“CHRIST COMFORTS IN THE MEANS OF GRACE”
Saint John 16: 5-15
Cantate: 19 May Anno Domini 2019
Father Jay Watson SSP
The Comfort is in the forgiveness of sins!
The enemies of God did not understand Him. They thought His healings were done with the aid of Beelzebub. They rejected His calls for repentance and good works—in keeping with repentance. When he talked earlier in John’s Evangel about going away, they thought He was either going to the Gentiles in the earlier mini-dispersion (Jews living outside of Judean and Galilee), or, that He was possibly talking suicide. Cluelessness. Unbelief is cluelessness. Sin is cluelessness.
Jesus always spoke the truth and He still does. Do you ever ask Him “where are you going, where are you?” Do you ever wonder “why, Jesus, did you not answer my prayer?” Does sorrow ever fill your heart? And why is that? Are you not listening and hearing The Word, His Word? Do you not believe His Word?
The Disciples were filled with sadness because Christ had told them He was leaving them. But He was only going to be leaving them in a ocular, visual kind of way. And, it was for there own good. Jesus is not in your vision, as your pet “trick monkey” or Genie for similarly good and gracious reasons. The comfort is in the forgiveness of sins!
All of His Words, because all of Jesus, is ultimately “for you,” for your eternal salvation. And that’s even if it seems to hurt or cause temporary pain at the time. A good Father disciplines his children. A good coach exercises and pushes his athletes. A Gracious God/Man works in all of you trials, patience, experience, and hope. [Rom. 5. 3-4]
Without Jesus going visually away there would have been no Apostleship and no Church. Without the seed planted into the ground, invisible, there would be no subsequent growth and spreading of the vine…of the crops. Had Jesus not Ascended out of direct “line-of-sight” The Holy Ghost would not have come and you would have no, ZERO, comfort. The comfort is in the forgiveness of sins!
Now you can whine, complain, and disagree with me and what you perceive to be my words, my sermon, my opinion, till the cows come home, but they are God’s own Words: “if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” Period. Scripture interprets Scripture; cannot be broken; and Jesus is Truth and cannot lie. He says elsewhere that where two or three are gathered together in His + Name, there He is in the midst of them. Hmm. Where have we heard His Name and His gathering? The opening sentence of The Holy Mass (page 15 TLH) “In The + Name of The Father and of The + Son and of The Holy Ghost.”
Though the Comforter is also invisible—Spirit, Ghost—He has distinct and separate “personhood” from The Son. And, He is Holy and God. He can be seen The Way The Godhead desires Him to be seen.
What did Jesus do when He made the “12” His Apostles, His first band of ambassadorial PASTORS—PASTORS! He “breathed” on them; He “spirited” them The Holy Ghost. If you wish to “see,” experience, and receive the sevenfold gifts of The Paraclete, then you will be right here, every time The Word is right here! The Holy Ghost is given in the Bible, yes, but He was given for 16 New Testament Centuries before the so-called Bible was readily available, by The Word as given in The Church—by the Office of The Holy Ministry. The Word did not bequeath a Bible but A Church. The Church lives from The Word and thus The Bible containing the Word is 100% and absolutely indispensable. But the Bible does not Baptize your babes. The King James or ESV does not meet you for private Confession and Absolution. And no “floppy” CPH “study” Bible gives you God’s Body and Blood. But The Holy Ghost the Comforter does through an under-shepherd of The Shepherd—The One sending The Spirit and The One Who has called and sent the apostolic messenger. The comfort is in the forgiveness of sins!
Jesus speaks directly to your mind, heart, and soul when you open up His Book of Scripture and read, learn, meditate upon, and inwardly digest His words. Yes! The Holy Ghost gives you Christ. But for those “old-Adams” that struggle with reading Scripture, and that constantly “self-justify” their interpretations of Scripture (we are all Pharisees that love to apply the Law to others more than to ourselves), there is The Mass; there is The Sermon; and there is The Absolving and Strengthening Supper.
You are reproved and condemned by The Law for your fallen acts and works this past week; and for your fallen nature.
But your Judgment of Guilt has been commuted, pardoned, and been paid for, in full, by The Righteous One Himself. You are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Not just because Jesus, but because Jesus obeyed for you, suffered for you, and died for you!
He has visually left you to go to The Father. And now He bids you by The Comforter to come up and be comforted at The Father’s own right hand—the very footstool of eternity found at altar and communion rail. Here the Comforter guides you into Truth as Truth itself is placed in your mouth and poured down your throat. The comfort is in the forgiveness of sins! Here, you are glorified and all things that The Father has are given to you IN The Son, by The Comforter. Or in other words…
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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