Preaching Paths 14 May 2023

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

Today’s reading, John 14:15-21, is a continuation of Jesus’ parting words to his followers. Much of the vocabulary is familiar from previous verses. Yet, this section presents a significant new element: a dynamic of mutual and multidirectional love connecting Jesus, the Father, and Jesus’ followers. This current of love is described not as an emotional state, but as congruence in intention and action. Parallel statements in vv. 15 and 21 (forming an inclusio structure) underscore this new definition of love. The dynamic love binding Jesus’ followers with Jesus and the Father will be expressed in acts, not just words.

But if Jesus is physically departing, as he has said (vv. 2b-6), how will such congruence of vision, will and action between Jesus and his followers be achieved? Jesus declares he will “ask the Father,” who will send “another Advocate,” [God’s] “Spirit of truth.” This Spirit who already “abides” with the disciples (v. 17), will “be in” them and will never leave. The “world” –that is, the realm of mundane, earthly human experience—is unable to discern this divine presence (v.19a); but Jesus’ followers will see what the world cannot (v.19b) and will be moved by the invisible currents of divine redemptive love.

Preaching poetic theological texts such as this can be a challenge. One risks leading the congregation into a thicket of lofty abstractions. On the other hand, one cannot simplistically resort to a strategy of “explaining and applying.” This is not instrumental, “how-to” theology; it is meta-theology. Jesus discloses what is and will be, a dynamic of love-in-action, divine and human, not of our making. Yet analogy can aid our understanding.

When two persons wed, partners lay down single-minded self-determination and commit to honor one another’s convictions and aspirations. So also, in the Spirit, our passions and actions are reshaped, drawn into to the redemptive purposes of the Holy One whose life animates our own. A vision and passion for the healing ways of God is born within us.

Sermons on this text will be most helpful when they can render, in concrete terms, what a Spirit-animated, Spirit-guided life may look like. The exemplary lives of the saints of the Church are surely worthy of our attention. Telling the story of one of the Church’s saints can help make concrete what it looks like to be animated by the Spirit. Yet, we need to devote part of the sermon to contemporary “imaginative rehearsal.” In other words, what might it look like amid the ordinary opportunities and challenges that our listeners face, to have our decisions and actions shaped by the love of the Father and the Son for us and for the world? How might we nurture our alertness to the promptings of the indwelling Spirit?

In our digitally-driven world, we awaken daily to a clamor of voices competing for our immediate attention. Myriad texts and emails, newscasts and podcasts, advertisements and charity appeals demand that we respond. What disciplines of the Spirit/spirit can hush this shrill chorus of demands and create a space for us to discern the Spirit’s inspiration and guidance? Prayer, liturgy, and meditation on scripture, either in solitude or in the company of trusted fellow pilgrims, can attune us to the voice of the Spirit that dwells within each of us.