Lent Devotional Day 33

Day 33
Sunday, March 26

John 14:16-31

16 I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion,[a] who will be with you forever. 17 This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
18 “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” 22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot) asked, “Lord, why are you about to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus answered, “Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word that you hear isn’t mine. It is the word of the Father who sent me.
25 “I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. 26 The Companion,[b] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.

27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid. 28 You have heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away and returning to you.’ If you loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than me. 29 I have told you before it happens so that when it happens you will believe. 30 I won’t say much more to you because this world’s ruler is coming. He has nothing on me. 31 Rather, he comes so that the world will know that I love the Father and do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up. We’re leaving this place.”

Reflection
This passage gives a pretty rad description of the Holy Ghost, if you ask me. It
reads like a fantasy novel narrator introducing a big character that will forever change
the course of the narrative. That character that gives sparks of hope to the other
characters, even the reader, and allows them to think… “wait.. So we’re not done yet?… There’s another?? Someone to guide us… even after the hero returns to his homeland?” (The hero is Jesus, homeland is wherever heaven is).

And with every transition, there can be a sense of uneasiness. A sense of the unknown. Which Jesus is well aware of, but calls the disciples into the reminder of the gift of a God, who is abundantly present with us.

This passage is Jesus letting us know we’re in good hands, that we’ll always have
a companion, the Holy Spirit, to guide us in the way of truth. The Holy Spirit is another way in which God manifests Godself within, to, and through us. In other words, the Holy Spirit is God with us, in a new way, after Christ.

Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you.” In the giving of the gift
of the Holy Spirit and divine peace, Jesus is reminding the disciples to live into the
teachings of God even in the midst of the uncertainty in their lives. That gift of peace might sound familiar… that is because we say it each week in our communion liturgy! It’s Christ inviting us to welcome peace into our lives, as well as inviting us into the reality that we have a part to play in the creation of peace within our communities. It is a gift to have Christ’s peace and presence.

Jesus said, “Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and
we will come to them and make our home with them.” God makes God’s home with us. The peace and comfort, the love and compassion of God, is where we should want to build our homes. God is a God of presence, peace, love and compassion. And all of that dwells within us, when we follow Christ’s words and life. The Holy Spirit makes God’s home with us in our hearts as we take the time to sit with God in our scripture and allow the Word of God to change our hearts.

To wrap up this devotional, I leave you with this: When we follow Christ’s words
and life example, we make room for God to make God’s home within us. How have you taken the time to make room for God in your heart? What does it mean to have God be a permanent house guest in our heart? How does that affect the way we go about living everyday life? Are we acting and living through a lens of compassion, peace, love, and presence?

By Sarah Rugenstone