Reflection:
Jesus said to his disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”
Jesus is telling his disciples that when the Holy Spirit comes he will reveal things to them that they are not yet able to comprehend. Just as we do not expect a child to walk before crawling or run before walking, Jesus knew that his disciples must first live a life of sacrifice and service before they could begin to understand what it meant to walk in his footsteps.
People often ask me what I would have thought twenty-seven years ago, when My Brother’s Keeper first began, if God had given me a “flash forward” and shown me the “Keeper” as it exists today. I answer by saying it would have been an overwhelming revelation and may have stopped me in my tracks.
“But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.”
Humankind does not create truth. Truth exists on its own. It is the product of God’s creation. Over time, as humankind grows in understanding, God through the Holy Spirit, reveals truth in any number of ways, including through scripture, people and nature.
“Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”
Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit are separate but at the same time are One. The Father has revealed all truth to the Son. The Holy Spirit is the one who “declares” this truth to the world.
The concept of three in one can be challenging for some. When my grandchildren were very young, they would ask, “Grandpa, how can they be three and one at the same time?”
I “revealed” this mystery to them in a way that their young minds were able to understand.
Taking three small paper cups, I filled each cup about one third full of water.
“There,” I told them, “are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
Then, pouring two of the cups into the third cup, I took the cup that was now full and said, “Now, the three are one.”
Wide eyed, their reaction was, “Oh, now I get it!”
“Remember kids,” I would say, “whenever you’re not sure what to do, ask the Holy Spirit. God whispers to you through the Holy Spirit.”
“The spirit breathes upon the word, and brings truth to sight.” William Cowper