Sermon – John 14:16-17
17 September 2023, Wis?a, Poland (The Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation)
Urmas Viilma, Archbishop
LWF Vice-President for the Central Eastern European region
Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17)
It is my pleasure to share the word of God on this Sunday here, in beautiful Wis?a, and to be with you all in a communion of the Word and the Eucharist. I share with you the joy over this opportunity to host, with God’s blessing, an Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in Krakow, Poland, in the Eastern European region, almost four decades since the Assembly was held in Budapest, Hungary, in 1984. A lot has changed in these 40 years, both in Europe and in the wider world.
For the nations and churches in Eastern Europe, the recent decades have been a period of liberation and renewal, as we have escaped the confines of the communist regimes. However, it is also in our region that the forces of evil and violence have resurfaced, as we are reminded of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, which has brought grief and suffering to millions of Ukrainians. Having observed all of this, we are forced to admit that human nature, corrupted by sin, can easily succumb to evil and become its pawn. Even churches and Christians are not immune to that if we stray from walking the path of Christ’s love and from the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The work of the Holy Spirit in the church is also the theme of the gospel passage from John 14 that we are focusing on today. It is a traditional text from the Scripture that is read on Pentecost as we commemorate the descent of God’s Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church of Christ.
Since the first Christian Pentecost, an assembly of the people of God has been a testimony to the presence of the Holy Spirit. In the same vein, hundreds of representatives of Lutheran churches worldwide have assembled, as a people of God, in Krakow for the Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation under the theme of ‘One Body, One Spirit, One Hope’ (see Eph. 4:4). Even today, on this Sunday, we are guided by the Holy Spirit to assemble for worship in dozens of churches in connection with the Assembly, but also anywhere else in the world where Christians celebrate the Sunday. Like on the first Pentecost, the Advocate is present among us, as promised by Jesus.
The Bible sometimes likens the Holy Spirit to the wind. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). This is how Jesus explains the work of the Holy Spirit to Nicodemus. It could, perhaps, be said that all the doors and windows of heavens were open on Pentecost, creating a true gust of the Spirit.
Back then, the Holy Spirit overcame all obstacles and barriers, transforming the entire collection of believers – the Church of Christ – into a united people of God. Whereas at the time of the Tower of Babel, God confounded people’s languages because they had sought to reach heaven with their own efforts, on Pentecost God’s Spirit joined all languages into praising God in unison because, taking the place of humankind, the Son of God had ascended to heavens, having been raised from the dead. Before his ascension, Jesus promised that humanity would not be left alone. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever,” (John 14:16) he said to his disciples. Thus, for two millennia, God’s Holy Spirit has been a living spiritual bridge, the new Jacob’s ladder, between heaven and earth, the Creator and humankind. The Holy Spirit knows no bounds!
Similarly, the Church of Christ has no specific, visible boundaries as it extends from time to eternity, from earth to heaven, and from heaven to earth. This Church, like the world at large, only includes the boundaries that human beings themselves like to build due to their ineptitude. We erect barriers, adopt rules, formulate commands, draw boundaries, and build fences and walls. It is such a human endeavour! However, our goal is not to be only human, thereby always finding excuses for our unwillingness or inability to do more. Our goal is to be like Christ. It was not in the nature of Christ to create boundaries, make excuses or formulate new commands or laws. Jesus only proclaimed a single command – the commandment of love.
Which boundaries in the current society would need to be eliminated in order for us to remain faithful and survive as Christians? What are the obstacles that we should remove? Thinking of Christianity and the various churches, we are compelled to admit that we often continue to act in separation, each of us building our own ‘Tower of Babel’. Every one of us in our congregations and villages, churches and denominations, states and continents, would like to reach heaven through a tower that we ourselves have built. It is in our nature to overlook the things that unite us and, instead, look for differences. We are afraid of losing face by becoming too similar to others. Perhaps we are even envious thinking that someone else can be equally blessed or share in the same grace of God. Consequently, people are unwilling to look for a common language in their differences, preferring to speak in different tongues instead.
The Holy Spirit acts in a completely opposite way. The Spirit of Love guides all languages and nations to praise and magnify God in one voice. At the Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation, we as Lutherans of the world try to focus on being or becoming one through One Body, One Spirit and One Hope, while also including sisters and brothers from other denominations.
As God poured out the Holy Spirit on Jesus’ disciples, uniting all languages and peoples to praise and magnify God in one voice, some of the passers-by were amazed at hearing “them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues”(Acts 2:11). When people speak about wonders, it is usually easy for everyone to understand because such ideas, words and talks come from the heart. The heart is also the place for love. The heart is also the place for God. When somebody speaks about love or about God, they can be understood even if the listeners do not know the language, because God’s Holy Spirit opens the strings of our tongue and mind so that they can be understood without words.
When somebody speaks only in the language of reason, only in the language of rules, in the language of commands and prohibitions, then mutual understanding is quick to disappear. This gives voice to a different spirit. Everywhere in the world, even in our own churches or congregations where differences emerge between us based on doctrine and faith, it is a sign that we have become driven by a different spirit.
We need to be careful in making room for the spirit of the world. We can try to understand the world; we can try to understand the people representing the spirit of the world, but we can never assume that they understand us. This can be experienced, in particular, here in Europe where the spirit of secularism is starting to prevail. Many of us remember the vigorous action of the spirit of materialism and atheism during the socialist era. Now, the same spirit is again gathering strength in order to expel Christian spirituality and doctrine, values and truths, from the public sphere. Slowly, the spirit of secularism is attempting to cancel the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the point of Jesus’ words when he said that the world cannot accept the Spirit of truth because it neither sees him nor knows him (John 14:17). The spirit of the world acts by ignoring the Holy Spirit.
As Christians we have been touched by the Spirit of Pentecost; we have been guided to follow Jesus as our Lord while loving God and loving our neighbour, and through this we are in a position to defeat the spirit of the world. We can do so by using the language of faith and love. The Holy Spirit has taught us to live and speak the language of love so that we may understand each other even when we are very different. Through the Holy Spirit and belief in Christ, we have all become members of a single family – God’s children. As God’s children we belong to the Church of Christ that extends throughout the world, and even beyond the boundary between time and eternity.
The Holy Spirit has made it possible for us all, as we have assembled today in this church, to understand each other even as we speak different languages. Even without words. The language of loving your neighbour, the language of care and good deeds is understood without words. This is the language that we should be able to use when we address our neighbour. As Christians we need to continue speaking this language, especially with those who do not understand that the Advocate Spirit of truth can even come to dwell in the hearts of those who have previously only spoken the language of the world. Christ wants to unite us all in One Body, One Spirit and One Hope – the hope of eternal life.
Amen.