“The 7 faces of the Holy Spirit”

Introduction

     How did Christianity begin?  Think about it – on Good Friday, the Jesus movement consisted of around 120 people (cf. Ac. 1.15) whose leaders, the apostles, decided to hide in a locked room because they were afraid that what had just happened to Jesus would also happen to them (Jn. 20.19).  Even the sightings of the resurrected Jesus on Easter and the following 40 days seemed to have left the disciples with more questions than answers (cf. Ac. 1.6-8).  So how do we explain the fact that less than 2 months after Good Friday, the followers of Jesus were boldly proclaiming throughout Jerusalem and beyond that Jesus was alive, that he was Israel’s true King (Messiah) and the true Lord of the entire world?  How do we account for the fact that they continued to do so despite being imprisoned and threatened with death for doing so?  What had happened?  If we were to go back in time and interview the apostles, they would tell us, “We received the Holy Spirit, and that has made all the difference”.

     We invoke the Holy Spirit every time we make the sign of the cross (at the beginning of Mass): “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the …”  However, in our daily lives, the first thing to pop into our mind when we hear the word “spirit(s)” might be some kind of alcoholic drink or perhaps even ghosts.  Most of the time, when the word “spirit” appears in the Bible, it carries a similar meaning to the words “breath” or “wind”.

     For example, in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus says:

“The wind (pneuma) blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (pneuma)” (Jn. 3.8; cf. Ac. 2.2-4).

In this one verse, the same Greek word, pneuma, means both “wind” and “spirit”.

     However, there is another nuance to the word “spirit”.  In chapter 4 of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that “God is Spirit” (Jn. 4.24). 

St. John also says that God is:

·        true (Jn. 3.33) and

·        light (1 Jn. 1.5) and

·        love (1 Jn. 4.8).

“Spirit” is an essential quality of God.  In chapter 3 of John’s Gospel, Jesus compares the work of the Spirit to the activity of the wind – you can see their effects, even though they are both invisible (Jn. 3.8).  As “Spirit”, God is everywhere present and active; though you can’t see Him, you can be sure of his presence by seeing what happens when He “shows up”.

1.     Jesus is the Spirit-giver (Jn. 1.29-34)

     In the Gospel of St. John, there is an extremely close relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

     In the first chapter, we have the story of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist.  John the Baptist saw the Holy Spirit landing on Jesus like a dove would.  This was a common phenomenon in the Old Testament of the Bible.  The Spirit of God was given to those people who were entrusted with a mission from God.  Most of the time, it was prophets, priests and kings who received God’s Spirit to empower them for their task of speaking for God, leading the worship of God or ruling the people of God.  The reception of the Holy Spirit often occurred when the prophet, priest or king was anointed with oil as a symbol of God designating them as his agent for a specific purpose.  When Jesus receives the Spirit of God at his baptism, this is a sign that he is being entrusted with the greatest mission possible – that of bringing salvation (= new life) to God’s people.

     But there’s more – St. John tells us that Jesus is the one who will baptize people with the Holy Spirit.  That is to say, Jesus will immerse people in the Spirit, in the same way that Jesus had been submerged into the waters of the Jordan River and the Spirit of God (cf. Jn. 3.5-8).  In the time before Jesus, people had received the Holy Spirit temporarily in order to be able to perform certain tasks; however, once the Spirit descends upon Jesus, it remains on him.  This is the sign that Jesus is now the one who gives the Spirit to all those who belong to him, who are entrusted with the mission of taking the message about Jesus to “the ends of the earth” (cf. Ac. 1.8; 2.1-4, 32-33).

2.     The life-breath of God (Jn. 20.19-22)

 

     As we have seen, the word “spirit” in the Bible can also mean “breath”.  We have also seen that in St. John’s Gospel, Jesus is the one who gives God’s Spirit to people.  There is a dramatic example of this on the evening of the first Easter day:

“…the disciples had …locked the doors of the place because they were afraid ...Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” …he showed them his hands and his side...

After…this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

(Jn. 20.19-22)

There is a fascinating parallel between this passage and the story of God creating the first man:

“God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2.7).  (St. John often alludes to the book of Genesis; his Gospel is a story of new creation).

