29 April 2018
Text: John
16:5-15 (Jas 1:16-21)
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
When
the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth,” says our blessed
Lord, preparing the disciples for the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Often,
as reported by John in his Gospel, our Lord Jesus preaches and teaches, saying,
“Truly, truly, I say to you” and “I tell you the truth.” And at our Lord’s trial, a frustrated Pontius
Pilate, who at times sounds like he is on trial instead of Jesus, asks, “What
is truth?”
Our
Lord also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
The
opposite of the truth is the lie. Our
Lord refers to Satan as the father of lies.
The first recorded lie in Scripture was spoken by the devil to Eve, “You
will not surely die.”
This
conflict between the truth and the lie is both ancient, and cosmic. As thinking creatures crafted in the image of
God, mankind takes in information about the world. He assesses his situation. He decides.
He acts. Without truthful
information, he can destroy himself or others.
This is why lying under oath in a court of law is itself a crime. This is why the Eighth Commandment protects
the reputation of each human being by condemning “false witness.”
And
this is why, dear friends, we need a Helper, to help us navigate this Satanic
web of deception, this minefield of the world, the devil, and our own sinful
flesh. The Lord ascends to the Father
and sends this Helper to us, and this is indeed to our advantage. For in truth, He convicts the world, “concerning
sin, and righteousness, and judgment.”
As
our Lord promises, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all
truth.”
The
Holy Spirit’s main job, dear friends, is to lead us, to guide us, to be that
lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, to keep us from stumbling into
error and falsehood, to help us discern the truth from the lie, to embrace that
which is real and accurate, and to flee that which is a mirage or a deception.
Our
sinful flesh is quick to accept an enticing lie, especially when it fits a
narrative that appeals to us. We are
eager to believe gossip if it is about someone we dislike. We are eager to believe lies that are even
obvious – if we think we stand to gain – which is how con men operate. Our egos are especially open to the lie that
we can be like God, a whopper that mankind has been believing since the serpent
slithered up to Eve and whispered sweet monstrosities in her ever-willing ear.
There
are many other lies Satan would have you believe, dear friends. You may wonder if baptism really saves you,
or if a pastor really has authority to speak forgiveness to you in Christ’s
name and by His authority. You may have
your doubts about the reliability of Scripture, or if the bread and wine are
truly the body and blood of Christ. You
may think that your sins are either too great to be forgiven, or too trifling
to worry about. You may be tempted to believe
that the Church is filled with hypocrites, and that you are not one. You may think you have all the answers and
really have nothing to learn from a sermon.
You may have heard that Christianity is a bunch of ancient myths cobbled
together, or that it is a conspiracy theory designed by the powerful to oppress
the world’s workers, or peasants, or minorities, or women, or those whose
sexual lives to not conform to the truth of biology.
We
are awash in lies, dear friends. We not
only live in the midst of a culture of death, but also in a confusing matrix of
lies. The only way to exist in this
deceitful world is to have a guide, a truthful guide, a Helper, who will lead
us into all truth.
The
Holy Spirit has caused the Scriptures to be written, and they are true. The Holy Spirit draws you to the Word of God
and to the Sacraments, and they are true.
The Holy Spirit testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is the truth.
“In
the beginning was the Word.” The Lord
God, the Creator, commanded, and as a result, all things truly came into
being. This Creative Word was, is, and
ever shall be, true. The lie cannot
create. The lie can only corrupt. The lie cannot generate. The lie can only degrade. The lie cannot edify. The lie can only tear down that which is
true. The lie has no creative power or
energy. Only the Word who is God can
bring the universe into being.
The
Holy Spirit comes to the Church at Pentecost and fills her with zeal to
proclaim the truth, to do so with courage and integrity, without guile and
without deception. The Holy Spirit comes
to tell the truth far and wide: to friend and to foe, to believer and to unbeliever
alike, the truth that Jesus Christ is the Lord, the true Word, the true God,
the true atoning sacrifice, and the truly risen One. He has truly defeated Satan by truly crushing
the lie beneath His feet.
“Do
not be deceived, my beloved brothers,” says St. James. “Of His own will He
brought us forth by the Word of truth.”
“When
the Spirit of truth comes,” says our Lord Jesus, “He will guide you into all
truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He
will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.”
Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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