If you were to do a Google search of the phrase “Keeping your word,” you would probably find some of the same quotations I discovered:
From actor Shirley MacLaine: “It is useless to hold a person to anything he says while he is in love, drunk, or running for office.”
From that iconic 20th-century humorist Will Rogers: “There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”
That sets us up for the following comment by Nikita Khrushchev, a former president of the former USSR known more for banging his shoe on the podium at the United Nations than for his humour: “Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build bridges even when there are no rivers.”
Back to Will Rogers for a shrewd recommendation (that any preacher wishes she or he had said first): “Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”
And then from the Broadway play My Fair Lady: Eliza Doolittle is courted by Freddy who writes her love letters every day. But Eliza's response to all of his written promises is frustration: “Words! Words! I'm so sick of words! Don't talk of stars burning above! If you're in love, show me! Don't talk of love lasting through time. Make no undying vow. If you love me, show me now!”If we admire people who keep their word, then we will resonate with Eliza’s “If you love me, show me now.” Let me express her attitude another way. When we keep our word, we may mean many things but we will mean at least the following:
1. We will do what we say we will do.
Whether in business or in our personal lives, we want to be with people who do what they say. I don’t remember my parents making empty promises to me or to my brother and sister. I do remember they kept their word to me when they said I would be getting a bicycle for my birthday – not a three-wheeler but my very first two-wheeler. That was a promise kept that I will never forget! Getting that bike meant I could trust my parents to keep their word if they ever said they were going to do something.2. When we keep our word, we show we are trustworthy and dependable.
Some illustrations bear repeating and I have used something similar to this one in a previous message. A father was playing with his little boy, repeatedly throwing him in the air and catching him. The child was obviously relaxed and having a great time. “Do it again! Do it again!” he said.
A man who was watching asked the father: “Can you explain why he's so relaxed, even when he's out of control?”
“It's very simple,” the father said. “We have a history together. We've played this game before, and I've never dropped him.” The son found his father to be dependable and worthy of his trust.3. When we keep our word, we are showing respect and even love toward the other person. We are showing we value the integrity of our relationships.
A student was looking for summer employment before going back to school. She had two job possibilities. One she wanted very much and the other she really didn't want but would take as a second choice.
As you can guess, the second-choice job was offered first. She wanted to hold out for her first choice but she didn't know if it would be offered to her or to someone else. So she accepted her second-choice for her summer employment. A few days later, as you also could expect, the job she had hoped for was offered to her. She wanted to quit the job she had already accepted and take the job she really wanted. So she went to her father.
“Dad, I have a problem.” And she told him the situation.
He looked her straight in the eye and asked, “Did you take the first job offered to you?”
“Yes,” She said.
“Did you promise you would work there this summer?”
“Yes,” She said.
Her father then said, “Why are we having this conversation?”
[George Munzing, “Living a Life of Integrity,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 32.]I do not imagine anyone here would like to be known as someone who does not keep his or her word. I don’t imagine you would want to associate yourself for very long with someone who has that kind of reputation. Quite the opposite, I would think. But of course, you would delight in being with someone who does what he or she says, who is trustworthy and dependable, and who respects you and values the relationship between you.
Let me be straightforward: Jesus Christ wants to keep his word to those he loves. That means not only for his disciples but for all of humanity – and that also includes you and me. If we had read the Scripture this morning in John 14 from verse 15, we would have noticed that this whole section is about Jesus promising to send the Holy Spirit to live with those who love him. This would happen, he said, after he physically left them and this Earth – an event that occurred in just over a month after his talking with them – after his death, resurrection and ascension, which the disciples could not yet even imagine. But he told them the Holy Spirit would be with them in his place. In fact, the Holy Spirit would be Jesus’ presence – God’s presence too -- within them in a way that would enable him to do much more in their lives and in the lives of people all over the world than if he stayed with them physically.
Jesus Christ is the presence of God within those who love him and follow his commandments -- especially the commands to love God wholeheartedly and to love one another. Jesus wanted to keep his word to his followers. And he knew he could keep his word, his promises, to those who love him because his Holy Spirit would be with them and within them always. When Jesus keeps his word, he means many things, but he means at least the following:
First, Jesus wants to do in our lives what he said he would do. And he will do this through his Holy Spirit within us.
Second, Jesus always showed his followers then that he was dependable and worthy of their trust. And he is worthy of our trust too. Again, he expresses his trustworthiness through the Holy Spirit.
