The Lord and Giver of Life:
The Holy Spirit in John’s Gospel,
Acts, Romans and I Corinthians
Ineffably
young, undaunted, eternally optimistic, with sublime finesse and
outrageously dry humor. These are just a few of the adjectives that come
to mind when I reflect upon the personality of the Holy Spirit as I
have known Him. The Church worships Him as the Lord and Giver of Life,
Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, Who together with the Father
and Son is worshipped and glorified.
The Promise of New Life: John's Gospel
In
the first chapter of John's Gospel, John the Baptist prophesies the
coming of the One whose sandal he is not worthy to untie, claiming that
he, John, only baptizes with water. (Jn.1:26—27). The following day as
Jesus approaches him, he announces "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes
away the sin of the world!" (Jn 1:29) and witnesses that “He who sent me
to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain, this is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’”
There
is a lot here. We have prophecy and its fulfillment, We have God
speaking to a man, (a component of prophecy), we have a the ophany, (the
Holy Spirit in the form of a dove), and we have a distinction between a
baptism of repentance (a cleansing), in water as performed by John
(baptize coming from the Greek baptizein meaning to dip) and a mysterious baptism to be performed by Jesus: “This is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.”
In that part of the world where Jesus dwelt, water means life. On the third day after His baptism, we see Jesus, on the occasion of a wedding changing water into wine; very fine wine and in great quantities. Life, as it were, into superabundant superlife
in connection with a marriage. (Jn. 2). In Chapter 3, We find Jesus
speaking to an old man about being born anew of water and the Spirit,
without which he cannot enter the Kingdom of God, and that “That which
is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is
Spirit.” John the Baptist in Jn. 3: 29 proclaims Jesus to be the
Bridegroom; then, in Jn. 4:10 Jesus speaks to the Samaritan woman about
living water which never runs out; a spring within a person welling up
into eternal life, the source of which is the Holy Spirit.
So, water is life, but Jesus offers a Living Water, a more alive life, a life transformed as water into wine through a supernatural marriage. Jesus dips us into the Lord and Giver of Life, thus baptizing us in the Holy Spirit, and we emerge born anew of the Spirit into Zöe,
or, Supernatural life, the Life of God, Life in the Spirit, or The
Kingdom of God which is at hand, and within us. “That which is born of
the flesh is flesh (Bios) and that which is born of the Spirit is
Spirit. (Zöe).” We are reborn by water, (repentance) and given new
supernatural life in the Spirit through this supernatural marriage
(belief). “He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his
heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ Now this He said about the
Spirit, which those who believed in Him were to receive; for as yet the
Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Jn.
7:38—39)
Jesus
had not yet been glorified.... Hmm... That means it had only begun. It
was on the third day after his baptism that Jesus transformed the water
into wine at the wedding feast. But in Luke's Gospel (Lk. 12:50) Jesus
proclaims, “I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how I am
constrained until it is accomplished!” Jesus had to face a baptism of
suffering. He had yet to collect all the pain, dirt, sin, evil, sickness
and death into himself by His suffering and death, thus paying our
ransom from the captivity of sin and the princedom of Satan. To the
Jewish people blood also meant life, as well as expiation, and the world
needed to be washed in the shed blood of Christ before it could receive
the rushing, cleansing, renewing, Life giving Waters of the Holy
Spirit.
In
one of the most astonishing remarks in all of Scripture Jesus tells His
friends, what it will mean when that river of Life flows: “Truly, truly
I say unto you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.”
(Jn. 14:12). A priest friend of mine, a Catholic evangelist, once said,
“If we took that word seriously they'd be putting us in jail!” (The
earliest apostles took it seriously as we shall see when we look at
Acts.)
Jesus
makes this claim knowing that the same power that would raise Him from
the dead would be dwelling in us, the Very Life of God, the Holy Spirit
which enables us, like Jesus, to do the things we see the Father doing.
(cf. Jn: 5:19) and the ability, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to
see and discern those things (I Cor. 12: 8—12). He goes on to comfort
his frightened disciples, for whom these promises lie mysteriously in
the future, that He will pray that the Father will send “Another
Counselor,” an advocate, a defense attorney; “The Spirit of Truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him or knows Him...”
(Jn 14:16—17), for the rough times ahead. The promise of Jesus, that we
will do greater things than He has done stands to reason.
True
Christian life is by definition a supernatural life empowered by the
Holy Spirit, and where the Holy Spirit is, supernatural things happen.
Jesus says: “I will love him and manifest myself to him,” (Jn. 14: 20b).
Christ is alive and manifest to us, and through Him, the Father. How
Jesus wants them (and us) to hear this message! In His final discourse
He repeats it four times! (Jn. 14: 16—17, 26, 15:26, 16: 7—8, 13—15).
After His Baptism of suffering, wherein we all died with Him and rose to
New Life, Jesus came to His Friends and Breathed the Breath of this New
Life into them saying "receive the Holy Spirit" and sent them (and us)
forth as He was sent forth by the Father; to do greater things than He
has done.
