Apply the Gift of the Holy Spirit

30 May 2025   John 16:20-23  

“But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice….’”  John 16:22​

The disciples often appear rather dull-witted in the gospels. They often had to have the parables explained to them because they could not grasp the spiritual meaning of the teaching. They would see Jesus perform acts of incredible power one day, and doubt his power the next. At the Last Supper they heard Jesus announce that one of them would betray Him, and minutes later they thought it an excellent time to debate which of them was the greatest disciple. Jesus said several times in his Farewell Discourse in John’s gospel (13:31-17-26) that He would be leaving them, but that He would return, and in a way much more powerful than before. Still, they didn’t get it.

Observations like this have been made thousands of times by thousands of readers of the Bible. What they largely don’t realize, however, is that we who are criticizing the disciples for being dunces have a terrific advantage that the disciples didn’t have until after the Resurrection, viz., all of us who have been baptized and confirmed have received the Holy Spirit, as Jesus promised. We have the Bible, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit we have been able to discern the meaning behind Jesus’ parables and other teachings. The Holy Spirit is the love relationship between God the Father and God the Son; it is the truest Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the inner life of God, and we have been a part of that ever since we were baptized and confirmed. No wonder that we can see some things more clearly than the disciples did. Prior to Pentecost, the disciples did not have that advantage, and so were not in a position to grasp the things that we can see so much more easily.

Of course, there are many who have been baptized and confirmed who do not feel like they have much of an advantage at all. The deeper meaning of holy scripture is still rather opaque to them, and they feel they understand far, far less than the disciples did. Most of the time that is because they never really understood the meaning of their baptism and confirmation. Receiving the Holy Spirit is not merely a forensic event. It isn’t an event like receiving citizenship – your name gets moved from one list to another list, but no internal change has happened. It is more an event like marriage – you have received something (in the case of marriage, a spouse), you promise to love and care for what you have received, and you becomecapable of doing and being something you couldn’t do or be before. Receiving the Holy Spirit means you are now prepared to live the divine life, God’s life in you. Only some people never quite get around to that. They don’t apply the gift of the Holy Spirit to the reading of the Bible, or prayer, or service, or family, or work. Like the husband or wife who never really internalize the meaning of “in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, to love honor and cherish, forsaking all others, as long as we both shall live” – their relationship quickly grows dry and cold, and the intimacy so deep that “the two shall become one flesh” (cf. Gen. 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:31) never happens. “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5) remain just words.

Mark Twain once said that the man who does not read has no advantage over the man who can’t. All those people who have been baptized and confirmed but have not applied the gift of the Spirit to their lives have no advantage over non-believers, and heaven is just as far away. If that is you, if your baptism or confirmation have so far failed to launch, take heart: the true Holy of Holies, the divine life alive in you, in every word and every work, is only one decision away.