Text:  John 16:12-15                                                                      W Holy Trinity (1^st Sunday after Pentecost)

Much More to Say

            In the name of him whose life-giving breath has filled us with his Holy Spirit, dear friends in Christ:  While in the performance of my pastoral duties, I frequently run across Christians who hold different views of the Holy Scriptures than do we in the LCMS – and I’m fairly certain that most of you have encountered the same thing.  There are lots of different views out there; but one that I run into quite often is that of those who hold what I would call a rather “soft” view of God’s Word. These are the folks who tend to water down the clear meaning of biblical passages, or who want to reinterpret the Scripture’s words in light of the modern sciences of sociology, psychology, and, very often, the pseudo-science of political correctness.  And one of the more popular ways this is done is to give highest priority to the words actually spoken by Jesus, and to downplay or disregard altogether other parts of the Bible’s testimony, like for instance the writings of St. Paul and the other apostles – the men who were only taught by Jesus.  The argument goes, “If Jesus didn’t say it, then it really can’t be that important, and therefore it should not be counted as part of Christian doctrine.”

Just as one example of this (and there are many), I’ll hear people say, “Jesus never said that homosexuality is a sin.”  And it’s true that none of the Gospel writers records Jesus as directly having said anything about the subject.  St. Paul certainly does in several places … but, we are told, that we are to understand that those comments were his own culturally biased opinions and not the definitive Word of God.  No, if Jesus had a problem with it, he surely would have let us know; and since he didn’t, well, that’s proof that as far as he’s concerned it’s okay.  Besides, didn’t he say we should all love each other? Isn’t that all that really matters? And didn’t Paul write that in Christ there is no longer male or female? –Oh whoops!  There we go using Paul again!  Well, I guess it’s all right to quote him if he seems to support your point of view.

And yes, I’m being sarcastic.  And I have to say that those who use the “Jesus didn’t say it argument” usually do so disingenuously, because even when Jesus did say something about which they disagree, they figure out a way to explain why he didn’t mean what he said; that, or they say that those particular words supposedly spoken by Jesus aren’t authentic, that they were added by a later writer who put his own words in Jesus’ mouth.  It always amazes me how creative the people who want to play fast and loose with the Scriptures can be when it comes to deciding which parts should be taken seriously and which should be set aside.

Still, it’s a seductive idea that maybe a higher priority should be placed on the actual words spoken by Jesus – that somehow they are more authoritative than, say, those of the other New Testament writers or the Old Testament prophets.  I mean, in worship we usually stand for the Gospel lesson and not those others, right?  There’s a reason for that, isn’t there?  And even among very conservative Christians who would never dream of negating or discrediting a biblical passage because they didn’t like what it says, I have noticed a tendency, when debating some point of doctrine, for some to put forth supporting passages from the four Gospels as if they were trump cards that carry more weight and that somehow they defeat passages drawn from other parts of the Bible.

Well, I trust that I don’t need to say that it’s always a mistake to pit Bible passages against each other as if they were saying opposite things and could cancel each other out.  There is an inherent unity in God’s message to us.  It’s all true.  And so we take for granted the fact that the Scriptures cannot contradict themselves. So when we come across two or more passages that appear to be in conflict, we assume from the beginning that there is a way to harmonize them.  The goal is to find that harmony.  And in the pursuit of it, we don’t assign more significance or weight to the words actually spoken by Jesus, nor do we infer anything from his relative silence about certain topics.  It’s all God’s Word.  Furthermore, the four evangelists who wrote the Gospels do not claim that their accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus contain the whole counsel of God. Exactly the opposite is true, as Jesus himself clearly says to his disciples in this morning’s reading from John. He tells them, “I have a lot more to say to you, but you are at present not able to bear it all.”

And when you think about it, you realize what a remarkable statement this is.  At this point Jesus has been with his disciples for three years, training them from the Scriptures every day, showing them how to deal with people, teaching them by his example, preparing them to go out into the world with his Gospel message … I mean, these guys had the best and most thorough theological education the world has ever known.  The Son of God himself taught them for three years.  You’d think they’ve have it all down pat by now; but no, Jesus still has a lot more to tell them.

