Some companies offer some pretty interesting–and pretty strange–employee benefits. There’s a Chicago law firm that has annual “luggage party” where everyone shows up with a their suitcase packed, and four people are chosen at random and flown to Las Vegas for the weekend. I guess everyone else just gets to go back home and unpack their suitcase. Health insurance for you and for your family isn’t enough these days. Some companies offer pet insurance. General Electric and Netflix offer unlimited vacation time. Take as much as you want! It’s kind of a gimmick though, because employees actually end up taking less because they’re afraid of it counting against them in some other way. How about a company that pays for any employee’s wedding? Or the weirdest one that I found was a San Francisco hedge fund that offers to cryogenically freeze any employee on death, just in case the technology comes along to resurrect them.
What are the job benefits of preaching the Gospel? I should know right? Let’s see, I get a salary. I get health insurance. I get a parsonage to live in. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Jesus prepared his disciples to go out and proclaim the Gospel. He gave them a job description and told them what they were going to be doing. And he also told them about the benefits, and they are pretty strange. “They will put you out of the synagogues.” “Anyone who murders you will think he is offering a service to God.”
With job benefits like that, who would do such a thing? Well, you would. Jesus’ words in John’s Gospel for today were for his apostles, and for pastors and teachers, and for all Christians. This world has not known the Father or him, he says, and so we should expect persecution. But you’ll be prepared for this, because Jesus sends the Holy Spirit. And with the Spirit, you are going to testify.
We’re at the end of the Easter season, which goes from Easter to Pentecost, and this Sunday holds a special place as a kind of bridge between Jesus’ ascension into heaven, which we celebrated on Thursday, and the festival of Pentecost, which is next Sunday. When Jesus ascended he told his disciples to go out and proclaim the Gospel to all nations. But before that time he had also talked about this work that he was sending them to do. None of this was coming as a surprise to them. Jesus had made sure that they were well-prepared.
In fact, from the very beginning of their time with Jesus he had made it clear what sort of work he was calling them for. He told the fishermen Peter and Andrew, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He told them “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers into his harvest.” And then he sent them out to drive out demons and heal diseases and preach that the kingdom of God is near. The work he was doing was the work he was training them to do.
He was reminding them of this lesson on Maundy Thursday when he spoke these words to them. He told them that he would be leaving them to go to the Father, but they would not be on their own. Instead, this would be a great blessing to them because he would send the Holy Spirit. And this would be a great blessing to all the world, as they go out to proclaim the good news of Jesus. Jesus said,
26“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27And you also are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
This passage is one that points us to the mystery of the Holy Trinity. The Son goes to the Father and sends the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father. And the Holy Spirit will testify about the Son. There’s an old controversy about whether or not it is right to say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or does he proceed from the Father and from the Son. This passage doesn’t conclusively answer that on its own, but the fact that Jesus is sending him is one part of why we confess that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son. Clearly the Holy Spirit is a person. He’s not just an energy or something like that. He’s going to testify. And he is God, because he’s the one who is going to bring dead hearts to life with faith through the proclamation of the Gospel.
But why then does Jesus really need these disciples at all? Couldn’t the Holy Spirit do his work of testifying without them? Or if there must be messengers, why not holy angels, who are confirmed in their sinlessness and always represent God rightly? Jesus told his disciples “You are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.” That’s a good qualification, but these are men who fought over which of them was the greatest, and who wanted to call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan town that wouldn’t welcome them. These are the men who would run away when Jesus was arrested and hide themselves behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. Is this really the best idea, to use men like this to testify?
And the question applies just as much today. Couldn’t God do so much better than me to fill this pulpit? If not with angels, there are pastors who are a lot smarter than I am or who are better speakers. And what about you? Surely it would be better if someone else would share Jesus with the people in your life. Someone else who knows the Bible better, or who always has the right thing to say.
But what Jesus says here is a great and glorious gift. He didn’t really need them. He’s God. He doesn’t need us. If you keep quiet he’s not going to sit in heaven helplessly wringing his hands saying, “Oh, I wish I could bring that person to faith, but I can’t, unless you help me out.” Not at all. He knows those who are his own. But he gives you the privilege of loving other people with his love. He invites you to be a part of the heavenly work of the Holy Spirit which is testifying about Jesus.
That started with those disciples who were with him from the beginning. They could testify as eyewitnesses of all these things that Jesus had done. Their job was not to spread rumors or to pass on legends. Their job was to tell people about the things they had heard with their own ears and seen with their own eyes.
You can’t testify in the same way that they did. You weren’t there to see Jesus’ miracles, to hear his teaching, to witness his death and resurrection. Your privilege is slightly different. It’s to pass on the witness of those disciples. And it’s to testify about the love of God in your life. In the end though the goal is the same. It’s testifying about Jesus. And we have the same Spirit of Truth who speaks through us, who uses us in his work of bringing people to faith.
This is truly glorious work, but don’t think that the glory of it will always be evident in this life. Jesus warned his disciples that this job comes with some pretty strange perks. He said,
“I have told you these things so that you will not fall away. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who murders you will think he is offering a service to God. 3They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me. 4But I have told you these things so that when their time comes, you may remember that I told them to you. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.”
You know, Jesus, most employers, when they’re trying to convince someone to take a job—they offer a whole bunch of good stuff. Why would I want any part of this? Couldn’t you promise success after success, while the godless around us suffer failure after failure? Couldn’t you promise that when we use the law to warn people of their sins they will always say, “You’re right. I repent.” Couldn’t you promise that the Gospel will always be met with smiling faces, and that Christians will be loved and respected, not derided?
But no. Jesus says, “They will do these things because they have not known the Father or me.”
You’d have to be crazy to take a job like that. And yet, here you are. Why? You have known the Father. You have known Jesus, his onlybegotten Son. You have known the Holy Spirit, whom he sends to you. And when you know God, when you know his love for you, when you know what he has done, you can’t help but testify about it.
The world is not going to love you for that. It might actually hate you. After all, it hated Jesus. But that’s not such a scary thing when you know that you can’t die. Oh, this godless world can rage and foam at the mouth. It can make every effort to make your life difficult. It can torture you. It can even put you to death. But you can’t die. Not when you have Jesus. Not when you have his cross and resurrection. Not when you are baptized into his name. Not when his body and blood have touched your lips.
This job of testifying about Jesus comes with some pretty strange benefits. It makes you an enemy of the whole world, which would rather see you dead. But you already died with Christ, and now you live with him. He fills you with the joy of salvation. He keeps you from falling away. He sends the Holy Spirit, and with the Spirit you are going to testify.
Amen.