Tell Out My Soul

John 14:15-21

In today’s reading from John, we see that Jesus is comforting his disciples and letting them know that even though he will be going away, that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them. Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the advocate, the spirit of truth. Here the word advocate is translated from the Greek parakletos, which means a defender, someone who helps and comforts. At the start of chapter 14, we see that the disciples are upset and troubled. The disciples don’t really understand Jesus’ relationship to God the Father, and Philip even asks Jesus to “show us the Father.” Then Jesus explains, in detail, that they shouldn’t be afraid, “do not let your hearts be troubled,” he tells them. He describes exactly what their relationship with him and God the Father is all about. The most important thing he tells them is that he will not leave them as orphans. I know when I was a child the worst thing that I could think of that could happen to me was the loss of my parents. I remember that fear quite vividly and I always felt nervous when they went out together in the car and I had to stay home.

An orphan, a child without parents, needs to be cared for and protected, sheltered and given love and support. To leave an orphan alone is unthinkable. Our God is a just God, and we are shown this in the Bible. Deuteronomy 10:18 states, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” Psalm 10:14 says “But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.” A child not knowing the love of a family is a great injustice; God cares for the orphan, and so must everyone else who lives in a just society. Sadly, through war and conflict there are many many children who have been left without parents.  

Here in this passage, Jesus uses the term orphan to express his relationship to his disciples; throughout his mission, he has been like a parent to them. He shows a deep care and concern for his disciples, he wants to protect them and ensure that they won’t be left to fend for themselves. In Jesus’ lament for Jerusalem, this part of his nature comes through when he says, “How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.” Jesus likens himself to a mother hen, this is such a tender and touching metaphor. And it’s lovely to be reminded of this on Mother’s day; it’s clear in his relationship with his disciples that he showed the nurturing, the wisdom and the protectiveness that we see in a mother’s love. And in John 13:33, at the last supper, he also speaks like a parent: he says to them, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, but where I am going, you cannot come.” 

But Jesus promises that they will never be alone, that they will always be part of the family of God. When the Spirit comes they will truly understand this. Jesus says, “On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”

And the good news is that if we follow him and keep his commandments, if we bring Jesus into ourselves, we are counted as part of this divine family, just as much as the disciples.

Jesus is in the Father, and we are in Jesus. So if we’re in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father, then, logically, we’re also in the Father. It’s a bit like those Russian nesting dolls, they’re called Matryoshka dolls, and they were first created in 1890. The name comes from a woman’s name, Matryona, which means little mother. They come in a set of decreasing size placed one inside another. They’re carved out of wood and they’re hollow, and they come apart in the middle. There’s the biggest doll, and inside that one is a smaller doll, and in that one is an even smaller doll, and so on. So all the smaller ones fit inside the big one. The smallest doll is usually solid wood and it’s in the form of a baby. 

God the Father is Father to Jesus and to all of us too; we are all adopted sons and daughters. We’re in Jesus and Jesus is in the Father, so we can see that to enter this family, we need to go to Jesus first. Jesus promises that we are in him, and whatever happens, we are a part of this eternal family. No one can ever take us away from this. We’re in there, safe, cared for and protected forever. 

Amen