Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! +
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. Jesus understands. Jesus understands what it is to be human, and He understands our limits, our capacity. He Himself got to grow and learn as a child – Luke says that He increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. We grow, we learn, we use what we have learned in service to God and our neighbor. And that growth is not instant, and sometimes there are things we simply aren't ready to know yet. And so, as people, God knows and understands that we will continually be learning and growing. And this idea of continually learning would have been no surprise to the Disciples – they were disciples. That's what a disciple is, a learner. But there in the upper room that Maundy Thursday, Jesus is pointing out that He is going away, He's going to go through Good Friday and then Easter and then the Ascension – He will be returning to the Father. Would the disciples still be learners without Jesus, with their Master having returned home? And the answer is yes – yes, you will still be learners, yes there will be growth in wisdom in the time of the New Testament church – even to our day. And this growth is really, in truth, the activity of the Holy Spirit – the Helper, the Comfortor, the Paraclete.
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. Pentecost is coming. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the subsequent spread of the Christian faith to the four corners of the world, to every part of the globe. No longer would we need to be pilgrims journeying to Jerusalem to participate in Holy things, but the Holy Spirit will be coming to us, sent by Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit will be active in the Holy Christian Church – in fact, we call the Church Holy not because of us, how holy we are, but because the Holy Christian Church is the domain, the province of the Holy Spirit, where He works for us. This is the 3rd article of the Creed from the Small Catechism – [the Holy Spirit] calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. After Jesus ascends, after Pentecost, the Church as we know it today comes – this wondrous Church spread out across the world with believers of every tribe and race in virtually every place. And in this church we see the activity of the Holy Spirit.
The primary task of the Spirit is delivering Jesus and the forgiveness of sins. He takes Jesus and gives Jesus to you – He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit is present and at work in and through all the things that go on here in the Church – when we speak, when we sing, when we pray – the Spirit is at work there, enabling and causing this. Today we will talk about the “Means of Grace” - that forgiveness is given through the Word or the Sacraments, but Luther didn't actually use the term “means of grace” - he called the Word and Baptism and the Supper the “means of the Spirit” - that in the Word and in the Sacraments the Holy Spirit is given to us, that the Holy Spirit is active. When we hear God's Word – the Spirit is there, working. When we speak God's Word – in the liturgy, in prayers or hymns (which are spun out from God's Word), the Holy Spirit is there, working. In Baptism, the Holy Spirit is there, working, making you His own temple. The Spirit in there at the Supper, making you to receive Jesus and know forgiveness in the Supper. The Spirit, by the Word and the Sacraments, makes you to know and receive the good things of Jesus. We may not always talk about the Holy Spirit, but He is always present in the Word and in the Sacraments, fixing our eyes upon Jesus and providing understanding and wisdom as He knows that we need and are ready for.
Then Jesus gives the disciples and us three tasks of the Spirit in our Gospel lesson – three things that He will do throughout the world. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. In our day, in the time of the New Testament Church, by means of the preaching of the Word of God the Holy Spirit is going to convict the world – He is going to speak convincingly and authoritatively about the world – the present day world we find ourselves in. The Spirit will make sure the preaching of Jesus is always present tense, always applicable to the present day, and in particular from three different angles.
The Holy Spirit will convict the world concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me. There's always going to be sin and unbelief in the world. Sometimes it will be veiled under a veneer of outward piety, and sometimes it will be open and gross, as it seems to be becoming more and moreso in our day. Either way, in the Christian Church the Holy Spirit will see God's Law proclaimed and sin pointed out. And note the reason, the cause of sin that Jesus gives here. Because people don't believe in Him. Where there is no faith in Christ, there sin will reign. Apart from Christ, ye can do nothing. And the Spirit will point out, will show how Christless, loveless, twisted and faithless acts and attitudes are today – even some acts and attitudes that appeal to us and our own sinful nature. And we learn in this. Sometimes we don't see how wicked and horrible something is right away – you cannot bear them now. But the Holy Spirit comes, and He preaches the Law, and He reveals sin to us – both the sin of the world so that we can avoid it, and our own sin so that we would be repented and returned to Christ.
The Holy Spirit will also preach convictingly concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you will see Me no longer. Our righteousness is not in ourselves. It isn't based upon our own actions. We certainly remember that fact once the Spirit has gotten done with preaching convictingly about sin! And so the Spirit will have another task – to proclaim righteousness, true righteousness, the righteousness of Christ Jesus. When Jesus was walking around with the disciples, they had the very image of righteousness right there in front of them. But what of when Jesus has ascended? Well, the Spirit will have the task of proclaiming Christ Crucified and His righteousness, of fixing our eyes upon Jesus. Christ Jesus has died and risen, He has taken up the weight and guilt of your sin and the sin of the world, and He has crucified it upon the Cross. He has fulfilled God's law completely – He is totally and fully righteous, and He declares His righteousness to be yours – and therefore you are utterly righteous in God's sight – justified. All that is Christ's is yours – He will take what is mine and declare it to you. The Holy Spirit brings you, gives you Jesus and His righteousness in the Word, in Baptism, in the Supper. And the only place to find this righteousness is where the Holy Spirit uses the Word and Sacraments to deliver them.
And then there is one more thing that the Spirit will proclaim convinctingly – concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. The Spirit preaches both Law and Gospel – shows us our sin and shows us our Savior. We often speak this way. But Jesus notes another aspect here – that the Spirit will proclaim the Victory of Christ Jesus over the world – and the Spirit will remind us of this fact. Often the world will seem big and scary – and it is, it's bigger than us and beyond our control. And we can be intimidated by the powers of evil at work and the abuses people in power levy – the corruption and greed that impacts our lives in a negative, lousy way. And the Holy Spirit will come and remind you not to worry about that. Jesus has won. They're judged – you don't have to worry about them, and you don't have to do a thing to them. Endure, Christ is with you – you are declared righteous, and Satan and all his minions are simply throwing a brief temper tantrum before they are consigned to hell for all eternity. They are judged already – they are defeated already, and they in truth can do nothing lasting, nothing real to you. As Christians we ought have a sense of defiance of the world – This world's prince may still scowl fierce as he will! He can harm us none! He's judged, the deed is done. One little world can fell him. And take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife. Though these all be gone our victory has been won. The kingdom ours remaineth. We can forget that defiant hope sometimes as we get worn and wearied in this world. And Spirit will come and bring this all to our remembrance.
And the Spirit is and will be constantly at work in the Church for you. Why? I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. You will still learn, you will still grow. The Holy Spirit will bring this about. And He'll bring it about day by day, challenge by challenge. You're probably not ready to hear now and understand now the things that will challenge you down the road – so be it. For the Holy Spirit will be with you, ever active in Christ's Word, ever showing you the reality of what it means to be a baptized child of God, ever strengthening you in faith toward God and love toward neighbor in the Supper, whatever the day holds. And together, in Christ's Church the Holy Spirit will show us sin and its impacts, the Spirit will daily and richly forgive us our sins, and He will make us to remember Christ's victory over sin, death, and the Devil even in the face of wickedness now. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit that Christ Jesus has given you to. Amen. Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed, Alleluia! +
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