( Sermon Joh 16:5-15) [ German Translation ] [ Afrikaans Translation ] [ Announcements (German)520.67 KB ]
(5) But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
(6) But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.
(7) Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
(8) And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement:
(9) concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
(10) concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;
(11) concerning judgement, because the ruler of this world is judged.
(12) “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
(13) When theSpirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
(14) He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
(15) All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
Dear Congregation
Jesus goes away. The disciples are distraught.
But: They should not ask: Why is he leaving? But: Where is he going to? What is he going to do where he goes?
He goes, so that he can be with the Father –invisible, yet everywhere –so that not only 12 disciples in that time, but all people everywhere can have access to him.
This is the message of Ascencion.
And he goes so that the Spirit may be sent. The Spirit of truth. The Helper. The one who consoles us.
Truth –that is a contested word nowadays. Some people talk about alternative facts. It seems people are quite adept at ignoring a truth that they do not like. But: The Helper is at the same time the Spirit of Truth.
Truth helps. Even if it is hard. It is better that a doctor tells you the truth about what you are suffering from, and prescribes a treatment –however difficult it may be –than that he tells you things that you would prefer to hear, and just gives you a few plasters and disprins that do not heal the wounds.
The Spirit acts toward the world and to the disciples:
To the world, the Spirit convicts.
Convicts of Sin, and righteousness, and judgement.
Sin –What is sin? The world does not like talking about sin. We tend to think, the world thinks, sin is doing wrong things. I sin a bit if I break my diet. I sin a bit if I take a little thing or a little time that belongs to my employer. But sin –this is what the Spirit teaches, is much more fundamental. Sin is broken relationship with God, it is unbelief. Sin is not trusting that Jesus is the one in whom God shows Godself.
The world would like a God of power and glory –those things they aspire to, they make to be God. But Jesus shows God beingthe opposite: A God of humility and service, a God who is present with
the outcast and the disregarded. It is the sin of the world that they are not willing to see God where Jesus shows God to be. Do we see God in Jesus? Doe you see this man on the cross? That is where God is. Not in the golden glory, not in the power and profit we desire –but with those in need. There is God.
Righteousness: Why is Jesus being with the Father righteousness?
Firstly, because this justifies Jesus'claim to be God'srepresentative. If Jesus is with the Father –then indeed, what Jesus said about God is true. God is a father. God is a God of love, a God who runs out to meet the dirty son coming home. God is a God who includes those whom society throws away –God goes, like Jesus, to the Leper, and to the Tax collector –and changes their lives and our life.
Secondly, because, being with God, he can be and do as God does –give. Jesus' righteousness is to give righteousness, just as God's being is to give: God's power is to empower us, God's love is to love us, God's glory is to shed glory on his world, and God's holiness is to make us holy. Righteousness is not what we bring to God, but what Jesus, from the right hand of God, from God's creative power, gives us.
And this means that the world is judged: The prince of this world embodies our human aspirations for power and wealth and glory. But it is not he who is at God's right hand –it is the small, crucified Nazarene who is there. It is not the powerful that will triumph, but those who share in Christ's love. The Prince of this world is judged. We do not see it yet –but we may believe that Christ has the authority, and will, and is assuming his rule, though time be long.
To the disciples, the Spirit leads in truth. He speaks the things of Jesus. So often, Jesus is much more radical than we can at that time understand. But he also is patient. He allows the spirit to leads us slowly to understand what the truth is. And the truth is what the Spirit takes from Jesus.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. The Spirit leads to Jesus. He takes it from Jesus and makes the disciples aware, understanding, more deeply immersed, in the truth of Jesus.
May the Spirit help us to understand Jesus, and to follow his way –to go the way of the Nazarene to those outside, to follow him in service, and to trust him, and in him, God, who is a God of giving and of love.
Finally, a quote from a sermon by Lutheron this text
In the first place, we see here that the world is convicted of blindness and wrong thinking, so that all who are without the Holy Spirit, however wise they may be, or valued before the world in external things, governance, or action, are before God fools and blind people. ... In the first place, one should know that God's Word is not speaking of external things or appearances only, but grasps into the heart and innermost soul ... So, when you go through all the commandments, you will find that there is no human who keeps God's commandment out of his own heart's desire. ... Now God has invented a cure for this evil, and decided that he would send Christ his Son into the world, that he might shed his blood, that he might do enough for sin, and take it away; The Holy Spirit would come into the heart of those who, unwilling and under compulsion, would do the work of the law, and that they would keep God's command without compulsion and with a cheerful mind.
Amen