The New Life in Action: The Acts Of Apostles:
I could go on forever about the Acts of the Apostles,
but shall endeavor to keep my remarks brief. I am of the opinion that
the wild fantastic adventure story that has come down to us, known as The Acts of the Apostles,
was not meant to be closed with the words “The End,” but rather with
the invitation, “To be Continued...” Indeed, in the very first verse
Luke tells his friend Theophilus that in his first book he dealt with
all that Jesus began
to do and teach, until the day He was taken up, after he had given
commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen.
Later,
on the road to Damascus, Jesus asks Saul of Tarsus, “Saul, Saul, why do
you persecute Me?” when Saul had never laid eyes on Jesus in the flesh.
It follows that Jesus Himself is present in the body of believers continuing the work He began
before He was taken up. There He is in the believers healing the sick,
raising the dead, casting out demons and preaching the Word of God in
Power.
Christianity
was never meant to be a wishy-washy dead religion afraid of offending
people with the Spirit of Truth which convinces the world about sin (See
Jn. 16:8). They were put in jail, and ultimately murdered as Jesus was.
Love that tells the Truth was and is too radical for this world, but
then Jesus promised his friends that the world would hate them as it
hated Him, but to take courage, that He has overcome the world.
On
the lighter side, there is hardly a charismatic who doesn't
occasionally collapse with laughter from the shock of recognition while
reading this book. For example, the story of Phillip and the eunuch
always cracks me up, because I have found myself in situations like that
with similar results. I must confess that I haven't experienced that
“Holy Spirit transporter beam” that was Phillip's means of
transportation to and from this mission, but I fully expect to see that
sort of thing in my lifetime. The times we live are as dire, if not more
so, as apostolic times; since the Gospel needs not only to be spread,
but in many cases, restored to its fullness.
This
is why, I believe, God has poured out the Holy Spirit in a new
Pentecost on the Church and world in this latter part of the twentieth
century. This manifestation of Pentecost in our age has resulted in what
is known as the charismatic renewal. The charismatic renewal is,
undeniably, the only movement in the Church today that is completely
God-made. It is not the result of an idea of an inspired man. No human
being could have thought up the charismatic renewal, much less brought
it about. Pope John XXIII prayed precisely for this when he convoked
Vatican II. (Actually, it is the same Pentecost, in a new a
re-manifestation—I do not believe it was ever God's will that the
original peter out.)
Our
world that has in many ways returned to paganism, and in many areas has
become too “sophisticated” for the concept of sin, and is even
inventing its own theology to support itself. The Joy of Pentecost is to
see with your own eyes people being set free from their old lives into
this New Life promised by Jesus in the Power of the Holy Spirit. To see
people set free for good from the misery that accompanies, for instance,
a homosexual lifestyle—and not only the misery, but the lifestyle
itself, as they joyfully and willingly put off the “old man” and put on
New Life in Christ, Who offers something better.
I have seen a woman completely set free in an instant from her anguish
over an abortion, long since confessed, but still haunting her,
aggravated by a compulsive bondage to promiscuity. I have seen people
overcome with tears of joy and relief at the recognition of their sins
and the simultaneous freedom from them in Christ.
My
friend, Fr. Joe Laughlin, SJ, said publicly that since receiving the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, and coming into the charismatic renewal,
that when ministering to people, he can accomplish through the gifts of
the Holy Spirit in three hours what it used to take three months of
psychological counseling to accomplish.
What
is most heartbreaking is, in my opinion, the culpable ignorance of this
phenomenon, if not outright hardhearted and stiff-necked rejection of
it by so many in the Church in our age. Especially priests. It is
written off as “emotionalism”—which is certainly not true—the slightest
open-minded or open-hearted look would reveal something much more
profound going on, which has an emotional aspect. Remember St. Peter:
“These men are not drunk!” (Acts 2: 15).
An
even worse caricature than emotionalism—and just as inaccurate—is
“fundamentalism.” This often comes from modern “sophisticated”
theologians seeking new and creative ways to win the favor of the world
with new and creative forms of nominalism, because their careers are too
deeply invested in their de-mythology, which is threatened by the
supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the little uneducated
People of God—to put it bluntly.
In
1973 our late beloved Archbishop, Cardinal Mederios, sent a letter to
the priests of the Archdiocese calling on them to aid, encourage and
pastor charismatic renewal. To this day, thirteen years later, many
priests still regard charismatics as if they had the plague—unless, of
course, some messy menial task needs to be done around the parish that
no one else wants to do. The charismatics are usually the ones willing
and honored to serve in any way they can.
Fr.
John Randall, of Providence, Rhode Island, a pastor and Doctor of
Sacred Theology and one of the first leaders of the charismatic renewal,
tells of his experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit (the
expression, used in this sense, to mean the prayer or experience which
results in the release of the Gift of the power of the Holy Spirit,
first bestowed at baptism and confirmation but largely untapped until
released in this way in a personal intimate experience of God's
power—usually accompanied by the release of the gift of tongues, and
other extraordinary charisms promised by Jesus.) When asked if he wanted
to receive this baptism of the Holy Spirit, he said, “I don't know what
it is, but if there's a way to have ‘more God’ I want it!” I can only
guess that the main reason other Christians, including priests, don't
share Fr. Randall's openness and enthusiasm is the natural human
resistance to conversion. “What will the Lord ask of me?” All Christians
know this terrifying feeling, but also know that once broken through,
their fears were groundless and the blessings fantastic and well worth
the risk.
