Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
“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; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason, I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:12-15 – NRSV).
Introductory notes
General
John declares at the beginning of his Gospel: “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a Father’s only son, full of grace and truth” (1:14). And again: “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known” (1:18). Jesus has been sent by the Father to teach the disciples what the Father wants them to know. This is reiterated in 15:15: “I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father”.
The Spirit will “guide/lead” – the Greek verb is hodēgeō – rather than “teach”. The Spirit’s role will be to guide the community in understanding the Father’s message revealed in and through Jesus Christ. The Spirit “will take what is mine and declare it to you”.
“(The Spirit) will glorify Jesus, as Jesus does his Father (17:4) by communicating the mystery of the Son who has his source in the Father, 3:35; 5:20-26; 8:26-40;13; 17:3. Revelation is one: it comes from the Father through the Son and is completed in the Spirit to the glory of the Son and the Father” (Dom Ralph Russell, “St John”, A New Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, edited by Reginald C Fuller et al, London: Nelson, 1969, 1066).
The Psalmist’s prayer is being answered: “Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long” (Psalm 25:5).
Thus, the disciples of Jesus are led into the depths of the riches of Jesus Christ as St Paul reminds the community in Corinth: “None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him — these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God” (1 Corinthians 2:8-10).
Specific
bear: The Greek verb is bastazō. Here it can be understood “take in” or “deal with”. One commentator writes: “To render his teaching explicit and clear in detail, Jesus still needed to speak many words, too many for his hearers to take in that evening. He will, therefore, complete their instruction through that other Paraclete” (W Leonard, The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to St John, B. Orchard & E. F. Sutcliffe (Eds.), A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953, 1008).
the Spirit of truth: For the third time, the Advocate is referred to as “the Spirit of truth” – see 14:17; 15:26; 16:13. Recall 8:31-32: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”. “(The Spirit) will guide you into all the truth”. As one commentator explains: “the view that the Spirit is an internal illuminator rather than a revealer seems more in keeping with the context of this discourse, 14:26, and of the whole Fourth Gospel (1:16–18; cf. 1 Jn 2:20–27). In the person of Jesus and his manifestation of himself up to the day of his ascension, Ac 1:3, and sometimes to individual Apostles after the ascension, Ac 9:4; Apoc 1:1, we would seem to have the full final revelation, in the explicit understanding of which the Church shall ever grow through the illuminating action of the Paraclete” (Ibid).
The Spirit of truth
In today’s Gospel – John 16:12-15 – Jesus speaks to the disciples of “the Spirit of truth” who will guide them into all the truth. This is the third time Jesus has referred to the “Spirit of truth”. He referred to it just after he told the disciples that he is “the way, the truth and the life” (14:6), when he said, “‘I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth’” (14:15-16). And again, just after the parable of the vine, when he told them, “‘Abide in me as I abide in you’” (15:4), Jesus promised the disciples, “‘I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf’” (15:26-27).
At a time when many assume there is no truth as such, just “your truth” and “my truth,” today’s Gospel comes as a timely reminder. Every claim to truth implies that there is such a thing as truth. Our subjective claims to truth must be held accountable to objective reality. Living is a dialogue, not a monologue. It is a searching, listening, and a journeying towards truth. It is not a solitary journey but always a communal affair. It demands humility.
The late Jonathan Sacks, former Chief Rabbi of the UK, was prophetic, sadly, when he wrote in 1995: “We no longer believe in an objective moral order. Instead, we think of the good as something to be pursued individually rather than sought collectively. Education is no longer seen as the induction of the young into the rules and virtues of society. Rather, it has become a way of helping children make private choices as individuals. Above all, we are in danger of witnessing the end of the family as a stable and persisting unit through which future generations are nurtured and internalise the rules we have so painfully arrived at on our collective journey through history. … I believe that no civilisation can go far down this road and yet survive” (Jonathan Sacks, Faith in the Future (p. 71-72), The Rabbi Sacks Legacy & Maggid Books. Kindle Edition).
Our encounter with truth is always partial, manifold, complex, and unending. We may grasp and, in limited ways, express the truth in propositions, beliefs, symbols, rituals, poetry, and other art forms. But we must never forget, that “now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Perhaps past forgetfulness of this and the claim to “possess the truth,” has caused a backlash in our times. Have we been forgetful?
The Spirit of truth is a person, not a dogma. Every encounter with truth is, in its own way, potentially an entry point into the community we call God.