Wednesday in the Sixth Week of Easter, May 12, 2021

John 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

While much is contained in the verses of the Gospel reading for today’s Mass, we ought to consider what these words tell us about the love of Jesus for his Apostles, and for us.  Throughout John 13-17, the Evangelist quotes Jesus at length, preparing his Apostles for his Death and Resurrection, and for their life after he Ascended into heaven.  He tells them that he must leave them for a time so that the Holy Spirit can fill them and they can carry out their mission of converting the world.  

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.”  The Lord took care, during his three years of public ministry, not to overwhelm the Apostles with his teaching.  He told them enough to make them think hard and to ask questions, and he spoke to them using everyday language and examples.  He desired them to grow in their knowledge and understanding and did not overload them.  Here, he tells them that as much as he has told them, still more is to be learned.  Jesus implies that while the Apostles could not bear it at that time, they would be able to do so later.  “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”  The Holy Spirit will expand their capacity to know and to understand.  He will open their minds to the wisdom of their Master, Jesus Christ.  There are times in our lives when we stare at a thing, uncomprehending, and then suddenly it clicks, and we “get it”.  This happened with the Apostles at Pentecost on a very grand scale.  The sermon that Peter delivers to the people of Jerusalem after his receiving the Holy Spirit, he could never have delivered before.  It is a monumental leap from his not understanding the Lord’s words about his Passion in Matthew 16, 22, to that occasion.

“He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.”  The Holy Spirit will tell them what he has “heard” from the Father and the Son in heaven, and he will tell the Apostles of future events, though not before they are ready to hear of them.  These events would include a greater understanding of the end of the world, as we see St. Peter, in 2 Peter 3, 7, expand upon what Jesus says in the Gospels.  We do not hear the Lord speaking of the world ending with fire, and certainly Peter does not invent this idea.  He received it, if not from the Lord Jesus, then from the Holy Spirit.  “He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”  Normally, we think of glorifying someone by giving him something, but here the Lord tells us that he is glorified by the Holy Spirit “taking” from him.  But this taking signifies that there is a great abundance from which to take and so the Son is glorified in his being seen as so rich.  The Lord is also telling the Apostles and us about the reliability of the Holy Spirit, who has inspired the books of the Old Testament and would inspire the Gospels and other writings of the New.  Furthermore, the Lord wants us to know that “everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”  We can rely on the Holy Spirit because he takes from the Son, and we can rely on the Son because he receives what he has from the Father.  It is a great guarantee that we can know the truth about God, about ourselves, and about what we must do to be saved.  The Lord teaches us these things for our sake, out of his love and desire for us to reign with him in heaven, even a few hours away from his own terrible Passion and Death.