The Same Old Same Old
"The Last Supper" by Jon Mcnaughton |
[Jesus
said:] “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I
will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you
forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot
receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells
with you and will be in you.
“I will
not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a
little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I
live, you also will live. In that day you will know that
I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever
has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me
will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to
him” (John 14:15-21).
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Quite a few folks have
mentioned how with the Stay-at-Home order it is hard to keep track of what day
of the week it is. They all seem to run together. Not much new happens. It’s
the same old same old.
The same old same old. It’s
an old, but useful idiom to describe situations where the same thing is always done
or always happens. It generally implies that such a thing is boring, monotonous,
tedious. It never changes.
We Lutherans are often
accused of never changing. There’s an old joke: How many Lutherans does it take
to change a lightbulb? The punchline: Change??? Lutherans don’t ever change. It’s
often trotted out at conferences where the speaker is teaching about the latest
techniques, programs, and best practices to grow your church. It sets up a strawman,
a false dichotomy, insinuating that if you’re not going to follow their
suggestions and guidance, you’re a backward Luddite stuck back in the old days
and ways, as if all change is good and all refusal to change is bad.
The same old same old. If
there is one thing you do not want to be in our cultural setting, it is sameness.
We tend to treasure that which is unique. Different. In the marketplace,
advertisers highlight what makes their product different. In the mediascape,
celebrities emphasize what sets them apart. In politics, diversity is one of
its chief tenets. In society, individuals celebrate diversity. Even in the
spiritual landscape of our country, churches differentiate themselves from one
another by emphasizing the uniqueness of their style of worship, their preaching
and teaching ministries, or their missional niche. Diversity is something our
country cultivates and lauds. Diversity sells.
Which is what makes the
words of Jesus sound so strange to us this morning. Jesus is not celebrating
diversity or difference. He is promising sameness. A repeat of what has
happened before. A continuation of what has always been. The same, but even more
of the same. The same old same old.
In our Gospel, Jesus is
preparing to leave His disciples. Their world is going to change quickly. Their
Master will die upon the cross. Three days later, He will rise from the grave,
conquering death and giving them a glimpse of the new creation. After 40 days, He
will ascend into heaven and leave them here on earth. But Jesus promises He
will not leave them as orphans. He will not leave them alone to fend for themselves
and figure out how to carry on His work here on earth.
Jesus tells His
disciples, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper to be
with you forever” (John 14:16). The Greek word for “Helper,” Parakletos,
literally means someone called to a person’s side to help. The term applies particularly
to help in legal matters, so “Counselor” or “Comforter” are also appropriate
translations. Jesus will not leave the disciples alone. They will have another
Helper, another one like Jesus—the Spirit who will come alongside them and continue
the work of Jesus.
It is not that the
eleven do not already have the Holy Spirit in their hearts when Jesus speaks
these words. “You know Him” is true even in its present sense. No saving faith
was ever wrought, even in the Old Testament, without the Spirit and His work of
calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying. Throughout His ministry, Jesus
Himself has planted the Spirit in the hearts of His disciples; their experience
of the Spirit has already begun. And yet all their contact with the Spirit has
been only through Jesus and through Him as being visibly present. Now, He will be
with them in a new way. And this not silently and secretly but openly,
miraculously, spectacularly on Pentecost. The disciples will have a wondrous new
knowledge of the Spirit.
The unbelieving world
cannot receive this Helper because it cannot see Him, cannot know Him. This
world also did not know Jesus, who is the Word. Those who neglect Christ’s Word
isolate themselves from God and His gifts and comfort. Through the work of the Holy
Spirit, Jesus Christ reveals God’s grace in His Word, dispelling our fear and
unbelief.
When Jesus ascends to
heaven, He will request that the Holy Spirit be sent to the disciples as another
Helper. But that does not mean that Jesus will be gone from them forever. Jesus
will not leave them as orphans with the Holy Spirit as foster father, but He
Himself will come back to them. Only a little while will they be orphaned. The
unbelieving world will not see Him again, but His disciples will. Then Jesus
will return to them for a higher and richer union than they had before His
death and resurrection.
