When I first came to Christ in 1982, I didn’t know very much at all. I wasn’t quite ten years old. I had attended church every Sunday (not very enthusiastically, as I admitted yesterday), and all I really knew was that Jesus loved me and died for me. As I write this reflection more than forty years later, I hope I’ve learned a bit more since then. Not as much as I might have done, no doubt – but some things.
If, after that service, my Dad had tried to help me to understand the Trinity, or different atonement models, or good answers to the question of suffering, or how Jesus related to politics, or a biblical understanding of the environment, or how to help persecuted Christians, or any one of a hundred other things, I wouldn’t have had a clue what he was going on about. Jesus loved me and died for me, and that was enough for a nearly-ten year old. (It’s still my foundation now!)
Jesus faces a dilemma with his disciples on the night of the last supper. He knows this is his last chance to teach them before he dies, and there’s so much he could say, so much he must have desperately wanted to say. But, like all of us, there’s only so much they could hear, and even less they could understand. Worst of all, there was probably only a tiny fraction they could actually bear (v12). So, when does he stop? What does he leave out?
Today’s passage is such a valuable one, because it reminds us that our journey of growth, in faith and understanding, is lifelong. The Holy Spirit will guide us, and continue to guide us, into all the truth (v13). This text is sometimes abused to indicate that there is some sort of ‘special knowledge’ that comes later, but that is to misunderstand what Jesus is saying. We have what we need in scripture – but it takes us a lifetime to really grasp it. There’s always more we can learn, new ways to grow. The supply of Jesus’ wisdom never runs out.
What an encouragement! What is God teaching you at the moment? What eternal truth are you being guided into?
There’s also a lovely image of God as Trinity in this passage. The Father gives everything to the Son. The Son communicates everything through his Spirit. The Spirit brings glory to the Son. The Son completes the mission of the Father. A community of divine love, blessing the world.
As we close this week, let’s continue to trust that the Lord will lead us and guide us, even in these uncertain times. As Minnie Louise Haskins famously wrote: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.’ May we, in faith, hope and love, go forth, and finding the Hand of God, tread gladly into not just the night, but also this day, and all that lies ahead.