{"id":2731,"date":"2020-05-15T07:52:22","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T05:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/static\/wp\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2020-05-15T07:52:22","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T05:52:22","slug":"easter-six-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/easter-six-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sixth Sunday after Easter – May 17th, 2020 | John 14.15-21 | Richard O. Johnson |<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

15\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u201cIf you love me, you will keep\u00a0my commandments.\u00a016\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.\u00a017\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.<\/em><\/p>\n

18\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>\u201cI will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.\u00a019\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.\u00a020\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.\u00a021\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.\u201d [NRSV]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In our adult Bible class, we often run into interesting questions about translation. The Bible, as you know, was written originally in other languages\u2014the Old Testament in Hebrew, the New Testament in Greek. Translating these ancient languages into modern English is always a challenging task, since any given word or phrase in one language can often be accurately translated into another in several different ways.<\/p>\n

And so sometimes I find it to be the case that a Biblical text I committed to memory years ago, maybe in childhood, when either the King James Version or the Revised Standard Version were commonly in use, is translated quite differently in more contemporary versions. That was true this week with a verse from the gospel lesson: \u201cI will not leave you orphaned,\u201d Jesus says to the disciples. I was pretty sure that this verse used to say, \u201cI will not leave you desolate.\u201d So I started looking at different translations of the verse\u2014a very easy task in the world of the internet. Sure enough, the Revised Standard Version\u2014my Bible for many years\u2014had it that way: \u201cI will not leave you desolate.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I scrolled through several translations, I saw that there were generally three ways scholars have translated this verse: \u201cI will not leave you orphaned,\u201d \u201cI will not leave you desolate,\u201d and then \u201cI will not leave you comfortless.\u201d Sometimes when we are trying to discern just what the Biblical writer meant, it is helpful to think about all the possibilities. These three words are not all that far apart, really, but each has a particular shade of meaning, and the shades taken together help us understand what Jesus is saying here. So let\u2019s consider them, each in turn, and see what we can learn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not as orphans<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with the most modern: \u201cI will not leave you orphaned.\u201d An orphan, of course, is a child whose parents have died. It isn\u2019t a word you hear too often anymore, and it has a bit of Dickensian aroma to it\u2014David Copperfield and all that. When I hear the word, I think of my great-grandfather, whose birthday was just a few days ago. When he was just a toddler, his father went off to fight in the Civil War, and he never came home. His mother died not long after, leaving grandpa, then age seven, and his two brothers. There was no family living nearby, and they were taken in by a neighbor until their uncle could come from California to fetch them. He brought them back to California by covered wagon; my great-grandfather recalled that he had to walk most of the way because there was no room in the wagon to ride.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine, isn\u2019t it, a boy of seven, who has lost his parents, now being taken on a seven-month journey by an uncle he had never met to a place thousands of miles from home. That\u2019s what it meant to be an orphan: to feel as if everything you love and know is gone.<\/p>\n

There are times in life when that is how we feel, times when it seems that everything familiar has been taken away. Maybe it happens when a parent dies, or a spouse, or a child. Maybe it happens when a job is lost, or a home. But we know what it is to be orphaned.<\/p>\n

And because we know it, the promise of Jesus is so very precious to us. \u201cI will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.\u201d There is that word of hope: you are not alone, however it may feel right now. I am coming to you. \u201cThough he giveth or he taketh, God his children ne\u2019er forsaketh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Desolation row<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or another translation, the one I remember: \u201cI will not leave you desolate.\u201d This next week is the 79th <\/sup>birthday of Bob Dylan. Dylan was the poetic voice of my \u201cbaby boomer\u201d generation, the one who perhaps most eloquently expressed the anxieties, the fears, the hopes we felt in our hearts in our youth.<\/p>\n

