Cantate

On the night our Lord Jesus is betrayed, He chides the disciples because, once again, they have failed to see what is important. They are filled with sorrow that Jesus is going away, yet none of them asks where He is going or what He is about to accomplish. Jesus tried on at least three occasions to tell them about the events that are about to unfold—the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension—yet they were unwilling and unable to understand.

I suppose it’s hard to blame the disciples. Had you and I been privileged to walk beside Jesus for three years, to listen to the Son of God speak, to see Him heal the sick and raise the dead, we too would probably have given anything to prolong this time. So when Jesus talked about His departure, the disciples didn’t know what He was saying, but they knew they didn’t like it. Peter even stepped up as their spokesman to rebuke Jesus: “What? Crucifixion? Suffering? Death? No, Lord, may it never be!”

And what if the disciples had succeeded in turning Jesus aside from His mission? They might have enjoyed a few more years at His side, and then what? Death and eternal damnation. Consider this: as amazing as it would have been to see Jesus raise dead during His ministry, where are those people now? Back in their graves. Where are the eyes that Jesus opened? Returned to the dust. Even though the disciples were not capable of understanding at the time, they needed Jesus to go away and accomplish the work of salvation. Jesus said to them, “Sorrow has so completely filled your hearts that you can’t imagine how the Crucifixion could be good. Nevertheless, I, for my part, tell you the truth: It is to your advantage; it is for your eternal good that I go to away to the cross” (Jn 16:7).

But there is more that Jesus does for us. After completing the work of our salvation, He sends us His Holy Spirit. Once again, Jesus knows what we need, though it is not perhaps what we think we need. Jesus accomplishes our salvation through the cross. The Holy Spirit delivers that salvation through the Word and Sacraments. But just as the disciples wanted Jesus do His work apart from the cross, so many Christians today want the Holy Spirit to work apart from the Word and Sacraments.

I’ve heard Christians say, “The music in church sounded so good today it was obvious that the Holy Spirit was present!” But good music is not the mark of the Holy Spirit. I’ve even heard Lutherans say, “I visited that church, but I just didn’t feel the Holy Spirit.” But feelings are also not the mark of the Holy Spirit. What is? How do we know that the Holy Spirit is at work? Listen to what Jesus says the He will do.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will speak what He hears. He will glorify Me. He will take what is Mine and declare it to you” (Jn 16:13–14). Notice was Jesus says and what He doesn’t say. There is nothing here about warm fuzzy feelings, emotional music, or quiet whispers to the heart. The Holy Spirit declares. He speaks. He teaches. He points to and glorifies Jesus. He leads us into all the truth. All of this is to say: the Holy Spirit teaches you the doctrine of Christ. Are you being fed with the pure words of Jesus? Are you being taught sound theology and doctrine? That is the mark of the Holy Spirit.

But once again, we don’t generally know what we need, what’s truly good for us. Most Christians would rather have catchy soundbites than sound theology. We naturally gravitate toward weak, sentimental hymns that speak about our moods and feelings rather than the rich, Christ-focused hymnody of Lutheran orthodoxy. “What? The Holy Spirit is here to teach us doctrine? No. Doctrine is boring. Doctrine divides. We’ll never grow the church that way. We can’t trust God to provide for us and give us what we need. After all, we know better what is good and what is evil.

But St. James exhorts us to “put away all rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Any ideas that lead us away from the Holy Spirit’s work in Word and Sacrament are wickedness—no matter how appealing they may appear. Instead, with meekness and humility, you are to set aside your own ideas, follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance, and receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Notice that James uses the word “implanted.” In other words, the saving word is foreign to our nature. It comes from outside of our imagination. Truth does not originate from the heart of man. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite of what we would choose, given the chance. Extra nos, Luther calls it. Salvation from outside of ourselves—accomplished at the cross, and delivered by the Holy Spirit as He leads us into all truth.

A conviction is a sincerely held belief. Jesus tells us of three topics on which the Holy Spirit will convict the world, that is, provide a new sincerely held belief: sin, righteousness, and judgment. This means that from birth, every person in the world has a wrong understanding of these things.

The world doesn’t understand sin. It teaches sin as moral transgressions, as doing bad things. So a person who doesn’t do many bad things is not much of a sinner. The Holy Spirit says, “No. You’re wrong.” Unbelief is the root cause of all sin. Theft, murder, adultery, and every other sin stems from a lack of trust in God’s providence. Sin is not believing in Jesus.

The world doesn’t understand righteousness. It assumes that righteousness is something we do. The Holy Spirit teaches us that man can never produce righteousness. The best and kindest person in the world is, without faith in Christ, deserving of hell. Righteousness comes only because Jesus went to the Father, that is, to His cross, burial, resurrection, and ascension. And because you have been given faith to believe in Jesus’ work on your behalf, even if you appear as the most miserable sinner on earth, God sees you as spotless and worthy to enter heaven. Once again, nobody understands this intuitively. It’s impossible to believe the Gospel apart from divine revelation. That’s why the Holy Spirit has to implant this word of salvation into our hearts. True righteousness comes only as a perfect gift from above, through faith in Christ.

Finally, the world doesn’t understand judgment. It thinks, following Adam’s example in the garden, that it is free to judge between what is good and what is evil. But the Holy Spirit teaches us that this authority belongs to Christ alone. He has spoken in His unchanging word, and though cultures and nations will come and go, not one Word of God shall ever pass away.

The Holy Spirit also teaches us that the Day of Judgment is, contrary to all human wisdom, a day of rejoicing, not of fear. In fact, He gives you an advance copy of the final verdict: God has already judged you and declared you righteous for the sake of His Son! And Satan, the ruler of this world, also stands judged: as a liar because his accusations against you are now false. Where are the sins by which he accuses you? Gone. Washed away by the blood of Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, righteousness, and judgment. In other words, He gives you faith to believe that your sin is gone, that you have the righteousness of Christ, and that God has judged you worthy to enter heaven! All this truly is, as Jesus said, to your advantage. God knows and gives you what you need: the implanted word, which is able to save your soul. Amen.