WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13
READ JOHN 16:12-15
JOHN 16:12 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. 13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own initiative but will say only what he hears. He will also announce to you the events of the future. 14 He will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and announce it to you. 15 Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that he receives from what is mine and will announce it to you.
We do not always readily receive God’s words to us. Jesus knows that many of his followers will be “at sea” without some augmented seriousness, some assurance from Jesus before he, in bodily form, departs from this earth. So Jesus says to them, “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 the truth.”
Many to this day still do not understand the fullness of that promise. When have you heard a devout Christian say something like this: “I wish Jesus had not been taken from us. I wish we could have escaped that loss.” But Jesus’ ascension was not a loss to us; it was a gain. The Lord in his ascending received new power. Once he inhabited a few hundred square miles; but now that he is risen, he is available to all people on the earth at all hours of the day and night. In his resurrection he became accessible in new ways. The risen and ascended One is no longer hemmed in by the confines of time and space that encumber us.
Spiritual matters for us are far less confusing than they were during the forty-day span from Easter Day to Ascension Day. To wish we could turn back the clock denies the power of the Holy Spirit who can be with us in both our joys and our sorrows, in the times of trial and in the times of victory over sin. So rejoice and be glad, for the Spirit gives to us far more than the ascension of the Lord could possibly remove from us.
Even more, the Spirit makes present to us and active among us promises that Jesus made during his ministry that we have largely forgotten. What we and our ancestors in the faith do not recall, the Spirit brings to our remembrance.
Holy Spirit, come among us, minister to us now and always. Amen.[Laurence Hull Stookey]
Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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