John 15:26-27, The Helper Bears Witness

15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Finally, Jesus tells his disciples that help is on the way. I think most of us, if we had been walking the streets of Jerusalem with Jesus that night on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, would probably want to turn back and find another teacher, another master, because what Jesus has been saying is hard. Now he brings a word of comfort, a word each of us needs to hear today if we are truly to live for Christ.

The first thing to note is that our witness to Jesus is not the most important witness. The witness of the Spirit is. The Spirit of truth will bear witness to Jesus as his disciples bear witness to Jesus. The mission of the followers of Jesus is not to change hearts; that is the work of the Spirit. When it looks as though the disciples have failed, the Spirit will succeed. Take for example the martyrdom of St. Stephen. Looking on as Stephen is stoned to death is Saul of Tarsus. The witness of Stephen failed to convert Saul. A few days later, the Spirit of Jesus converts Saul on the road to Damascus. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul, who later takes the name of Paul, becomes the greatest evangelist of his age.

Paul too experienced tribulation and humiliation similar to that of Jesus and Stephen, dying in Rome because of his faith. Paul knew what it meant to pick up his cross daily for Christ. Unfortunately, we western Christians know so little of this. Listen to what Peter Kusmic, a Yugoslavian Christian, wrote in 1990: “So much popular Western evangelical religiosity is so shallow and selfish. It promises so much and demands so little. It offers success, personal happiness, peace of mind, material prosperity; but it hardly speaks of repentance, sacrifice, self-denial, holy lifestyle and willingness to die for Christ.” Are you willing to die for Christ? Only a person totally reliant upon the Holy Spirit will be willing to die for Christ.

Father, fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may bear witness to my Lord, pick up my cross daily, and die to self for his sake. Amen.