The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Trinity Sunday, May 18th: Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18)

Note: this is the conclusion of a talk I gave last fall at a Charismatic prayer meeting. 

TRANSFORMED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT – PART 3

Although it is very difficult to comprehend the Doctrine of the Holy Trinity (and by difficult, I mean impossible), Christians throughout history have believed in the Doctrine. But it’s not simply blind faith. It’s faith based on the words of Jesus. And Jesus had a lot to say about the identity of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

Luke 11:13 – “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

John 14:16 – “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.”

John 14:26 – “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything.”

John 15:26 – “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me.”

John 16:7 – “I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

John 16:13 – “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.”

Acts 1:8 – (the last words Jesus said before the Ascension) “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”—even Litchfield County.

The word Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit is translating in our New American Bibles as “Advocate.” Other words are used in different translations: Counselor or Comforter. Personally, the words Advocate and Counselor sound too much like a lawyer. I know we all need a good lawyer at times, but when it comes to our spiritual struggle here on earth, I much prefer a Comforter.

So between what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, and what we read about the Spirit in the Acts of the Holy Spirit—oops, I mean the Acts of the Apostles—we can know the Holy Spirit’s identity and his function in the life of a Christian.

First, he is a person. Jesus said, “When HE comes, the Spirit of truth, HE will guide you to all truth.”

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force. I think nowadays far too many Christians think the Holy Spirit is like “the Force” in the Star Wars movies—an impersonal power that somehow helps people during, say, a light saber swordfight against Darth Vader. (When’s the last time you were in church and heard the speaker use the words “Darth Vader”? Not to mention “keister”? I told you not to mention that!)

Jesus was quite clear: the Holy Spirit is a person, and as a person he is able to enter into personal relationships with other persons—namely, us.

Secondly, we know the function of the Holy Spirit is to empower believers to live the lives God wants us to live. God doesn’t want us to return to our former lives, with all that fear and anxiety, those live of quiet desperation. He wants us to live lives of noisy exultation. God has a wonderful plan for our lives. He wants us to be transformed into new creations.

God wants us to be transformed, through the power of the Holy Spirit, into the image of Christ. What exactly is the image of Christ, anyway? Is it long hair, a beard, and sandals? No, that’s not the image of Christ, that’s the image of my college roommate back in the 1970s.

The true image of Christ can be found in St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In chapter 5 he lists the Fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

When the Holy Spirit produces those spiritual fruits in a person’s life, then that person has been transformed into the image of Christ.

Now, we come to the part of this process that is the most difficult of all. Back when Peg called me a few weeks ago—back when I thought she wanted me to speak about the Red Sox—she told me the theme of tonight’s meeting would be “Allowing the Holy Spirit to Transform us into the Image of Christ,” and I scribbled that down on a notepad while on the phone.

Then I saw one of these fliers promoting tonight’s meeting, which says, “Holy Spirit…Transform us into the Image of Christ.”

And I looked at it and said, “Hmm, something’s different here. What’s different about this flier compared to my scribbled notes?” (Other than the fact that you can read the flier clearly.)

Then it hit me: the flier doesn’t have the word “allowing.” It just says “Holy Spirit transform us.” My note said, “Allowing the Holy Spirit to transform us.”

That may seem insignificant, but the “allowing” part is the hardest part of all. You see, God is a gentleman. He never forces himself on someone. He only enters into the hearts of those who willingly open up and allow Him to come in.

If your heart remains guarded and closed, God will not barge in. So we have to willingly open up and allow Him in. To do that, we have to surrender control over to God. We have to give up control of our lives and turn it over to the Lord.

This would be easy except for one slight problem: in our modern society, most of us have become Control Freaks. Don’t take it personally, but most of us, myself especially, need to be in control of every aspect of our lives.

As long as we do that, the Holy Spirit can’t get in. We are not “allowing” Him in.

It all boils down to those well-known Christian paradoxes:

We have to give to receive.

The last will be first.

We have to be weak to be strong.

We have to humble ourselves to be exalted.

We have to forgive others to be forgiven ourselves.

You know, those lines in the Prayer of St. Francis:

It’s in pardoning that we are pardoned.

It’s in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

And another important paradox is: we have to surrender to be victorious. We need to give up control in order to be under control—under control, that is, of the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to ALLOW the Holy Spirit to work in us, from within our hearts. We have to willingly invite Him in.

It’s not easy, that’s for sure. But it’s absolutely necessary. Otherwise we’ll never live the lives that God calls us to live. We’ll never be transformed into the image of Christ. We’ll never be filled with love and joy and peace and patience, and all the other awesome Fruits of the Spirit.

Our belief in Jesus and our knowledge of the truth of the Resurrection will have very little impact on us, and we’ll end up going back to our former lives without any real change.

God doesn’t want us to live lives of quiet desperation. He wants us to live lives of noisy exultation. Or maybe joyous celebration. Or thankful jubilation.

So what do you say? Let’s call upon Heaven’s Maytag repairman and ask for His help. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ. It will make all the difference in the world. In this world, and in the world to come.

©2008