The hours were passing rapidly. Time was running out. Jesus was trying to get everything in before the end of his ministry. He had so much to say, and yet, he was aware of the fact that the disciples were just not ready to take it all in. Up to this point, they were struggling just to understand what he had been trying to tell them. They were still stumbling over the meaning of the parables, attempting to put some flesh on stories that seemed to be like a gossamer cloth spun with gold thread, yet impossible to grasp even when they had their hands on it.
They were constantly bickering with each other, trying to get a more prominent place in the order of things, a little like first graders lining up at the water fountain at school. For twelve grown men, you'd think that they would have been more sophisticated, but we have to remember that these were commoners, men of passions, used to living lives of intensity on fishing boats, on farms, in workshops, and in tax offices. They were the blue-collar workers of their time, skilled and yet not educated, used to the basics, not interested in what the future might hold because they found life difficult enough in the present.
In other words, the disciples were like you and me. Our educational levels might be different, our cultural experiences might lead us to believe that we "know" more, but when it comes down to living day to day, we are not so far apart. Jesus was trying to talk to a group of people who could be sitting in this room at this very moment right alongside of us.
Jesus wanted to speak to his disciples in a clear and direct manner. But how could he expect them to hear all that they needed to hear with so little time left? The more he spoke about the future, the more fear and anxiety filled their minds and faces.
Did you ever notice how it gets harder to hear when someone is telling you something you do not want to hear? Like when the doctor comes in with test results that you have been dreading. Or when your boss calls you in to tell you about some restructuring that is going to have to take place. Or when the principal asks for a special conference about the report card that is about to be distributed. You would think that would be the time when you could focus in and increase your ability to listen. Instead, we tend to get fuzzier and more confused. I have a feeling that is what Jesus could see in the disciples' faces as they listened around the table in that upper room.
Jesus, at this moment, aware of the chaos they will soon be thrust into, offers something new, something entirely different, something that would ease the confusion and soothe the furrowed brows of the disciples. He tells them that the Spirit will lead them into the truth. The Spirit will speak with the authority of God, telling the disciples what God is thinking. The Spirit will give Jesus glory because he will translate what Jesus has to say to the disciples. Jesus tells them that he possesses all that the Father has. Jesus and God are one.
In that one instant of declaration, we have the Trinity -- Father, Son and Spirit, different and yet the same, speaking the word of God, being the Word of God and enabling the word of God to become inextricably bound with the disciples.
And, in all likelihood, the disciples missed it.
They were still caught up in what Jesus had said about what was going to happen, what he had said about himself, about how the world was going to treat them because of their relationship with him. They heard, but they didn't understand. "Let him who has ears, hear," as Jesus had said so often.
Perhaps the meal had slowed down their reflexes, the same way that a thanksgiving feast affects us. Everything had gone into slow motion. Jesus was talking in those theological terms that always got them so confused. They really didn't want to get into any deep reflection upon what the future might hold. Of course, they didn't know that the future was going to be very different in just a few short hours.
Yet they were concerned. There was enough being said that they knew that things were about to be different. Jesus was promising them that there would be someone around to help make the confusion clear. That they weren't expecting the Spirit is clear in the Pentecost story. The Spirit brings clarity and power it is true but the Pentecost Spirit was not what they had expected.
Two thousand years later, the church isn't much different. We are still confused by the theological implications of a God made flesh on earth. We still stumble around when we try to put faith into action. We still need the constant presence of the Spirit to make sense of our faith. And we still are surprised every time the Spirit comes into our lives to make us truly God's children.
How many of us here would be ready if God's Spirit were to pour into this room and make us into someone that we didn't want to be, or make us do something we really were not ready to do? Most of us would like to believe that we would be ready, but if it really happened ... I'm not sure. You see, we are not sure we want to trust God that much.
What would happen if God tried to tell us something different from what we thought we already knew? Remember, that's what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. Paul was riding to that city to rid it of those Christians who were threatening his Jewish faith. He had no intention of letting that group of religious upstarts upset the boat of faith that he was sailing on. He had the compass. He knew the waters. He was involved in smooth sailing, when suddenly, that whirlwind known as Jesus had something more to say to him. Knocked him right off his horse! Upset his apple cart and made applesauce of his pretensions! Left him blind and in the hands of the very people he was intent on stopping.
You see, when Jesus has more to say, he is going to find a way to say it. The Spirit is the venue, the media that carries the message right to the heart of the one he wants to speak to. We have to be fairly smug if we believe that we are somehow going to stop his message from getting through to us.
Jesus has so much to say and we have so little time to listen to all that he wants to teach us. It was true with the disciples. It continues to be true with us. We intend to listen. We are determined to be faithful followers. But the moment we hear his voice, we begin to get anxious. His words pour down upon us like a shower, and we worry about getting wet rather than seeking to understand. He speaks about eternal things and we are caught up in the present.
We still need someone to speak to us in a different manner, someone who will help us hear and believe in spite of our disbelief. We need the Spirit to be there, to help us to hear. But the Spirit does more than help us hear. The Spirit is active in guiding us in the truth. The Spirit is power and potential and personality that make us shine in a world filled with darkness. We become the bearers of the truth, marked by the reality of the Trinity -- children of the Father, siblings of the Son, companions of the Spirit -- so that we all may hear and know the Good News of the risen Jesus Christ. Amen."