Today's Outlook: John 14:15-21 - Sixth Sunday of Easter

[Jesus said to the disciples:] "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." (NRSV)

At Bethesda Lutheran Services, there’s a saying: “there’s no such thing as a bad kid. Just kids who need love and support.”

And that saying was their answer to those who saw Bethesda as the place where the bad kids go. But nothing could be further from the truth. Bethesda began 101 years ago as a home for orphans. Since then, it has expanded its programming to serve children faced with all kinds of difficulties and special needs.

From cover-to-cover, the Scriptures make it very clear that the righteousness of an individual or of society of a whole can be measured in terms of how it treats its orphans—along with widows, strangers, and aliens. Moses started out life as an orphan. Old Testament Israel was basically an orphaned people, enslaved in Egypt, until it was adopted by God (cf. Ezekiel 16:5, Hosea 1:10). It’s no wonder why orphans matter so much to God. The care and compassion they need from others is, for them, a matter of life and death.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is preparing his disciples for a matter of life and death: his death and how that will impact their lives. Jesus knows that this will be devastating for them, and understandably so. Their lives are rooted in relationship with him. They’ve given up everything to follow him. They’ve listened to his teachings; they’ve witnessed the miracles; and they believe him to be God’s Son. But what will happen when he is no longer with him—and not just after his death, but after his resurrection and ascension?

He knows they will feel like orphaned children without him there to love them and lead them. But Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphaned. I am coming to you.” When Jesus returns to the Father, he will send the Advocate, the Spirit of truth, who will both abide with them and in them. This will be a dramatic change in their relationship—but one that will bring them closer to God and each other.

It is the promise of Jesus’s presence that gives them—and us—hope. Right now, we’re all feeling a little like orphans, in that our lives have been disrupted, we cannot be together as a family, and we’re facing an uncertain future made all the more terrifying by a pandemic that is still not under control, a faltering economy that is devastating lives and livelihoods, and people who care more about their personal freedoms than the health and safety of others.

Right now, it isn’t hard to feel as though you’ve been cut off from God and cut off from everything good. And that’s no way to live. That certainly isn’t how God wants you to live. You need something other than dread to look forward to at the start of the day. Thankfully, Jesus’s promise stands firm and secure: “I will not leave you orphaned. I am coming to you.”

How, then, does this promise affect how you face the day?

For starters, it’s a promise that gives you hope—because no matter what you will face, Jesus will meet you in it and accompany you through it. You will not be without his mercy and care.

When your outlook on life is one of dread, you become lost inside yourself. One of fear’s greatest powers is that of isolation and division. You feel like you’re totally on your own to face a dangerous and hostile world. Your only real purpose is your own survival.

On the other hand, when Jesus promises to come to you, how is he going to do that? One of the biggest ways is through people. You will encounter people who will show you the care and mercy that only Jesus can.

But Jesus will also come to you in and through your acts of faith and devotion. So often, we treat prayer and devotion as obligations we must meet before Jesus will act graciously in your life. The thinking is that you must initiate the relationship… But these acts of faith are born of Jesus’s promise: I am coming to you!

Jesus’s promise also gives you purpose. Jesus says, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It is by loving one another that you are at your readiest to welcome Jesus when he comes. Your acts of faith to prepare you to meet Jesus in the people you serve in love. There is no better way to experience the power of Jesus’s love than for that power to be working in you. Faith and obedience are what put fear and despair on the run.

Remember: Jesus’s promises are only empty when people don’t act on them. The power of God’s love lives in you—a power that joins you together with others to work together for a better world and a more promising future.

The troubles you face are not going to get the best of you. Jesus will meet you within them and accompany you through them. Every act of faith is an act of hope.

What a way to end the day to know that God’s love exercised more power over you than fear and despair.

What a way to begin a new day than to know that Jesus will be coming to you, wherever you go.

Renew your commitment to his promise and his purpose.