In the beginning, God breathed the breath of life into the first human; on the first Easter day, the risen Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the apostles.  The Spirit is the life-breath of God.  As Jesus breathed on them, the apostles received new, eternal life.  In chapter 3 of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be “born again” through water and the Spirit (= baptism); now, it is as if Jesus tells the apostles, “You must learn to breathe again, this time with the very breath of God”.

 

3.     The creator-Spirit (Jn. 3.5-8)

 

     The very first verses of the Bible say:

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void …while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters” (Gn. 1.1-2).

We have already seen that the word “spirit” can also mean “wind”.  Here we have the image of God’s Spirit blowing over the primordial watery chaos before God began to speak the universe into existence – “Let there be light, etc. …”

     The Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Creator, which allowed life to spring forth from chaos in the beginning.  This is why Jesus tells Nicodemus that to be “born again”, one must be “born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3.5-8).  The Spirit that hovered over the waters in the beginning is the one who brings us to new life as we follow Jesus.

 

4.     Living water (Jn. 7.37-39; 4.13-14)

 

     In chapter 7 of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus celebrates the Festival of Booths (one of 3 feasts which all Jewish men were obliged to observe every year in Jerusalem).  On the last day of the festival, Jesus shouts aloud in the Temple:

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. … ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive” (Jn. 7.37-39).

Jesus promised that those who believe in him will be refreshed and sustained in their new, eternal life through the Spirit.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter 4.13-14 that if she was to drink the water that he would give her (= the Spirit), her thirst would be quenched…forever.

 

5.     The advocate (Jn. 14.15-18)

 

     We have seen that the Spirit is like breath or wind, that it is the life-breath of God, that it is the Creator Spirit and that Jesus compared it to water.  However, we mustn’t conclude that the Holy Spirit is simply a “force” or an intangible reality like electricity.  The Holy Spirit is a divine person, the third member of the Trinity, the 3-in-1 reality that is God.  We’ll talk more about the Trinity in two weeks.

     At the Last Supper, Jesus uses a new word to describe the Spirit – he calls him the parakletos (“the one who stands beside”).  Some versions of the Bible translate this word as “advocate” (= defense attorney).  You might have noticed that the first readings at mass these days are taken from the book of the Acts of the Apostles.  This book describes the adventures of the apostles during the first few decades following the Ascension of Jesus – the beginnings of the Church and its world-wide mission.  The Apostles were often getting persecuted because they wouldn’t stop preaching about Jesus.  Jesus knew that his followers would get into trouble after he left this world (Jn. 14.27; 16.33).  While he was still with them, Jesus promised the apostles that he would not leave them alone (“orphaned”; cf. Jn. 14.18).  No matter what they would face, the Spirit would be with the apostles and give them the strength they needed.

 

6.     The Spirit of Truth (Jn. 16.12-14)

 

     Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the “Spirit of truth”.  Jesus had said of himself, “I AM …the truth” (Jn. 14.6).  Jesus tells the apostles during the Last Supper: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (Jn. 16.12-13).  After the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles began their mission with very few resources – they had no instruction manual, no Gospels (they would be written later on) and no Pope or church structure to instruct them.  What they did have was the Spirit – the powerful, life-giving breath and presence of Jesus to guide them and to teach them what to say when they were on trial.  The Spirit was all they had, but the Spirit was all they needed.

 

7.     The power of God (Ac. 1.8)

 

     Right before his Ascension to “the right hand of the Father”, the risen Jesus tells the apostles:

“you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Ac. 1.8)

The Holy Spirit would embolden the apostles and fill them with the power required to go throughout the Roman Empire and beyond to tell everyone what they had seen – Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  Within a 50-day period, the apostles went from being a scared huddle of men hiding in a locked room (Jn. 20.19) to an excited group of zealous missionaries, willing to face trial, imprisonment and worse for the sake of Jesus and his message.

     The mission of the Church – our mission – is far from over.  The same power of the Holy Spirit that enabled the first Christian women and men to accomplish their mission is available to us today.  Do we dare to take our heavenly Father up on his offer?

“Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake…? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Lk. 11.11-13)