Easter IV

 
Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away:
for if I go not away,
the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
St. John xvi. 7
 
         It will be forever and always the case that the greater benefit of Christ’s mystical presence is a challenge to earthly-minded men. Earthly-minded men are captive to the flesh. Given this, they rely too much on human interactions rather than the Holy Spirit. They are like the proverbial Mary Magdalene, who, once Christ is risen from the dead, reaches out to touch Him. That Christ rebukes her is a warning to us all. The Resurrected Christ is on the move back to Heaven. And the Heaven He enters in His Ascension, is the Heaven that must move and define our lives on earth.
        
Of course, life in and through the Holy Spirit, rather than life with and present to the tangible Christ, is no easy business. We are earthly-minded because our souls inhabit bodies. Most of our commerce and converse is in time and space with other men and women. The flesh consumes us because this is what we are most used to. But our Lord would have it otherwise. He intends for us to be one with Him in and through the Holy Spirit. He fully insists upon a new kind of living that finds protection by His Grace and reliance upon His promised mercy. And why should it be otherwise? We have come from Heaven, are made to return to Heaven, and should be practicing His presence if we hope to be saved.
        
Christ’s logic is, of course, correct. Who amongst us can truly say that this life is perfectly fulfilling, always joyous, and bereft of any temptation to sadness and despair? Our most cherished relations are often disappointing. Family members confound and confuse us. Friends let us down. Enemies seem insistent on meddling and causing us grief. No, this world is no heaven, and we ought not to expect it to be. Any life on this side of heaven is bound to be full of joy struggling with woe, hope tempered by disappointment, and love threatened by unfaithfulness. This world, a world endured by our Blessed Saviour Himself, shows us how fickle mortal men can be. Our dogs and cats might be faithful, but don’t put too much trust in our fellow me.
        
Thus, Christ today seeks to root and ground us in a greater form of relationship and religion. As our Collect warns us, Christ comes to order our unruly wills and sinful affections. Our wills or best intentions are always thrown off course and challenged by sinful desires and expectations. What is key for all believers is the unshakable and constant intention of God to heal and redeem us if we accept His Grace. What is most important at the end of the day is our relationship with Him. And what this means is that we must be involved in Christ’s personalism, that promise of intimate friendship which is necessary if we hope to reach Heaven’s embrace. Given such, our first order of business is to love His commandments and set our hearts on His promises so that in the face of the sundry and manifold changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found. (Collect Easter IV)
        
So, in this Easter Tide, you and I are called to treasure and cherish Christ’s gift to us, the gift of His plentiful life, His loving death, and the meaning of His resurrection. What is most important is the meaning of it all for us, as we acclimate ourselves to His will and way. Christ has come down from Heaven to save us. Every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above…from the Father of lights, (St. James i. 17) as St. James reminds us this morning. Far from being able to save ourselves and find perfect happiness, we rather rely on God for this work, a work He perfects in His Son. God’s gift in His Son knows neither variableness nor shadow of turning. Christ came down from Heaven with one fixed and unalterable purpose, to save us and reconcile us to our Heavenly Father. His ultimate purpose was to transform us by the same Son, His Word, the meaning and principle of all existence. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (ibid, 18) In the Incarnation of His Son, God intends to rebirth us from above so that as His Grace offers us redemption in the offering of Jesus, we might accept the offer and find new life moved by truth otherwise beyond our reach. And for this reason, as those who follow Christ and become His friends, our first order of business is contemplation. You and I are called to contemplate and study the life of Christ, begin to learn its significance for us, and embrace it inwardly and spiritually as the food of our salvation. Thus, we must be listening to Christ, quick to hear, with our mouths shut, slow to speak, resisting all frustration and eagerness to take offence, slow to wrath. (ibid, 19) What threatens to defile and dirty us, we must reject. Ill will has no place in the lives of those whose chief business is the imitation of Christ. We must rather receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which brings salvation to our souls. (ibid, 21)
        
And as Christ reminds us in today’s Gospel, our minds should be fixed on true joy and against earthly sorrow. Our establishment in Christ will depend upon Christ’s going away so that the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, might come to us. Earthly sorrow at Christ’s departure treats His action like a tragic end and not an exciting new beginning. But Christ would have it otherwise. Christ’s new beginning for us involves far greater joy. When the Holy Ghost comes to us, we realize that Christ, who was with His disciples in one place and at one time, might now be available to all peoples in all times. When the Holy Ghost comes, Christ will convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (idem, 8) This same Comforter is the One who meets us powerfully in the very midst of our earthly challenges. When family members wound us or when friends betray us, the Holy Ghost will not remove the pain and suffering by any magic. Rather, He will enter into it. He is the one, who in our darkest hours, enables us to pray Abba Father. His strength enables a betrayed spouse to respond with forgiveness, to pray rather than react to a child who abandons the faith, and to armor the believer with courage against a mocking crowd full of malice.
The Holy Ghost’s comfort doesn’t deny our sorrow but transforms it. He convicts us of our sin, but we need not despair. He provides Christ’s righteousness when our own is too weak. He reminds us of His judgment of the Devil so that we do not fear the machinations of malicious men. In sum, the Comforter gives us the goodness of God to persevere in an imperfect marriage and to resist the onslaught of depression and seeming despair. He won’t take us out of bad experiences, but He will change our view and understanding of them. Rather than needing to clutch onto a merely earthly Christ, we shall rely on who and what Christ is in God the Father and by the Spirit. Clinging to Christ’s Spirit, we shall find increasing power to persevere, forgive, and even rejoice against sorrow in difficult times. Thence comes our joy, which no man can take from us. (idem, 22)
 
Amen.
©wjsmartin