The inevitability of Change
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
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." (John 16:12-15)
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” Today’s Gospel stirred so many things in my early morning brain. First, we are never done growing in our relationship with God. I think our current educational model hinders us in our relational model of what it means to be Christian. My son, James, will be graduating from the University of Madison in just three days and I know that he is ready to be “done.” I remember feeling the exact same way at the end of every academic year myself. The mere thought of having to put ourselves through more knowledge than is absolutely necessary makes our brains hurt. We have a human tendency to get by with the minimum amount of required knowledge to “pass.” I know that when I was confirmed in Christ when I was 16 I had a similar sentiment of being “done.” This morning Jesus speaks to me as clearly as He spoke to His disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” As I walk with Jesus and come to His feet again and again in prayer, sacrament, and His Word, He indeed slowly unfolds greater depth to the truth of Who He is and what that means for who I am called to be. This is always accompanied by change. I am called to change the way that I respond to God and the way that I respond to the world. This brings forth another human tendency, to resist change. Just this past weekend my mom made the very statement, “I hate change.” I used to feel very similarly and at times I find myself falling into that trap. Change is a never ending unavoidable part of life. The physiological body that I occupy today is not the same as it was yesterday. Some days these changes are much more perceptable than others, but they are there whether we acknowledge them or not. The world filled with physiological bodies is not the same today as it was yesterday. So too with the spiritual world. This world made up of bodies of free will is constantly shifting, changing, moving, adapting, and reacting. We try to believe the lie that things won’t change, that they don’t have to change and so we resist change. In doing so we create within both our physical and spiritual selves tension, frustration, angst. God, He Who is unchanging, is the author of change. Jesus, His Son, is the answer to the human dilemma of change. Jesus came that we might have life in abundance through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our guide to navigating the waters of change that we face day by day. We have a choice though. As the saying goes, “We can do this the hard way or the easy way.” We can resist change and try to control the variables expending more time, energy, and spirit -OR- we can surrender. We can accept that we can’t control everything especially change and we can invite the Holy Spirit to guide us to all truth. Change when guided by the Spirit of Truth takes us deeper into a relationship with God. When we do so we release the grace that Jesus promised, “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 wants to give us everything. The path to everything is a path of lifelong learning and change. We are never done with either. If any of you have graduates in your life and they victoriously declare, “I’m done!” wisely answer, “No, you’re just beginning the great adventure of life.” Come Holy Spirit Come!
