By: Erin M Diericx 

A sermon given on John 14:13-21.

Last week we discussed about God the Father being in Jesus Christ and Jesus being in God the Father. Jesus does the work of God the Father who gives his son his blessings to do his work. Jesus does nothing that has not gone through God the Father. Jesus and God the Father are one in the same.

This week Jesus is preparing his disciples for his death. The disciples are afraid to be without Jesus since he has a way of protecting them from the critics and the harsh reality that very few follow him.

Jesus continues to explain he is going ahead of the disciples and us to prepare a way. When questioned how we will know the way, Jesus states he is the way and the truth. All we need to do is believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When we believe, we are shown the way through Jesus Christ. Through faith and hope, we are able to love the Lord our God and to focus on becoming one with God.

To answer the fears of the disciples of being left without their strong leader, Jesus says he is not leaving them as orphans (John 14:18) because he is asking God the Father to send them another Advocate (John 14:16). As the Advocate, the Holy Spirit lives within us, inside of us, and it leads us just as Jesus led the disciples and how God the Father led Jesus. Where we live, the Holy Spirit also lives (John 14:19), which is in our hearts, and where the Holy Spirit goes we follow.

In the Episcopal Church, we say the confession by acknowledging our failures on what we did and left undone and our need for the Triune God. When we fail to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, we fail to do the will of God. By acknowledging our need to follow and to be led by the Holy Spirit, “…restore thou those who are penitent, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord…” (BCP 42). Restore means to reinstate or to bring back to the previous state of things. Within our morning prayer, we ask the Lord to restore, to reinstate us to the relationship with him before we sinned, before we failed to do his will. When you take the time to reflect upon what you are saying, you realize you are admitting that you cannot do the one thing that you want to do—to do God’s will without Jesus’s help. As a mankind, as a human, Jesus brings the incredibility big image of God into the world to make it real for us in order to restore our relationship with him that we cannot do on our own. 

Then within the absolution the priest says, “…the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit” (BCP 42). We ask God to give us the gift of the Holy Spirit in order to that we may receive the grace and the wisdom of God to go out into the world and to his will, not your will, not my will, but God’s will.

Every morning I focus on putting on the armor of God in order to be mindful of doing his will during the day. I pray to receive the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit, because I strive to do his will everyday. Some days it takes more time in prayer than others days. Some days I fail miserably. Some days I think I am doing God’s will and realize later that it was my will, not his. On those evenings, I repent and look forward to the next day when I can attempt again to listen to the Holy Spirit and to do God’s will in the world. And on the are days I actually follow the Holy Spirit it feels amazing, because I am not just doing his will, but I am sharing his love with others and I am bringing the Kingdom of God into the world. I become God’s ambassador in the world, so others can come into a relationship with the Triune God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

In a world filled with uncertainty, put your focus on the Lord, on his kingdom. Pray to receive the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit and to do his will in the world.

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for preparing a way and being the way for us. Help us to remember we are never alone and you are the way. Thank you fo/r sending us another advocate, the Holy Spirit, and never leaving us alone. Amen.

Reflective Questions

Please feel free to answer the reflective questions through comments.  Please agree to disagree and be respectable to each other. Please take a moment, if you have not already, to sign the covenant.  You can answer all or just one of the questions. 

1. How has Jesus prepared a way for you?  Or how is Jesus preparing a way for you?
2. Describe a time when you felt Jesus’s presence.