And there were several reasons for this.  The first is that they did not even begin to understand much what he had already told them. Just for example, he’d been telling them repeatedly for the last several months, “I’m going to Jerusalem. There I am going to be arrested, condemned, and crucified.  On the third day I will rise from the dead.”  He couldn’t say it to them any plainer, yet every time he told them it went right past them.  They did not yet understand that he was going to die for the sins of the world.  Their own misconceptions about who he was and what he should be doing stood in the way so that they could not assimilate his words.  So dull were their ears that even here on the night of his arrest when he said he had a lot more to tell them, he had to break it down for them in simpler terms. Instead of talking about his upcoming arrest and death, he told them, “Listen to me guys, I’m going away now.” They replied, “Going?  Jesus, where are you going?”   It wasn’t until after his resurrection – and after all their false assumptions about him had been proven false – that they had any clue about what he had been talking about that night.  There’s a lesson for us here.  When Jesus speaks, we must be prepared to let go of our own notions, however dear we hold them.  If he says something that conflicts with what we think, we can be sure that he’s not the one who’s mistaken.

But beyond his disciples’ wrong-headed ideas, another reason Jesus had more to tell them was that some things are best learned “on the job”; that is by doing them.  You can tell a person how to drive a car, but all the telling in the world is no substitute for sitting down next to them in the passenger seat and giving them directions as they drive.  Now, Jesus wasn’t going to teach his disciples to drive, of course, but he was going to send them out into all the world to establish his church.  And this was going to be something entirely new and different:  a worldwide faith that embraced all peoples and cultures – a faith based on God’s grace in Jesus Christ rather than laws of some kind – there was nothing in the world to compare it with.  How would this church be organized?  What would its worship be like?  How would it choose leaders, make decisions, resolve internal conflicts, enforce discipline, interact with governments, and so forth?  Who knew?  Who would have known even what questions to ask?  It wasn’t until they were out there doing it that they had to sort these and many other things out.

The point is that they weren’t left to figure it all out for themselves.  Jesus had told them, “I have more to tell you … and when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.”  Jesus promised to continue to teach and lead them by his Spirit. This is exactly what we see in what unfolds after the Lord’s ascension.  At Pentecost the Spirit comes to his followers and the Christian church begins to grow.  And at each step, throughout the book of Acts, it’s the Spirit that prompts the disciples to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles and who tells them what to say. In the same way the Spirit is at work inspiring St. Paul to write the letters which clearly articulate the Christian faith like Romans and Galatians, showing us how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus are the fulfillment of God’s Old Testament promises to save his people. In other letters written by Paul and the other disciples, the Spirit gives us God’s Word on how the church is to operate; and in the pastoral letters like Timothy and Titus we’re told what the are the qualifications and responsibilities of the office of the ministry. Finally, in the book of Revelation, the Spirit reveals to St. John a vision of the last days and glimpse of the life we will enjoy in eternity. All of this is included in what Jesus meant when he said that he had more to say and that the Spirit would guide his disciples into all truth.

And that word “guide” that Jesus uses there is important for us because it literally means “to lead along the road or the path.”  It suggests the idea of forward progress: that truth, though it is absolute and unchanging, has to be revealed to us in steps.  You can’t take it all in at one sitting.  There’s a series of science fiction films out now called The Matrix.  Perhaps some of you have seen one or more of them.  When one of the characters in this series wants to learn something new, anything from karate to brain surgery, they simply plug them into a computer through a port in the back of their heads, select the appropriate program, and feed the information directly into their brains.  Knowledge is gained instantaneously.

But that only works in science fiction.  It is not how the Lord operates in guiding us into his truth.  He reveals it to us in steps and by degrees.  And there’s a reason for this too – a reason that may come into focus for us by considering the Creation account.  You know the story:  how at first the world is dark, empty, and chaotic; but then the Lord begins to speak.  And every time he says something, it has an effect on the world.  He turns on the lights, he makes the atmosphere, he divides the waters and brings forth dry land, and he brings forth the plants all by speaking to his creation at certain intervals over a period of days.  Now, ask yourself, could he have simply brought it all into existence and order with a single thought in one instant?  Of course he could have.  Well, then why didn’t he?  Why go through all the trouble and time of dragging it out?

