The Season of Lent has come and gone. We are in the Season of Easter but it too is quickly passing. During this Season of the Church year, we join the church on earth, the church in Heaven, and all the Heavenly Hosts in holy worship and praise of our Lord’s victory over Satan, sin, death, and the grave! We began the Liturgical Season of Easter on Resurrection of our Lord Sunday and continues until May 19th. On that day, we enter into the Season of Pentecost as we celebrate the promised coming of the Holy Spirit upon the church in the world.

Now, perhaps more than at any other time in our lives, we need to hear and to embrace the promised Holy Spirit. On the evening of our Lord’s betrayal, while in the upper room, Jesus turned to His followers and said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:16-20).

At times, especially a few years ago during the Covid-19 Pandemic, all of us felt a sense of isolation and loneliness. To one degree or another, the “shelter in place” admonitions were something very different from anything we had experienced in the past. We weren’t dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, tornado, severe storm or flood. It was not Winter with the occasional ice storm that rarely passes through. The sun was shining. The weather was good. The electricity was on. Yet, we were separated because of an unseen real and present danger.

Aren’t you glad those Covid-19 regulations are now a thing of the past? The disciples and followers of Jesus must have felt the same way on the Friday and Saturday of Passion Week. Jesus had been betrayed and arrested. He had been tried, condemned, and crucified. The disciples had to wonder, was this their “new normal” without Jesus? Without His presence? Without hope?

Jesus knowing what His followers would face, spoke to them with words of loving comfort and reassurance for the days ahead. With this in mind, let’s take a moment to put those words of Jesus in their proper context. Jesus had just instituted the Lord’s Supper by presenting Himself as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. It was the last night of His earthly life and He was preparing His followers for His departure. He was preparing them for what will be a time of terrible anxiety and grief, fear and doubt. In the midst of this, Jesus promised His closest friends, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever” (John 14:16). The word translated “Helper” comes from the Greek word “Paraclete” a word denoting a comforter, an advocate, a soul-reviver, or a re-creator.  Jesus promised that this Person, the Holy Spirit, would be with them and would become their “Helper” (John 14:16).  Jesus also assured His followers that their belief in His promise would enable them to accomplish wonders, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).

Later, after the Resurrection, Jesus kept His promise. He appeared to the disciples and He gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit. It was a peaceful, gentle experience, as far as we know. Then, on the day of Pentecost following the Ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all the believers gathered in Jerusalem and He (the Holy Spirit, the promised helper, comforter, advocate) came upon the church with power in a mighty display of wind and fire and preaching of the holy Gospel (Acts 2).

 This year, Pentecost Sunday is May 19th. In our times of uncertainty, when war, oppression, crime, drugs, rampant immorality, fear, doubt, an uncertain economy, political turmoil, scandal, and an unprecedented invasion at our Southern border threatens our future, we need the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to be with us. We need His guidance, protection, assurance, provision, and wisdom.

The church, since early days, has confessed belief in the Holy Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – but just who is the Holy Spirit? The Biblical writers want us to know, with certainty, that the God who made us, loves us. Therefore, He literally poured out His Spirit of Promise (the Holy Spirit) into our hearts as our “Helper” and our “Comforter” to guide us and direct us into all truth.

This is what Jesus meant when He said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-14).

A young Armenian girl named Elizabeth Caraman saw Turkish troops arrest her father for no apparent reason. While her father languished in jail, Elizabeth and her mother lived in terror of what would happen to him, or them. Then, one day, Elizabeth saw her father. She watched as the Turks took him away to be executed. Elizabeth’s father resisted, so his captors wrapped him up in an old piece of carpet, threw him on the back of a donkey, and took him away. That was the last time Elizabeth saw her father alive.

Can you imagine the anguish that Elizabeth felt over losing her father in such a brutal fashion? She and her mother were Christians. The Holy Spirit helped them to endure that tragedy without becoming bitter or cynical.  Elizabeth grew up to become a nurse. She took a job at a mission hospital where it was her task to cut away old bandages, cleanse wounds, and apply fresh bandages. This was sometimes a painful procedure, so Elizabeth got into the habit of rambling on while she worked in order to distract her patients from their pain.

One day, while nursing a Turkish man, Elizabeth began talking about how her father had died. The man listened intently. Finally, in a low voice, he said, “I am the man who killed your father. I rolled him off the donkey, still wrapped in the carpet, and ran him through with my bayonet. I still see it in my mind and to this day, my actions still sicken me.”

Elizabeth said nothing but went on bandaging his wound. How strong must have been the temptation to hate that man, to lash out, to hurt him, or even to kill him. Some people would say that what happened next was not humanly possible. Elizabeth had an “Advocate” who is more than human. When Elizabeth finally spoke, she said, “Jesus told us to forgive our enemies. So, I forgive you.”

Day after day, she returned to the bedside of the Turk. Carefully cleansed the wounds of the man who had murdered her father. One morning, just before Elizabeth was transferred to serve at an orphanage, the Turk (a Muslim) looked at her and exclaimed, “Your Jesus must be even greater than I ever imagined, if he can live in you like this!”

In the Gospel, Jesus prepared His disciples for the time when He will be gone. Jesus promised, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:16-18).

The Holy Spirit comforts us; the Holy Spirit strengthens us; the Holy Spirit equips us for our Christian Ministry of Service; the Holy Spirit changes us and conforms us to the image of Christ our Saviour. He makes us like Him who gave Himself for us.

It is the Spirit that helped that young Armenian woman in each of these ways. He comforted her in the loss of her father; strengthened her when faced with her father's murderer; and equipped her to minister to that man.  What the Holy Spirit did for Elizabeth Caraman, the Holy Spirit will do for us.

 Pentecost reminds us that Christ is risen! Christ is alive! He is ascended and reigns in Heaven! Through His Spirit of Promise, the Holy Spirit, He also reigns in our hearts and minds. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have already overcome all fear, doubt, and uncertainty about the future because Christ loves and cares for you and me. When tempted to fear and doubt, remember the Christ who continues to hold you in the center of His nail scarred hands and has filled you with His Holy Spirit!

 

Thanks be to God!  Hallelujah!