Inside Job

Our liturgy is building up toward Pentecost—the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Today’s Gospel passage tunes into a scene two thousand years ago.

The Spirit hasn’t come yet.

Jesus is about to ascend into heaven.

And he’s reassuring his disciples that his departure is a good thing.

They should be happy that he's leaving.

Because he'll then send the Advocate, the Spirit, to take his place.

That’s old news for us today.

But those frightened disciples need reassurance.

They feel they're being abandoned, they don’t know what to expect.

So Jesus tells them what will happen.

He gives an explanation that is both a job description,

And a foretelling of the Holy Spirit’s ultimate accomplishments.

When he comes he will convict the world
in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation:
sin, because they do not believe in me;
righteousness, because I am going to the Father …
condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

There’s some debate about the best translation of that word convict.

Different bible translations use different words: convict, convince, expose and prove.

But all those words convey the idea that the Spirit would enlighten people.

Give them new understanding of Jesus’ life and death.

New understanding of God and the world.

It’s easy for us to take Christianity for granted.

But two thousand years ago, only a relative handful of people had ever heard of Jesus.

Among those who had, most didn’t believe that he was the Messiah.

They held no strong conviction that his execution was a result of their sin.

They weren’t convinced that he was righteous and returning to the Father.

Or even that he had come from the Father.

They hadn’t yet made the connection between his resurrection

And the overthrow of the ruler of this world.

The news that Satan had been defeated, condemned, had not yet been exposed.

All that convicting, convincing, exposing and proving was to be a major job for years to come.

Certainly too much for the disciples on their own.

Even a lot for Jesus himself—in his human nature, limited by time and place.

This was a job for the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God.

The Spirit could be everywhere at once, with no limitations.

Other than refused acceptance.

Unlike the physical Jesus, the Spirit could actually dwell within each old and new disciple.

And inform them from within.

Over these past two thousand years, the Spirit has clearly been hard at work.

Today, most of the world’s seven billion people have at least heard of Jesus.

And a third of the world’s people identify themselves as his followers.

That’s a lot of people, a lot of growth—but also a lot of years.

Is that reasonably good progress toward building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth? 

Who knows the answer to that?

Could each of us do more to cooperate with the Spirit within us?

Who doesn’t know the answer to that?

Tuesday of 6th Week of Easter

Jn 16:5-11                                    Read this Scripture @usccb.org