Once we truly believe that we will never be orphaned, we have more freedom to go out to others in love and grace
Jesus promised the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the original apostles and the growing number of disciples. That promise of an advocate has been passed on to us, and each of us has been blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Since we have received the promised advocate, the Holy Spirit also gives us some promises. The Scripture readings for the sixth Sunday of Easter focus on the promises that the Holy Spirit gives to each of us who have received it in faith.
One of the first promises made to us through the gift of the Holy Spirit is that we will never be orphaned. One of the greatest fears of the human race is that we will be isolated, alone or rejected. How do we translate the promise of not being orphaned so that it helps us have language to address these fears? The first step is listening to the Scripture readings. Once we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, it dwells within us for the rest of our lives. The gift of the Holy Spirit is an eternal gift so that we are never alone. Even if everyone else rejects us, the Holy Spirit continues to reside in our hearts, whispering and shouting of God’s eternal commitment to us. And since we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are connected with the community of saints and with the people of God here on earth and with all of creation.
Sometimes it feels like everything is against us. That may be the sense that we have of the present moment, but it is not the truth. We are always connected to each other, always in union when we pray at the Eucharist, always in union when we call upon the name of Jesus and always in union as we lift our eyes out of our own self-centeredness and notice the gifts around us. We are never completely disconnected and orphaned. Even though we acknowledge the truth of our feelings, we need to speak the truth to ourselves. Even though I feel alone, I am not. We have to tell ourselves the truth and refuse to give in to the lie.
Once we begin to live in the truth that we will never be orphaned, we notice that we have more freedom to go out to other people in love and grace. We will have less of a need to try to make people live the way we think they should and more of an ability to love them as they are in the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit gives us the belonging that we need that bears fruit in peace and courage, among other things. Real courage and power don’t come from overpowering or undercutting another human being.
Our Scriptures this weekend remind us that our great witness is possible when people come after us with malice and evil. If we respond in the same way, then we simply join the ranks of those who spew division and hatred. If we are able to answer with peace, truth and the love of Jesus, people who make fun of us will be their own judges. We have more courage than we could ever imagine. For the early apostles and disciples to do what they did took great courage. This is more than just the miracles they performed and the thousands of people joining the community week after week. They needed great courage to continue to preach the name of Jesus, even as they were being persecuted and killed. As Jesus did from the cross, so we are called to do. We are called to love our enemies and to do good to those who persecute us. What courage it takes to fight against the current belief that violence must be met with violence, but instead to believe what Jesus said. Put away the swords and let love do the hard work.