            Why? It’s because he was doing more than just creating and ordering things the way he wanted them to be.  He was establishing a relationship with his creation – and especially with mankind, the crown of his creation.  And relationships are built on interaction over a period of time.  Your best friend wasn’t your best friend the first time you met.  That person became your friend over a period of time through conversations you had together, through shared experiences, through the happy and tough times you went through together.  And these shared experiences revealed your friend’s character and values to you, you learned your friend’s strengths and weaknesses, how your friend responds in different circumstances, and how much you can depend on your friend in time of need.

            That’s how the Lord deals with us.  He gives us his word, his wisdom, his truth in steps because he’s establishing and growing a relationship with us – as he speaks, we’re learning to know him; and that can’t be done all at once.  This is why it is that while reading the Word of God, or sitting in a Bible study, or listening to a sermon that new insights or connections suddenly come to you.  You might have heard the story a dozen times before, but now, because of things that have happened, because of other parts of God’s Word that are brought to the front of your mind, it’s like the light goes on.  What’s happening is that God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is leading you another step farther on the path of truth.  He’s revealing a little bit more of his mind and wisdom to you – which guarantees that we’ll always benefit from hearing more of what Jesus has to say. God’s wisdom is a bottomless well of truth to be revealed – and by it, we learn to know him better.

            And more than simply picking up information, as more of God’s truth and wisdom is revealed to us, it also changes us.  Again, it’s like at creation:  when God spoke, things happened in response.  By degrees, each time he said something the creation was changed. What was dark became light.  What was confused and mixed up was put in its proper place.  Then, after all things were ordered and prepared, through his Word the Lord began to fill his creation with all kinds of living things.  It’s the same for us.  When the Lord first starts to speak to us, he turns on the light of faith. At that point the relationship is established.  And then, by steps, we hear more of his Word.  We learn who he is and the basic fundamentals of the faith.  In time, we pick up more complicated ideas, like the truths about the Trinity of God that we recognize today.  And all the while, by his speaking he is changing us: driving out the darkness of our sin, building trust in Christ, and making us more like himself.  Thus, through his speaking, he continues change us for the better and to fill our lives with his life, his Spirit, and his truth.

            And he doesn’t leave us guessing about whether we are actually hearing from him. By having his Word written down for us in the Bible and “closing the book” to further additions as he did, we’re guaranteed that in the Scriptures we are hearing from the Lord – through these Words the Spirit leads us into truth – and not through other words that people sometimes come up with.  He’s set limits so that we can identify what is beyond the scope of his truth.  So, when someone comes along as says, “God told me to tell you”, or “God laid on my heart this word for you”, or with a Book of Mormon that he claims to be more of God’s revealed truth, whatever, we can say, “Sorry, I know that Jesus has a lot more to say to me; but what you’re telling me isn’t part of it.”

No, we know exactly where to find the more that Jesus has to say:  in his own Holy Word.  And in it we find there’s always a lot more that he has to say – so much that we cannot bear it all.  But this should never discourage us:  the idea that there’s always more to be gained by listening to Jesus.  Some people make this mistake, thinking, “since I’ll never know everything I could, what’s the sense of learning more?” That’s like saying, “So and so is already my friend; why should I spend any more time with him?”  It doesn’t make sense.  Rather, knowing that Jesus has more to say should encourage us all the more to listen to him and reflect deeply on what he says, because we know that when we do that his Spirit – the Spirit of him who is the Truth – is at work to clear up our misconceptions, to reveal our sins and internal darkness, and to assure us of his forgiveness and love.  And in this way he not only reveals his character to us, but he also changes us so that we reflect his character and his image in our lives.  

My friends, Jesus always has more to say to us.  May God our Father give us the grace to listen, and the Spirit of Truth to know and understand what he’s saying.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!