And, third, through his Holy Spirit, Jesus shows his love and respect for us. He values our relationship with him and with his Father who is our Father as well. And he wants his relationship with us to deepen and to mature.
Jesus wants to do in our lives what he said he would do. He knew his disciples were on the verge of being thrown for a loop with his impending death. Their distress would become evident even if they had trouble admitting it at that particular moment. In the midst of their anguish, the peace they so desperately would need would come at the right time – Jesus promised that. In fact, he clearly instructed his disciples to set their hearts at ease. He told them not to be afraid when he left them. He told them he was giving them his peace – a peace very different from anything they could experience in the world outside of his being with them. And this strength, this ease of heart, this peace, this renewal of spirit would be there for them because of the Holy Spirit who would come to live with them -- and even within them.
In the first verse of John 14, Jesus acknowledged that the disciples trusted God. “Trust also in me,” Jesus told them. But he did not expect his disciples to trust him without help. That’s why the Holy Spirit came to live with them – with those who believed in him and loved him and showed their love for him by doing what he told them to do.
One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and to remind us of all that Jesus said as the Spirit did for the first disciples. This is significant for us to know and understand. The Holy Spirit guided the disciples. The Spirit also wants to guide us today – to help us think over what Jesus said 2,000 years ago and to experience Jesus today. The Holy Spirit also wants to help us let our love for Jesus show up in the ways we relate to others and carry on his ministry to others. You see, the Holy Spirit helps us as followers and disciples – or learners -- to understand Jesus and his word and to love him by keeping his word on behalf of the world. A New Testament scholar once spoke of the Scripture written 50 years after Jesus’ death as a relevant source for the life of the historical Jesus by saying: “My mother has been dead for thirty years. I think I understand her better now than I did when she was alive.” The Holy Spirit can help us – and the Church -- remember Jesus’ teachings and the commands he gave us when he was on Earth.
I wonder how much we understand the deep respect and love Jesus has for those who who love him and who do what he says. Jesus values our relationship with him – he gave his life for us so this would be possible. And as we read the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, we can see that he wants that relationship to deepen and mature. And that is a choice we have the freedom to make.
Part of our maturing relationship with Jesus Christ is the freedom to ask questions. In verse 19 of John 14, Jesus had said to his disciples: “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.” Judas (not the one who betrayed Jesus) pressed him for more information: “How is it that you will reveal yourself [that is, make yourself plain] to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22).
A good question! And Jesus answered it this way: “Whoever loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love [them], and my Father and I will come to [them] and live with [them].” These are words meant for those who who love and obey Jesus -- not for those who do not. Those who are followers of Jesus are those who keep loving Jesus by doing what he has been teaching all along, including loving one another and washing one another’s feet – that is, keeping Jesus’ word through love and service. Jesus made it clear, over and over again, that his followers show their love for him by loving and serving others.
Whether or not the disciples knew it, to live that kind of love, they would need the constant presence of God in their midst. Jesus offered that presence to those who love him when he said of himself and of the Father: “My Father and I will come to [them] and live with [them].” In other words, “We will come and make our home with them.” I love that image! It tells me where God likes to spend time – with those who love Jesus and who love to serve others!
Someone once compared the Holy Spirit to a babysitter. He said that whenever his wife puts her hand on the doorknob and her coat over her arm, their children ask: “Who will take care of us?” And she gives them the name of one of their regular babysitters. All of them are capable. But if she tells them one particular name – “Brittain” -- the children leap for joy. Brittain reads to them, romps with them, acts out plays with them and makes chocolate chip cookies with them. She nurtures their young lives with love. And as long as she is with them, the children are not afraid. That fun and secure image also fits God!
Another word for the Holy Spirit is companion -- one who comes alongside and cares for us. And in many ways – both quiet and amazing – the Holy Spirit comforts us, teaches us, reminds us, guides us, enjoys us and nurtures us as sons and daughters of God until, as Jesus said, he comes back again.
Let us rejoice and be glad that Jesus is still with us! Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and to live in us so that he could keep his word of love alive and active in those who believe in him, who love him and in those whom he loves.
May this be so for you and for me.
Rev. Chris Miller
May 9, 2010 • Mother's Day • Easter 6
OYM • Oriole-York Mills United Church, Toronto [website »]
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