Scripture Reflections

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… (John 16:12-13a)

While preparing for last Sunday, I read a few homilies St. Augustine preached on John 16. Augustine was a fantastic preacher, and regularly addresses things that I never even consider. But I was still a bit unprepared for his treatment of John 16:12. I have always flown by this verse. It seems simple—there were theological truths the disciples weren’t ready to hear at the Last Supper, and Jesus was promising that the Spirit would instruct them in these things after Pentecost. We can list examples of these truths: the fact that Jesus was anointed Lord of all creation in the resurrection and ascension; the fact that Gentiles were included in salvation without first becoming Jews; the specific doctrine of the resurrection Paul explains in I Cor. 15. All of these are truths that the disciples weren’t ready to hear until Pentecost.

Augustine didn’t believe that Jesus was referring to theological truths, though. Instead, he asked a personal question: “What is it that they couldn’t bear? What things were too much for them to endure without the Spirit?” He makes the argument that a non-Christian can understand theological truths, but they do not bear them, and so Jesus must be referring to something other than doctrine in the abstract.

Isaiah 6, Sunday’s Old Testament reading, is actually a great example of Augustine’s point. Isaiah knew that God was holy and man was sinful, but when we saw God, he suddenly couldn’t bear that truth. “Woe is me,” he cried out, no longer able to endure the truth he knew. He needed God’s intervention in that moment because he could not bear what he believed.

This raised in my mind all the things I struggle to bear. I believe the theology of forgiveness, but do I bear it? Do I let it rest on my shoulders? I accept the theology of “whoever loses his life for [Jesus’] sake will save it,” but do I endure it? There is much that we voice and believe, but still struggle in the most personal sense to receive and endure. God’s love and holiness, our sin, the call on our life—the list of things that are easy to speak about but difficult to bear is long.

Jesus’ answer is not, “Try harder!” Instead, he offers the Spirit. If there are truths you still struggle to bear, ask the Spirit! He is promised as the one who will lead us into all truth.

Steven+