Sunday Reflection: The Holy Spirit
Scripture:
John 1:29–38:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher),
Reflection:
The Holy Spirit
By Vicki Disorda
Our scripture reading today is from the Gospel of John. Like Jesus, John was from Galilee. John was the youngest and one of the first disciples of Christ. Closer to Jesus than any of the other disciples, John and his brother, James, held prominent positions among the disciples. At the end, John was the only one that did not flee and along with his mother, he was the only disciple who stood near the cross. It is thought that John was probably related to Jesus and therefore took risks on behalf of Jesus the others did not dare to. Because of his loyalty, Jesus commended care of his mother Mary to John. (Ref. Gospel Light by George M. Lamsa, pg. 317)
Because God is the provider of all things, easterners believe that God has a share in what they have. They believe they have to give in order to receive. So, when easterners visited shrines and holy places, they would sacrifice the most perfect animal they had to God. It is because Jesus was without sin and was therefore the best sacrifice of love humanity had to offer that John called Jesus the lamb of God. Jesus was to be the living spiritual sacrifice that would do away with the sacrifice of dumb animals at the altar and take away all our sins. (Ref. Gospel Light by George M. Lamsa, pg. 323)
John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ (John 1:32–33) The holy spirit “was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus was with God at the beginning (John 1:1 & 2) as he is with us now.
“In him was life and in that life was the light of man. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” (John 1:4–5) John himself was only a witness to the light, which was Jesus Christ, so that through John all of mankind could believe the story of Christ who was himself the Holy Spirit. The disciples who heard John call Jesus “the lamb of God,” called Jesus “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher).” (John 1:36–38) The Word was revealed through Jesus and his teachings, and while John came to baptize with water, Christ came to baptize mankind with the Holy Spirit.
Last week, Pastor John said, “The height of spiritual being is to see God in everything.”
In his first epistle, John wrote: “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” (1 John 4:9–13)
My Aunt Phyllis had been on my mind, as she often was, at Christmastime and over the last few days before Monday evening when I got an overwhelming urge to pick up the phone and call her. She didn’t answer. Normally, I am the first person to panic when an elderly person isn’t home when they are expected to be. But as I left her a message on her answering machine, I had this calm feeling inside me as if she was there listening, perhaps watching the evening news and screening her calls. Never once did I worry even though Aunt Phillis should have been home and one would think, answering her phone.
Oddly, I was not concerned and was completely taken aback the next morning when my mother told me that Aunt Phyllis had passed away the night before. Now, I do not know if my aunt was home bodily at 6PM Monday night when I left my message, but I have no doubt that her spirit was connecting, if not literally listening.
It is this small inner voice that is the Holy Spirit. It gives us urges to pick up the phone and call a loved one when we are thinking of them. Or when we are thinking of a loved one and they call us seemingly out of the blue. For as Pastor John said a few weeks ago, and as John has written, Christ resides within each of us. Every time we have an unexplainable feeling like I had Monday night to pick up the phone and call Aunt Phyllis, this is the Holy Spirit guiding us. And although “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another,” these types of inexplicable occurrences are proof that “God lives in us.” When we act on these feelings and do reach out and make a connection with others, “his love is perfected in us.” Even when we connect only in spirit like I felt my aunt and I did Monday night.
My friends, this connection does not end with the end of a life. God’s love, the Holy Spirit and this connection are eternal. My aunt and I will always be able to connect though this love that is perfected in us. God’s love is not just for the living but all who have gone before us. My cousins knew this at the funeral, and so in spite of our loss and sorrow here on earth, all were happy for my aunt because we knew she was reunited with all who had gone before. This my friends is the peace of Christ.
It is “by this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.” And “so we have known and believe the love that God has for us.” (I John 4:13 & 16) The Holy Spirit resides within each of us. When people love one another, we are connected forever.
There have been many times I have experienced this type of unexplainable bond with a loved one. Many years ago, for example, a couple of years after I had graduated high school, I suddenly woke up out of a sound sleep very upset. I began crying, fighting with my boyfriend and just plain old acting irrationally for no apparent reason. Not even I could understand or explain my own behavior. It was just a feeling I had. The next morning, I learned that my younger brother, Dan (and Chucky), had been in an automobile accident at about the same approximate time that I had woken up.
My brother was nearly killed, had a head injury, a broken femur and several other injuries. He spent nine days in UVM, came home for a couple of days and then had to go back to Burlington for more surgery and spent several more days in the hospital. For my brother, it was a near death experience. For me, it was the Holy Spirit at work, letting me know something was seriously wrong with a loved one & I needed to get up.
It seems like these types of life and death experiences are most memorable. But there are plenty of times when someone will pop into my head from out of the blue, and then just moments later, I will receive a text or a call from that person. Or I will sit down to write an email to someone only to discover that they have just sent me one. Some people might call them “psychic connections”, but this, my friends, is the Holy Spirit. These happenings are the Lord, which is the light that shines in the darkness, even when it is not understood.
The holy spirit works in a similar fashion to the internet, only the connection is much more powerful, faster and reliable. “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” I will conclude today’s reflection by reminding us as John wrote, ‘the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.’ (Ref. 1 John 4:4) Amen.
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