The Truth In Us

Rev. Ann Beaty
Tarrytown United Methodist Church
Fellowship Hall

May 29, 2011

Text: John 14:15-21

Some of you may have attended the Evening Service on Good Friday during Holy week in preparation for Easter. During the service we read the scripture from John’s gospel that tells the story of Jesus’ last days from the trial through the crucifixion.

There is a scene in the story where Pilate, in trying to decide whether Jesus is guilty of any crime, is questioning him, and they are having a dialogue about whether or not he is the King of the Jews.

Pilate says to him, “So you are not a king?’ Jesus answers, “For this I was born, and for this I’ve come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate says to him, “What is truth?”

There is a pause in the script at that point where there is silence and another candle on the altar is extinguished. Each year when I read that scripture, those words stand out and echo in my mind in the silence. “I’ve come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

So, Jesus came to bear witness to something that is true and there are people in the world who are of this truth and so they hear his voice. What does this mean?!?

At least part of the answer to my question is in our scripture today: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”

In this scripture for today, we find ourselves back before the trial with Pilate. Jesus is with the disciples and he is telling them that tragedy awaits him, that one of them will betray him, and that there will soon be a time when he will not be with them in the same way he has been.

All this bad news is set, however, in the context of reassurance. Jesus tells the disciples that they will not be abandoned by God as events unfold. God will send a new Advocate that will be with them and also with future generations as the voice of discernment as new issues and problems emerge. This Advocate will be the voice of God, and of Jesus – and we will never be alone.

Jesus calls this Advocate the “Spirit of truth - whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him”. “But”, Jesus says, “you know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you”.

The word “Advocate” literally means “someone who is called to assist”. Some Bible translations say “Helper” or “Counselor” or “Comforter”. They are all taking about the Holy Spirit.

Jesus knew that the disciples had a daunting task ahead of them. He would be leaving them soon and while he was challenging them to live in his commandments, he wanted them to be reassured that they would not be alone. Not only will they not be alone, but the Spirit of truth will abide with them and in them. This presence, this Advocate, is not only something that will come from outside when they need help. This is God’s presence already in them all the time in the form of truth.

Paul Tillich, a contemporary theologian, says that “Jesus is not the truth because His teachings are true. But His teachings are true because they express the truth which He Himself is”. (again) Jesus is more than words. Jesus is more than any word said about Him.” Jesus IS truth and that truth abides in each of us as gift of God’s love and as responsibility as followers of Christ.

If we take these words of Jesus seriously, we see that the “truth” isn’t something we have to go out and find. We can’t give it to somebody else or even teach it to them. It isn’t even ours to give. The “truth” is already within each of us. It is a very special gift that God has already given to us in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t know about you, but to me, this is a huge relief! I don’t have to go out and “get” anything! It’s already there and been done for me – and is in me. Are we called to utilize the tools of our faith to help ourselves and others grow in their understanding of the truth in them? Yes…to be sure that is a major teaching role in the church. But, the truth is already in us.

In the scripture today, Jesus says “if we love him, we keep his commandments.” It is in keeping the commandments that we begin to know, understand, and live in the Spirit of truth already in us. It is in teaching the commandments that we help others embrace and understand the breath of the spirit at work in their lives.

For John, it is clear that the commandment we are to keep is about loving others. In John 13, Jesus said to the disciples, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So, it is our task to LOVE others into discovering the truth of Jesus in themselves.

As I said earlier, Jesus knew this was a daunting task for the disciples and Jesus knows this is a daunting task for us. But, with the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, the truth of God’s abiding love living in us – there is hope. We can have courage and step out in love.

*Living in the truth, maybe we will know with a measure of assurance that when we are overwhelmed with grief or difficulties that we are not alone.

*Living in the truth, maybe we will respond when we feel nudged to deepen our prayer life or increase our knowledge through study.

*Living in the truth, maybe we will take that step to add a service commitment to our life – maybe mentoring a child or volunteering with VBS, or leading a program or project.

If we love Jesus, and take seriously the command to love ourselves and others, we have to constantly be taking stock of our lives and our church and asking how it is that we embrace the truth of God’s love already in us and how we live in that truth.

Many years in this church I have worked with the 6th grade Confirmation class in the spring as they write a creed about what they believe. Without a doubt, each year, the group decides that the hardest part to describe in the creed is the Holy Spirit.

I got curious a few years ago and went looking back in my files to see what our 12 year old youth have said about the Holy Spirit. I looked at the creeds from 2008 back to 2003. This is what they’ve had to say about the Holy Spirit – the Advocate.

The Holy Spirit is God’s presence with us. The Holy Spirit is around us and in us giving us direction and contact with God in every moment. The Holy Spirit works in our lives as guardian angel, leader, and helper. The Holy Spirit is God’s whisper reminding us of who we are and helping us when we are sad or need to make decisions. The Holy Spirit is within us filling us with truth and love and helping us carry Christ’s commands out into the world. The Holy Spirit is an everlasting gift from God –a part of the Trinity that makes God’s love complete in us.

These are the words of some of the children of this church. We haven’t given them this truth. We have taught them to look inside of themselves and to use the tools they have been given through the teaching of scripture, and faith, and history, and community and relationship.

What is truth? I think living into the truth is a life long quest as a Christian. It’s in us when we come into the world. We recognize it at moments throughout our life. We seek further understanding and knowledge of it as our faith grows.

Paul Tillich says it this way:

“The truth that liberates is the power of love, for God is love. Therefore, distrust every claim for truth where you do not see truth united with love; and can be certain that you are of the truth and that the truth has taken hold of you only when love has taken hold of you and has made you free.”

Let us pray: God, we are grateful for the ways your truth is already at work in us in relationship with Jesus. Help us to keep your commandments as we grow in grace and knowledge and live more fully in your love out and into our world. Amen.