The Gospel extract for our feast today is taken from Jesus’ final speech to his disciples, in which he promises that the Holy Spirit will assist them in reaching a deeper understanding of his teaching.
He emphasises the unity between himself and the Father, a theme which has occurred before in John’s account. It may well mean that the Spirit will lead the disciples “into the very heart of all truth”: we remember that Jesus has described himself as “the way, the truth and the life”. Jesus is the Word of God, God’s most direct way of reaching out to human beings to invite them (and us) into a personal relationship, characterised by friendship.
Previous Sunday Messages
REFLECT
The Fourth Gospel begins by presenting Jesus in its Prologue as the eternal Word of God made flesh. In the course of the narrative, Jesus is depicted in similar terms to the figure of the Wisdom of God in the Jewish scriptures, which we heard in the first reading from the Hebrew writings in the book of Proverbs. Wisdom in the Bible (and the wider culture) indicated the ability to achieve a goal or purpose, good or bad. Wisdom is a female figure, presented as God’s companion and instrument in creation: this is the figure transformed into the masculine logos of the Prologue and applied to Jesus, though he is never referred to in that way in the course of the Gospel.
When we think about the Holy Trinity, we talk about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “Father” and “Son” are masculine terms and figures. “Spirit” in the Hebrew scriptures is feminine; in the Christian scriptures, it is neuter, neither masculine nor feminine. So, is
there perhaps something missing in our idea of the Godhead? We might recall that the most conservative writer in the book of Genesis points out – twice, in case we might miss
the point – that God created woman in God’s image and likeness. So where is that teaching mirrored in our understanding of the Blessed Trinity?
Strictly speaking, the pronoun used for the Holy Spirit should be “it”, not “he”. We do not consider it appropriate to refer to any person, even an infant, as “it”. But suppose we
began to talk about the Spirit as “she”: what difference would that make to our
understanding of God? It is true that in the Bible the Spirit is often presented in terms of an impersonal enabling power, as in the Acts of the Apostles. But in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus presents the Spirit in more personal terms. In our Gospel reading today, the text says “He will lead you to the complete truth”: we would probably be uncomfortable if we heard “It will lead you to the complete truth”; but how would you feel if the reader said, “She will lead you to the complete truth”? And why would you feel that way?
As we contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity, we might take this wider biblical perspective into account.
learn
- In the Jewish scriptures, Wisdom is often presented as God’s way of creating and revealing God’s self to human beings.
- At the beginning of John’s Gospel, Jesus is presented as God’s Word (logos) in similar terms to Wisdom in the Jewish writings.
- The figure of Wisdom is reflected in Jesus’ ministry and teaching in the Fourth Gospel.
do
Make the sign of the cross: think about the persons of the Trinity as God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier