Sunday Scripture: "I Will Not Leave You Orphans"

Note: This is the first installment of what I hope to make a regular article, a meditation on the Sunday readings.

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Sunday, April 27, 2008

In this Sunday's Gospel, Jesus tells us, "I will not leave you orphans," a phrase which indicates not only His going to the Father, but also His eternal place as Immanuel, God-with-us. This saying therefore indicates both the transcendent and immanent nature of the Holy Trinity; God is both transcendent, dwelling in heaven beyond all created things, and immanent, dwelling in the universe, especially in the souls of His faithful ones.

These two aspects reveal the way in which we become a part of God's family, in particular, to cooperate in the interior, trinitarian life of God. As we know, the life of God is a life of eternal, self-giving love. Jesus has in many places as well as in this Gospel reading told us that to love the Father is to obey the commandments; indeed, the act of keeping the commandments can be accomplished only by love (Matthew 22:37-40, Galatians 5:4). It is no surprise that He tells us here that we may love Him by keeping the commandments, yet His audience must certainly have had difficulty with this saying; the people of Israel had never found it an easy task (Ecclesiastes 7:20). They had to wonder at this, asking themselves in their hearts, "how can we keep the commandments?" Jesus knows this and provides an immediate answer: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is new life. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for the "breath" God breathed into Adam's nostrils was ruah; the same word was used in reference to the Holy Spirit.

The saints who dealt especially with the Holy Trinity tell us that the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between Father and Son. The Father gives Himself in the Holy Spirit to the Son and the Son returns Himself in the Holy Spirit to the Father. Thus, each of the Persons of the Holy Trinity dwells entirely within each other. This view of the Trinity makes more sense with the help of other passages (John 15 is wonderful for Trinitarian meditation).

In the Gospel reading, the Son of God offers us the Holy Spirit as an advocate (literally, one who can be called to our side, the term was used then as it is today, in reference to a lawyer or patron). By offering the Holy Spirit to us, Jesus includes humanity in the family of God. This love which binds the Father and the Son also makes it possible for us to come into the cycle (for lack of a better word) of divine love.

Because Christ dwells in the Holy Spirit, those who know the Holy Spirit know Christ, and they know Him by sharing in the Spirit of Love, which is lived out by the fulfillment of His commandments. Through Christ, they also know the Father, whom He has made known.

Therefore, the gift and duty (munus) of the Christian is to live in the Holy Spirit, loving God and obeying the commandments, and therefore becoming more and more perfectly a member of the divine family. Through His gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ remains with us, and does not leave us orphans. He will not be gone to us, but with us forevermore.

In order to place the emphasis once more on the Holy Spirit, Jesus concludes what He has said: our love depends on entirely on keeping the commandments. The answer to the dilemma is what Jesus has just declared: the Holy Spirit.

The other readings make the role of the Paraclete more clear. The first reading makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is for all Christians, a necessary Gift of God. The second reading tells us that it was the Holy Spirit who brought Christ to new life. The point is clear: the Holy Spirit, this wonderful Gift of God, is given to us as a participation in the life of God, not only in the Resurrection (the "new life" of Christ), but also in the intimate life of the Holy Trinity.

In a few weeks, we will celebrate Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is coming. Christ will not leave us orphans.

His Servant and Yours,

Micah Murphy