Living in the Spirit
June 7, 2020
Scripture Reading: John 7:37-39
On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
As yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified is curious wording for a writer with a Jewish background. The second verse of Genesis mentions the spirit of God. The Hebrew Bible contains over 200 references to the spirit. Psalm 51:11 is a prayer that pleads, Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Was there a sense among Jesus’s followers that the spirit had been taken away? Perhaps driven away would be more descriptive. We lose contact with the Spirit when we think we know more than God. Jesus instructs in Matthew 12:31, Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Must we recognize that we are doing something wrong before we can be forgiven?
What happens when the failure to follow the guidance of the Spirit becomes an epidemic in society? We cluster in groups sharing not in God’s righteousness but in communal self-righteousness. We see only what we choose to see within our closed communities losing sight that all people are God’s children. We ignore the ways of God as we search hopelessly for gods that reflect our thinking that foster the evil that persuades us. We all need to read and comprehend the book of Amos again or for the first time.
One of the tricky things about a democracy created as a government of the people, by the people, for the people is we the people own both its failures and successes. Our government is made in our image, and I, for one, do not like what I am seeing. The changes needed begin with us. We need to look deeply into God’s mirror to see how closely our images reflect the image of a God whose prime directive was to love God and love one another. The fear is that we have drifted so far from the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we cannot see our way back to being aligned with God.
It is never too late. God loves all God’s children and wants the very best for us. God wants us to want the very best for each other. To do that, we must let go of thinking we know more than God.
Prayer: Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me forgive me. Forgive me for departing from you. Cleanse me of my prejudices and guide me to see the world through your loving eyes. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.