Message: In John 16 Jesus is trying to tell
them that he will be “going away” but they don’t understand what he’s talking
about. He also begins explaining that when he goes it will be a good thing
because even though they will grieve, they will receive the gift of the
comforter- which is the holy spirit. As he begins explaining that those who
have the gift of the spirit can understand things that those without the holy
spirit do not, it suddenly makes sense that they don’t understand what he is
talking about. They don’t yet have the gift of the holy spirit. Jesus knows this
because he acknowledges that he is only telling them these things so that they
will remember them later.
Command: Ask the holy spirit for understanding.
Promise: The holy spirit was given to us as a
comforter and a teacher.
Warning: Trying to understand scripture and
life without the help of the holy spirit is like trying to interpret a language
that we haven’t learned.
Application: Reading through thismade me
think of all the times I’ve read what the disciples and the crowds of people
were told and wondered why they didn’t understand what we have learned to
understand from years of church and reading the scriptures. They didn’t have
the holy spirit yet, and even though we do we often struggle to understand
because we haven’t asked the holy spirit to lead us and teach us. We’re often trying
to interpret scripture and interpret the events of our own lives in our
understanding. It doesn’t work that way. Without the holy spirit we look as
silly as Thomas when he questioned being born again as a grown man climbing
back into the womb of his mother. This reading reminded me of the importance of
asking the holy spirit to teach me as I read, and as I process the events of my
life.
