Greetings, I hope everyone has a nice long weekend. This Sunday is Trinity Sunday and our text is quite short. It would follow that this would be Trinity Sunday as last Sunday was Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was sent to live within each person’s heart. Up until this time in the gospels we have read about God and Jesus but now a new entity is introduced forming the Trinity. In the Old Testament not much was said about the Holy Spirit. It was thought that only the prophets, the Kings and a few other people had the Holy Spirit, the rest of the people did not experience it.
So what is the Holy Spirit? One way of explaining it is by using an illustration. When the people returned from their exile in Babylon they could only speak Aramaic. The scriptures had to be read in Hebrew so there was a problem. A methurgeman (interpreter) was used to aid in this problem. He would stand next to the rabbi and listen closely to what he read. When the rabbi finished reading the passage the methurgeman translated the passage into Aramaic for the people. The people would then know and understand what was being read to them. This is how the Holy Spirit functions for us. He translates the teachings and words of Jesus into a form or idea that we can understand. He listens closely to Jesus so he can give us the correct interpretation. He uses the text of the Bible to do this so the more we know and understand the Bible the more the Holy Spirit has to work with.
V 12-13 Jesus has many more things to say to his disciples but they are too overwhelmed to hear and understand them. Jesus is explaining to his disciples that he must leave and they are trying to understand what that means. Their beloved rabbi is leaving them and they can comprehend no more than that. Jesus understands their confusion and lets them know that he won’t abandon them when he leaves but will send the Spirit of truth to guide them. The Spirit won’t speak on his own but will speak whatever he hears and declare to them the things that are to come. Just as the methurgeman didn’t speak on his own but translated for the rabbi so will the Holy Spirit translate Jesus’ words for the disciples.
V14 By doing this the Holy Spirit will glorify Jesus. Jesus’ mission will be the Spirits mission. The Spirit will continue an ongoing translation of Jesus’ teaching.
V15 God has revealed and given all to Jesus. They are in unity and all that is the Fathers is Jesus’. Jesus is now including the Holy Spirit into this unity of his father and himself and sends the Spirit to the disciples and us. We are to be in unity with the trinity. We will know God as Jesus revealed him to us; we will follow Jesus in servanthood as he led us and we will listen to the Holy Spirit as he teaches us. We tend to want to pick apart the trinity and assign tasks to each one but the more important aspect of the trinity is how it functions as a whole. This is what we need to focus on – the trinity teaching us how to be in relationship with God and his Son.
As we move forward into next week try to listen for the Holy Spirit leading you. It won’t be an audible voice but it may be an urge or a nudge or it may lead you to that bible passage you’ve been trying to find. The Spirit won’t attempt to be louder than the other voices in your life so you must quiet yourself to listen. Take some time each day to listen, maybe read a devotional or a bible passage and then sit quietly for a few minutes, and as you become familiar with the voice of the Spirit you will start to hear him more and more. I know that some will say they are too busy to set aside this time but just give it a try for a while an you may be amazed at all he has to say to you.
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