And one of his most profound songs was called \u201cDesolation Row.\u201d It isn\u2019t one that you ever heard much on the radio; it was anguished and rather difficult to understand. But there was one line that I think captures the meaning of that word \u201cdesolate\u201d: \u201cAnd someone says, \u2018You\u2019re in the wrong place, my friend. You better leave.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in the wrong place.\u201d I imagine most of us know that feeling, that sense that we just don\u2019t fit, that there\u2019s no room for us where we are. It is a feeling of intense loneliness. And often on the surface everything seems to be OK; we go about our business, deal with life as it comes. But in the darkness of the night, we are overwhelmed by the feeling of not belonging\u2014and worse, the feeling that all is for nothing, that all is lost.<\/p>\n

The classic Biblical picture, of course, is Christ on the cross, and especially the anguished cry, \u201cMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?\u201d The cross was indeed a place of desolation. And we know that place, too. Maybe we hesitate to compare our own experiences to the crucifixion, but we need not hesitate. When we are in that place where it seems even God has forsaken us, then we are participating in the desolation of Jesus.<\/p>\n

And because we know that feeling of desolation, the promise of Jesus is so very precious to us. \u201cI will not leave you desolate . . . In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.\u201d There is that word of hope; as Paul puts it in our first lesson: \u201cHe is not far from each one of us.\u201d \u201cNeither life nor death shall ever from the Lord his children sever.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Comfort ye, my people<\/strong><\/p>\n

Or yet another translation: \u201cI will not leave you comfortless.\u201d Comfort is a concept that may lead us just a bit astray. We so often think of comfort in terms of physical well-being. \u201cHe makes a comfortable income.\u201d \u201cShe has a comfortable home.\u201d Or \u201cthat\u2019s a comfortable bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that, of course, is not quite what Jesus means. The word originally meant \u201cto strengthen.\u201d You still get that sense if you think about \u201ccomforting\u201d someone\u2014it means to reassure them, to strengthen their emotions, to console them.<\/p>\n

And we know that often the very best way to console someone who is grieving is simply to be there, to be present. A little girl was late getting home from school. When her mother asked what had kept her, she replied that her friend had lost her doll. \u201cI had to stop and cry with her,\u201d she said. She had it just right, of course. Often just having someone to cry with you is the very best consolation imaginable.<\/p>\n

In verse 16 of our text, Jesus says, \u201cI will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate.\u201d There\u2019s another translation quirk. The word translated \u201cadvocate\u201d could just as well be translated \u201ccomforter.\u201d He\u2019s referring to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter with a capital C. What he means is that when we have sorrows, when we are lonely, when life seems tough, there is a Comforter, one who does whatever is needful. Perhaps it is to weep with us, perhaps it is to embrace us, perhaps it is just to sit quietly beside us.<\/p>\n

And because we know the need for comfort, for consolation, this promise of Jesus is so very precious to us. \u201cI will not leave you comfortless. The Father will give you another Comforter.\u201d There is that word of hope, as we heard in this morning\u2019s Psalm: \u201cIn truth God has heard me, he has attended to the voice of my prayer. You have brought me out into a place of refreshment.\u201d \u201cFrom all evil things he spares them, in his mighty arms he bears them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orphaned, desolate, comfortless: it doesn\u2019t matter how you translate it, the promise is still the same: \u201cIn him we live and move and have our being.\u201d \u201cHe abides with you, and he will be in you.\u201d \u201cYou will see; because I live, you will live also.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pastor Richard O. Johnson<\/p>\n

Grass Valley, CA<\/p>\n

roj@nccn.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sixth Sunday after Easter – May 17th, 2020 | John 14.15-21 | Richard O. Johnson | \u00a0 15\u00a0\u201cIf you love me, you will keep\u00a0my commandments.\u00a016\u00a0And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.\u00a017\u00a0This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,157,108,110,345,3,109,285],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-johannes","category-beitragende","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-14-chapter-14-johannes","category-nt","category-predigten","category-richard-o-johnson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2732,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions\/2732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}