Jesus is not just
speaking of His appearances to the disciples during the 40 days after His
resurrection. Those were for the purposes of proving His actual resurrection
and glorification. No, with the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus
will also come to be with them, but in a far higher manner, using all His divine
attributes, having received all authority in heaven and earth according also to
His humanity, He promises: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold I am with
you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
This Spirit will not
only do the work of God for them—comforting them, strengthening them,
encouraging them—but He will also do the work of God through them. He
will dwell with them and be in them as they continue to make more disciples in
His name (John 14:17). The Spirit will lead them to keep the commandments of
Jesus. The sacrificial love of Jesus becomes the sacrificial love of His
disciples and the world will know God’s people by the love they have for one
another and for the world.
In a culture which
celebrates diversity and difference, today, Jesus encourages us to rejoice in
something that is the same. Jesus sends us another Helper who continues God’s work
among us and extends God’s work through us. Having been brought from death to life,
having been brought from sin to salvation, now we will continue to live in the
life of God, following the way of Jesus, empowered by His Spirit to show love.
It’s the same old same old.
In many ways, we find
great comfort with the same old same old. How many of you have a particular pew
or area of the church in which you like to sit each week? A favorite chair at
home? How many of you get uncomfortable when your standard routine is upset? Studies
show that children grow and learn best in households with established routines.
Those who grow up in inconstant environments often experience higher levels of
anxiety and fear.
I think a case could be
made that our affinity for sameness goes back to being created in the image of
God. Have you ever noticed how the Lord seems to have a fondness for sameness?
The sun rises in the morning and sets down in the evening every day. The earth
makes a trip around the sun every 365 ¼ days. About every 29 ½ days the month
makes it journey around the earth and waxes and wanes through all of its
phases.
Scripture is full of
reminders of the sameness of the Lord. The psalmist writes: “You are the same,
and Your years will have no end” (Psalm 102:27). In Malachi 3:6, we read: “For
I the Lord do not change….” The Lord Himself asserts that He will never change.
He continues to condemn sin, but His mercy also endures forever. The author of
Hebrews reminds us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”
(Hebrews 13:8).
Sometimes, sameness is
not just something desired. It is essential. In the recent COVID-19 pandemic,
there has been a desire for more of the same—more ventilators, more test kits,
more hospital beds, more masks, more health care workers. This was not a time
for diversity or difference. This was a time of mass production, to make and to
share that which was essential. Sameness—in bulk quantities—would save lives.
In a similar way, John’s
Gospel encourages the Church, today, to celebrate its life-saving sameness. The
love of the Father in the Son in the Spirit in God’s people. There is one Lord,
Jesus Christ, and one work of salvation that brings eternal life. If you are
part of God’s people, you will not be an orphan. Jesus will send His Spirit,
another Helper, to lead you in the ways of God.
The Holy Spirit brings
you into and incorporates you into the Church through hearing and continuing to
hear God’s Word. In Holy Baptism, He gives you faith, forgiveness, and eternal
life. In the Lord’s Supper, you receive the very body and blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and strengthening of your faith. Time
after time. Day after day. Week after week. Year after year. It’s the same old
same old.
And what a blessing
that is! In these means of grace, the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—keeps
coming to you with His good gifts.
You cannot by your own
reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy
Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, sanctified
and kept you in the true faith. In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens,
and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus
Christ in the one true faith.
In this Christian
Church, He daily and richly forgives all your sins and the sins of all
believers. On the Last Day, He will raise you and all the dead, and give
eternal life to you and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.
You who are loved by
the heavenly Father, go in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the Holy
Spirit dwell in you richly with His gifts. Love one another and keep His
commandments. Serve your neighbor with joy. Tell of His wonderful mercies and
His steadfast faithfulness. You are never alone. You are forgiven for all of
your sins.
In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are
from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
Comments