spirit of Truth, we can say that it is the Spirit of Christ. This explains why Jesus tells his disciples that even after he must have gone, he will still live in them (Jn 14:20). That is to say, the Spirit of truth which will dwell with and in the disciples (Jn 14:17) is the same Spirit of Christ. Hence, Christ dwells with and in his followers through his spirit. But before that happens, one must be born first into the community of the believers through baptism, and then live a life of total loving of Christ by keeping his commandment, which as well calls for loving others because of Christ.
One of the ways the Holy Spirit performs the work of a paraclete in our lives is in teaching us how to relate with others. When we really live as Christ, people will always see the difference and would want to know what motivates our lives. Some people will ask in order to adopt such hope and faith, while
some will ask in order to make caricature of our faith. To whatever group, St. Peter advises us that our response for the reason for our hope who is Christ, be always guided by courtesy and respect. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to speak with love in order to win others with the same love of Christ. Christian
life is not a life of superiority complex or arrogance; it is not a life of ‘I am better than you’; it is not a life that condemns others who do not practice the same faith; it is not the life that makes us to parade ourselves as better than others. Rather, it is a life of humility, kindness, meekness, love and gentleness.
It is a life that seeks to love than to condemn, to make to understand than to segregate, to love than to abuse. And any follower of Christ who has not the Spirit of Christ living in him will not know how to live Christly. Even when we have to suffer because of our faith, it is the same Spirit which enables Christ to go through his passion which will keep on encouraging and consoling us because he is our comforter and consolation.
Wishing You a very wonderful week. Open Your Hearts to Receive the Spirit of Truth.
Fr.Henry Chukwuezugo