May 12

May 12

[media presentation below]

GospelThink

Tuesday, May 12, Easter Weekday

JOHN 16:5-11

The Spirit that I give helps you distinguish right from sin.

Prayerthoughts
a. One of the tasks in the spiritual life is to ask questions of the Scriptures. Here Jesus wanted his disciples to ask questions so that they could learn more. Whenever I read a particular Gospel, my question should be: “What are you telling me, Lord?”

b. The Advocate is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit guides me as I study the Gospels. My prayer ought to include a prayer asking for the guidance of the Spirit in all that I do.

c. The Spirit among other things will prove the world wrong about what sin, righteousness, and judgment mean. In John’s understanding, sin deals with a lack of belief in Jesus. Do I show sincere faith in the Lord in everything I do?

d. Understanding righteousness reveals understanding the truth about Jesus’s resurrection. Once again, I should thank the Lord for redeeming me and continue to ask the Spirit’s guidance in living out his redemption in my life.

e. The world has condemned the Lord, and it is the world that should be condemned. Do I tend to pay too much attention to the goods of the world?

f. My prayerthoughts…

Today, I will read the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16:22-34 and write an important thought from it.

Some Thoughts on the Liturgy

THE ROLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

+ As we liturgically move closer to Pentecost, we will hear more talk of the Holy Spirit

- or as Jesus talks of here, the Advocate

- the role of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, is to be the grace whereby we live our lives as Christians

- the Holy Spirit is that person of the Trinity who moves us to follow what Jesus wants of us

+ In the Gospel, in the language of John the evangelist, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit during the Last Supper

- there are three elements of the Holy Spirit’s role described here—this is John’s interpretation at this point of his Gospel:

- 1 – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will help us understand sin

- the sin is the refusal to believe in Jesus

- Paul knew that, and that was his whole preaching pattern as we can see in the Acts today during the second missionary journey

- the central thrust of the miracle story is the belief in Jesus

- we don’t have that problem of not believing in Jesus

- our problem lies more in being too complacent in our belief of Jesus

- 2 – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will help us understand righteousness

- and that which is truly right, that which is truly “what should be” that is, based on justice

- in this context here, that which “should be” in Jesus’s eyes is that he returns to the Father, allowing the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ work by giving us the grace we need to follow Jesus

- 3 – the Holy Spirit, the Advocate will help us understand the condemnation of evil, the “ruler of this world” as this translation puts it

- one of the primary gifts of the Holy Spirit is the ability to understand the evil of life

- the Holy Spirit moves us to see that we do evil

- quiet moments like now as we do serious reflection about ourselves

- the Holy Spirit is at work making us understand our lives if we allow that serious time for reflection

+ Jesus gives us three specific areas of the way the Holy Spirit works today in John’s Gospel:

- basically what we are doing now is asking that Holy Spirit to guide every action of our lives.

MEDIA PRESENTATION

Song: "Heathens" -- Twenty-One Pilots

CRIMINALS OR TRUE FRIENDS

The Gospel

JOHN 2:23-25

While Jesus was in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, many began to believe in his name when they saw the signs he was doing. But Jesus would not trust himself to them because he knew them all, and did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He himself understood it well.

Gospelthink: I understand human nature. Therefore I understand you. Do I open up to the Lord in prayer with my deepest thoughts?

The song speaks of the fact that there are people in the world who are mixed up for some reason, and because of that, we must all be careful of people, even those whom we think we know well. "All my friends are heathens;" Twenty One Pilots sings, "Take it slow." They sing of people who were loved and now are criminals. And when it comes to other people, their advice is to watch out.

Perhaps one of the most interesting lines of all of Scripture concerning our human nature is given in John's Gospel: Jesus knew human nature. There were many people who said complimentary things to him because of the abilities that he had, many who thought highly of him, telling him, no doubt how much they admired him. He also probably had quite a following around him besides his Apostles whenever he spoke. They even told him that they believed in him completely.

Jesus listened to them, but he also knew that human emotions are fickle. He knew human nature. He knew that there were people who were out to impress him or make him feel good, and then be completely different when he was not around or with a crowd of people who did not like what he was doing. Unfortunately, as Jesus attested to, human nature is that way.

In Twenty One Pilots interesting song "Heathens" the same message seems to be present. Influenced strongly by the movie that inspired the song, namely "Suicide Squad," people are presented as possibly good or bad depending on the circumstances. "Heathens" probably are the people in the writer's acquaintance, and he does not know how to describe them well. Some are criminals, some may be okay. But human nature being what it is, his advice is to be careful. "Watch out" he says as he describes other people.

Honestly, It may not be bad advice. Yes, it sounds like a rather pessimistic way of looking at other human beings, but as Jesus himself said, human nature has a tendency to be a little inconsistent. So, in terms of Jesus' primary directive to "love," we definitely must be aware that we should consider every person "lovable." And we must always be very careful as we choose our friends.

PRAYER

Good and gracious God, Your Son gave us the directive to love one another, and it is something that we always strive to do. But help us be careful as we try to be friends with the people that we love. Be with us, we pray.

+++++

GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT

Theme: We do not know the backgrounds of people, and therefore we must be careful of others, even as we want to help them.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What do you think John the evangelist means when he says that people began to "believe in [Jesus'] name"?
2. Text analysis: "trust himself to them." What is the meaning of the phrase?
3. What most of all must be corrected about human nature? Why?
4. Why is it a true statement that human emotions are "fickle"?
5. Why do our early years have such an effect on our later lives?
6. What do you think is the meaning of the fact that we should choose our friends carefully?
7. Do you think that every one is "lovable"? Yes or no and why?
8. What does the song "Heathens" teach young people?