Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, dear Gwendolyn, our new sister in Christ by his sacrament of Holy Baptism, dear Andrew and Leah, who will today make your public confession in your baptism confirmation.
A special day we often mark with gifts. Christmas and birthdays are the biggest examples. But they aren’t the only ones. There are wedding gifts. There are graduation gifts. I think there will probably be a few gifts today to mark such special occasions as baptism and confirmation.
But better than any gift you might receive from a friend or family member is the gift that is yours from Jesus. That gift is the Holy Spirit. Today, in Word and Sacrament, that gift is yours, so that you can declare, “He is my God.” That is why Jesus ascended into heaven. He sends to you the Counselor.
Our sermon text for today is from the Gospel according to John, chapter 16. Jesus had told his disciples that he would be leaving them. This would be fulfilled in two ways. In less than 24 hours he would be dead. He was going to be taken from them when the mob came to arrest him, and he would be tried unjustly, beaten, crucified, and laid in a tomb.
But Jesus’ talk of departure also has another departure in mind. He would rise from the dead on the third day, just as he had told his disciples, just as was foretold by God’s Old Testament prophets many years earlier. But things weren’t going to go back to the way that they were. Jesus would be glorified. His disciples would see him for a little while, but then he would ascend into heaven and be seen by them no longer.
I suppose that it’s no surprise that this news made them sad. I can put myself in the place of one of those disciples and say, “Yeah, I think I’d be sad too.” I’ve said goodbye to people plenty of times in my life. But do not misunderstand this! This departure, this goodbye, should not be a sad one. This is what Jesus explains to his disciples and to us. This is the fullness of his redemptive work. This is a great and joyful thing. Jesus tells them that he is going to the Father in order that they might have a gift. He is going to send the Counselor, the Holy Spirit.
First, Jesus says
5“But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6Yet because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart. 7Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment: 9about sin, because they do not believe in me; 10about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.
The Counselor is another name for the Holy Spirit. He is an advocate and a helper. When Jesus says he is going to send him, it is not as if he was somehow missing. Certainly the Holy Spirit was present among the disciples. He is God, one with the Father and the Son, and so he is present everywhere. He was also at work in the disciples, creating and sustaining faith in their hearts. So what is Jesus saying when he says he is going to send the Counselor to them? Well, you can look at Pentecost to see. There was the sound of rushing wind. There were tongues of flame on the disciples’ heads. They spoke in different languages and boldly proclaimed the word of God.
That’s the fullness of the Holy Spirit. There was the gift that Jesus was promising to send to them. And people often get this all backwards. They look at the flashy parts of Pentecost and they think that unless you’re seeing these kinds of things the Holy Spirit must not be present. Where is the sound of rushing wind? Why is there no flame on little Gwendolyn’s head? Why aren’t Andrew and Leah speaking in tongues? How could we even say that the Holy Spirit is here in this place?
But those miraculous things on Pentecost were not the gift. Why does Jesus say that he will send the Counselor? What will the Counselor come to do? Jesus says that first, he comes to convict the world. He convicts the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment. This is the decree of the Law. The unbelieving world stands in opposition to Jesus. It says, “How dare you call me a sinner!” And yet it cannot go where Jesus has gone. It cannot build heaven. And it cannot escape judgment. Satan has been condemned. Jesus could say this even before the cross, because the Word of God can never fail. The serpent’s fate was sealed ever since the time that God said, “He will crush your head.”
It’s through you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that the Counselor convicts the world. He does this by your faith and your speech and your life, because he has set you apart. You are in the world but you are not of the world. You are a new person, born from above in the water of baptism, walking in the new life that you have received from Christ, rejoicing even in suffering because no one can take from you the hope of your salvation. All of this is because Jesus has chosen you. He has redeemed you. He ascended on high and sent to you the gift of the Holy Spirit, your holy and heavenly Counselor.
And that’s the second part of what Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to do. Jesus said,
12“I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak. He will also declare to you what is to come. 14He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. 15Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I said that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.
There’s a wonderful and mysterious picture of the Holy Trinity here. God is one, without parts, indivisible. God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Within the Trinity, the Father is the eternal Speaker, the Son is the eternal Word, and the Holy Spirit is the eternal Hearer. And so this Hearer, the Holy Spirit, comes to us in order to guide us into all truth. And that truth is the Truth of Jesus, and Jesus says, “Everything the Father has is mine.”
Trying to understand God is a bit like trying to get a good look at the sun. But there is some wonderful comfort from our Lord here. Don’t go looking for anything new. That’s not what the Counselor is coming to teach you. Jesus was not saying that there was more to tell his disciples because of all the future revelations that were yet to come. No, he was saying that the Holy Spirit would open their minds so that they could understand the Scriptures. He would guide them into the truth of God’s word. He would remind them of all that Jesus had told them.
Is it a sad thing that Jesus was departing? Not if you understand it rightly. Not if you know his gift. Jesus’ departure was for you. “It is good for you that I go away,” he said. Would Jesus abandon you after suffering death on the cross for you? No, you don’t see him but he isn’t gone. “I am with you always, to the very end of the age,” he says. But more than that, his going means for you the greatest gift. The Holy Spirit is your perfect, eternal Counselor. He is yours and you are his. He makes you bold in this godless world to confess that Jesus is Lord. He leads you to that same Lord Jesus in humble repentance to be guided in all truth and comforted with forgiveness. In the water of Baptism he gave you new life. In the Supper of our Lord’s Body and Blood he gives you the joy of Salvation. And he will preserve you in Truth and in Faith to life everlasting. Amen.
— Pastor Seth Georgson