St. John 15:26–16:4
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
To say that memory is important is quite an understatement. I don’t think it’s really going too far to say that memory is who we are. How do you think about yourself? How do you describe yourself? You think about your past, you tell of all your accumulated knowledge and experience.
This is why it’s so painful when elderly loved ones lose their memory. They begin to lose themselves. We still know who they are because we can remember who they were. But tragically, they aren’t that same person in the present because they don’t fully remember that person.
Memory is also how we show honor to others, to our family, to our community. Our memories keep the past alive in the present. Our memories preserve ceremonies and events so that they become traditions which shape our present and future. Our nation’s Memorial Day is a fine example of this. But so are the memories we bring out each year at Christmas or at the anniversary of a loved one’s death.
On the other hand, our memory can lie. We can misremember. Sometimes that’s due to a disease like Alzheimer’s, or simply the deterioration of the mind and body in old age. Other times, without realizing it, we misremember on purpose in order to preserve a better image of ourselves or someone else. That’s due to our sinful mind which does not want to remember the truth.
Honest, humble memory can be a good gift. But memory can also be a great tool in the art of self-deception. Either way, memory is incredibly important and incredibly powerful, and there are times when we desperately need it. In the case of today’s Gospel, Jesus says we will need to remember His words when we face the world’s hostility and persecution.
Jesus said, When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness about Me. The Holy Spirit’s job is to bear witness about Jesus, talk about who Jesus is, tell us about what Jesus did and does. This is why the Holy Spirit is the primary author of the Scriptures, which reveal God to us. This is also why the primary job of the Holy Scriptures is to show and give us Christ our Savior, because that’s what the Holy Author does. This is also why it sometimes appears as if the Holy Spirit gets forgotten or ignored. It may seem like we talk a lot about the Father and the Son but then don’t give the Holy Spirit His due.
But here’s the thing, we’re just talking the way the Bible talks. Go through the Bible and you’ll see that the Father and the Son get a lot more page time than the Spirit. But this doesn’t mean the Spirit is less important than the other two. It’s as it should be. The Spirit is the Author and His job is not to talk about Himself. He does not promote or praise His own work. His job is to talk about the love of the Father and the work of the Son. The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, sent by the Son, bears witness about Jesus.
And so actually, every time we talk about Jesus or His words we are talking about the Holy Spirit. Every time we talk about the Bible and its message we are giving the Holy Spirit His due as He would want it, not focusing our attention on Him, but focusing on Jesus. As we talk God’s Word, the Holy Spirit is there, in the Word, doing His work, bearing witness about Jesus.
Now after Jesus tells us about the Spirit’s witness, He also says that the apostles will bear witness. They are the eyewitnesses who learned firsthand from Jesus, saw His miraculous deeds, and witnessed His death and resurrection. And the Holy Spirit worked through them to make Jesus known to all people.
You, dear Christians, are not witnesses in the same way the apostles were. You are not eyewitnesses. The only way you know about Jesus is through what you have heard from the writings of the Spirit and the apostles—the Bible. So you are witnesses of Jesus in a derived way. You bear witness about Jesus so long as you believe and repeat the witness of the Scriptures.
And when the apostles witnessed and when you witness the world reacts. Jesus said, They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. Those who do not believe in Jesus, who do not know the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, they will not react kindly to those who do believe and know this God. There is only one true God, so everyone who does not acknowledge Him is automatically in active rebellion against Him, and so automatically in hatred towards everyone who bears witness about Him.
When the world reacts with violence, when the Church is reviled, when God’s Word is mocked, when Christians are mistreated, or ignored, or killed, that’s when we need our Christian memory—when we need to remember Jesus’ words. Jesus said, I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
So, we might ask, how do we remember? How do we make sure that when the time comes we can remember? First, we must give our attention to it. In order to remember anything, you must attend to the thing, give your focus to it. In the case of Christian memory, this means listening, learning carefully the words of Jesus. Listening to the sermon or reading your Bible closely so that the thought is not gone five minutes later. This doesn’t mean you’ll retain every point every time, but we are required to pay attention.
Then the second thing to do in order to remember something is to tell it ourselves, say it back again, repeat it. This is why we tell and retell stories. This is why, when kids learn a joke, they repeat it again and again. This is why we confess creeds. We are repeating, retelling, confessing what Jesus has said, so that we remember it, so that it sinks into our heart and mind and becomes part of us, or rather, so that we become part of it. We are our memories. And the more our memories are full of Jesus, the more we are full of Jesus.
And then, here’s especially what we want to remember when we suffer for the faith. God appointed Christ’s cross for Him. As we’ll hear St. Peter explain next Sunday on Pentecost: Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God (Acts 2:23). The cross of Jesus was in His control, it was God’s doing for our eternal salvation. When God’s good will was turned away from the Son and He suffered the pains of hell, that was all according to God’s plan and it was all for us.
The reason we want to remember this is because if God appointed the cross for Christ, then God appoints crosses for His Christians too. So, it’s His doing and it’s all under His control for our good. As we heard St. Peter in His Epistle today: Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you (1 Peter 4:13–14). So you are witnesses with the Spirit, which means you share Christ’s cross, but which also means you will share His glory.
I know it’s terribly disappointing when the world rejects Christ’s saving message.
It’s painful when loved ones and friends are against God’s Word. But don’t be discouraged, God will sort it all out. He knows His own and He won’t lose them. Don’t be afraid, Jesus and His Church can’t be defeated.
Remember Jesus’ words. Listen carefully to the witness of the Spirit and the apostles. Then say it back, tell the story, confess the creed. Keeping these words in our memories gives us hope and life. Because in remembering these words, we are not remembering a lost loved one, or a fallen hero, or a dead Christ. We remember the risen Christ who is actually still present with us. The Spirit of Truth bears witness about Christ who is the Truth. So, the Spirit of Truth brings Christ Himself, risen from the dead and ascended in glory, to you. He is present, not only in our memories, but in His very person—in His words, in His body and blood.
And as you hear and think on these things, the Holy Spirit is renewing your memory so that by faith you can hold onto the promises of God and make them yours. Just as when someone loses their memory they become a different person, so also, by retaining Christ in your new Christian memory, as you remember His words, you are made into a new person. You are made into someone who shares the mind of Christ, so that you think like Jesus and remember His promises while bearing your cross.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies your memory, makes it holy (that means, makes it like God). And just as your earthly memories influence your present and future life, so also, by holding Christ in your mind and heart, the Holy Spirit shapes your present and future, and in confident hope you look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
