In today’s reading from the Gospel of John (14:15-21) Jesus talks about God, Abba, in our life, along with Jesus and the Spirit, and lays out an important connection with how we live this relationship with, and in, the Trinity. This is how the majority opinion understands this story. As usual, the minority opinion can go much deeper as we look at our own life, our prayer, our experiences, many of which we cannot put into words.
Jesus promises that his, and our, Abba will send an Advocate, the Spirit of truth, whom we know as the Holy Spirit, who will be with us always. He goes on to say the world cannot accept the Spirit, because it neither sees nor knows him, as is becoming increasingly clear from the current news headlines. He also says to us who would be his followers, “but you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you”. This knowing is not a matter of facts and information, or even of dogma and doctrines. It is more a matter of experience as we become aware of a richness happening in our life. When we are open to it, we also become aware of Abba being very close to us, “in whom we live and move and have our being”. And, “you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you”. We are created to live in relationship with the Trinity. Our tradition teaches us that Abba is not some super person out there somewhere, but the very act of being itself. This can get to be a complicated head exercise as we try to explain the unexplainable, what we have been coming to know in our life. We know, but we cannot put it into words. The closest we can come is Trinity. And so again a dogma offers insight to what is happening in our life.
Jesus tells us “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me”. If we are serious about living as Jesus’ disciples in our life today, we have to take serious his words and his commandments. Jesus’ life was centered on two things: spending time with his Abba, and then being with the people Abba and the Spirit brought into his life. The gospels are reminding us of the importance of everybody in our life, the folks we know, and the folks we don’t know. Reflecting the Trinity, we are being created to live in relationship to everything and everyone that is. We reflect Abba to each other. As Jesus showed us, our role is to bring healing to others, and at times accept healing from others. The people we see everyday are an important part of our journey, as we are in theirs. Yet, as we read the headlines or even just look around, we find that many of us are the cause of pain and suffering to others.
Jesus says the world cannot accept the Spirit of truth, “because it neither sees nor knows him”, and to any who would be his disciples, his followers in our everyday living, “But you know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you”. By the very fact that I am alive I live in a relationship with the Trinity. The key is whether or not I choose to let the Spirit lead me to be aware of this. I cannot expect others will agree with me. I can, however, do my best to be open to the Spirit in everything that is going on in my life. Again, this is not an intellectual exercise. It is a matter of openness and experience. When we get hung up on titles, definitions, and labels, we miss the point. Often these become positions to be defended against all comers. This way is hard to let go of, because we like control. Jesus invites me to let go of my need to feel in control, another experience of walking slack and being alert.
Gradually we become aware of new insights to “old” ideas and their implication for how we live everyday. We look at Jesus and see him living Abba’s compassion for every one he met. The reminds me that I am asked to live compassion in my here and now with everybody who is in my life. With the terribly violent and emotional polarization all around us, compassion is no simple thing, yet it is what I am called to. This means letting go of my need to feel in control, to honestly, and with the help of grace, welcome whatever is in my life today because everything is of Abba. Thomas Merton: “What is my new desert? … The name of it is compassion. There is no wilderness so terrible, so beautiful, so arid, and so fruitful as the wilderness of compassion. It is the only desert that will flourish like the lily.” By no means easy, but vital if I would live as I am created to live.
Mary Oliver in her poem “A Summer Day”, says, “I don’t know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down” . . . Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”. The Spirit invites me, as he invited Jesus in the desert and other times at his life among us, to look at my life, how I got to where I am, and where I am headed, where do I want to be headed. Who is in my life right now, and what is the Spirit saying to me in each of them, all of them? Is there something I am refusing because of fear, or laziness? What about the people in my life that I don’t like, or do not like me, and we all have them. Can I reach the point where I actively forgive others for not being who I want them to be?
Jesus tells us, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you”. From time to time we may realize this is true, as we begin to see things differently through our experience. “You will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me and I in you”. . . whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Being open to the Spirit and following Jesus has practical impact on my every day living. It is not something I can decide to do, but what I become aware of as I realize something in my everyday has changed. Living with compassion is not something I just decide to do. I ask the grace to live Abba’s compassion, and gradually I become aware that the way I live every day is changing. I consent to it, but it is not of my initiative. It is more a matter of saying yes to what is. “You will see me, because I live and you will live . . . On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you”. From time to time all this might be very real to us, and at other times, not so much. Really an exciting journey. Just sayin . . .