One
of the first manifestations of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is the
convincing, or, as it is more popularly called, the conviction of sin,
by the Holy Spirit, who convicts but never condemns. So many times I
have heard people exclaim, “Oh my God, I always thought of that thing in
my life that I held onto as a little thing! Oh, Lord forgive me! Help
me, Lord, for I can't be free on my own power!” Invariably there is a
complete absence of negative guilt at these times, rather it is more of a
swooning to God's ravishment and Love that makes anything that is not
of God seem completely abhorrent.
It
is a sense of liberation from bonds to things that weigh us down. What
follows is a loving and intense desire to be obedient, to God and to the
Church (“If you love me you will keep my commandments.” [Jn. 14:15]—as
opposed to “If you love me you'd better
keep my commandments!”) Hearing talk about the modern "permissibility
of sin in certain circumstances," is sometimes an almost unbearably
grievous experience, accompanied by the thought, “Oh, if they only knew!” It is also amazing how often people report that sinful habits that have bound them and frustrated them for years just plain disappear in this experience.
Anyway,
in modern dissenting theology, toleration has shifted from acceptance
of the sinner (which Jesus always practiced) to toleration of sin as a
way of accepting the sinner (which Jesus never practiced). It seeks to
reinterpret the Gospel in terms of human limitation rather than the
power of God, which is evidently so foreign to its proponents. It is a
strange contortion of legalism, that, from all appearances, seeks not
only to throw out the Law which brings death, but also the Spirit Who
brings Life by the very act of convincing of sin . How
can we accept a savior if we don't know we need one, or what we need to
be saved from? The world is dying of sin, and needs to be reconvinced.
The
Holy Spirit of Truth is also the Spirit of Love, and to be convinced of
one's sin(s) by Him is an experience of fantastic joy, albeit painful
at times. It is the birth pangs of ever Newer Life as we allow the
Spirit to cleanse us in an ongoing baptism of repentance, and ever
deepening conversion Into the Supernatural Life of God.
As the Holy Father says on this point, “Conversion requires convincing of sin; ...” (Dominum et vivificantem, Pope
John Paul II, 1986; p55, DSP Pub. emphasis his.) The world that Jesus
promised would hate us is hostile to this point and rejects the humility
of Truth which acknowledges how we stand before God. “...The Light has
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and
does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed. But he who does
what is true comes to the light that it may be clearly seen that his
deeds have been wrought in God.” (Jn. 3: 19b—21) Also, “...the Blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins He
is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned we make Him a liar and His
word is not in us.” (1 Jn. 1: 7b—10).
So
why am I dwelling on sin in a happy paper about the Holy Spirit? What a
dreary, judgemental, self-righteous and preachy fellow I must be! Why,
you ask? Because it is the Good News! I get upset with modern
theologians who try to downplay sin, because it robs us of the True Joy
of repentance and deeper conversion. Besides, unchecked sin does harm to
our life whether we're culpable or not. Shepherds, if you love your sheep, tell them in the Holy Spirit the Good News about sin! (Do you not know that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Rom. 2:4b).
Acts1:8a says, “But you will receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” There is no power shortage in
the Church. Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday today and forever. Jesus
promises us, “These signs will accompany those who believe:
In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will
not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick and they will
recover” (Mk 16:17—18).
To
be charismatic does not mean to part of another fringe movement in the
Church. It means to appropriate our inheritance as adopted sons and
daughters of the Father through Jesus—the baptism of the Holy Spirit—the
rivers of living water—New Life—In which we do greater things than
Jesus has done because He goes to the Father for us. It is our
New-Birthright, it is what Jesus expects of us, it is the original
Ortho/doxy (True/Glory) ...it is normal Catholic Christianity. Lord, we
believe, help our unbelief.
The New Life Explained: Romans:
I
take back any implied apology for focusing on sin so much in a paper on
the Holy Spirit because as I look at the references to the Holy Spirit
Paul makes in Romans, I see that he does the same thing. (cf. Rom. 8,
11:32, 13:12,14,)
The New Life Pastored: I Corinthians:
I
Corinthians is bound to bring a weary smile to any mature charismatic
with pastoral responsibility or experience. It is like being in a leaky
boat; every time you think you've plugged a leak two more seem to spring
up. Poor Paul. That's how it is with the Corinthians. Back to basics,
break out the milk. Abuses in the liturgy, abuses with the spiritual
gifts. Things have not changed all that much. I wonder how he feels
looking down from Heaven at current day charismatic communities and
seeing the same problems almost two thousand years later? Love is
patient, Love is kind, Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things. Poor Paul. Poor Jesus. Poor us. Blessed
are the poor. Come Holy Spirit! Come Lord Jesus!
© 1985, 2008 by John Mallon
