Jesus has not left us

Many of us surely know people who have advised us, guided us through difficult choices, and in whom we have placed our trust. And sometimes, those people have left us. Perhaps a wise parent, an older friend, a mentor, or a professor. And that separation is hard. When our parent is no longer there, when we graduate and leave our faculty behind, it can be disorienting to realize that now, to a greater or lesser extent, we have to manage things on our own.

Perhaps you know that our brother Sebastian will be returning to Finland in a month. And this brings me, on the one hand, sadness, but on the other, concern. Sadness, because naturally we have all grown fond of him. Concern, because Sebastian has often been able to advise me during these first months of ministry, and although we live in the 21st century, his departure still means that some things we will have to handle a bit more on our own. And you know, facing things alone with about a year of pastoral experience is not easy.

And in a way like us, the apostles also have to come to terms with the fact that their Master is about to leave them. It is such a shocking idea that at first they do not even understand. “What does he mean when he says, ‘A little while, and you will see me no longer…’ and ‘I am going to the Father’?” He is leaving? Jesus is leaving? That Jesus without whom James and John try to take the first place, Peter loses his temper, and everyone starts arguing? That Jesus to whom we can ask anything and He will answer, or heal us, or encourage us… He is leaving? And what will we do?

And of course, this is not only a question for the disciples. For two thousand years the Church has been waiting for her Master, and not a few times we ask ourselves: “Without You, how can we go on?” Look at us, this small group of believers in Rome—we almost seem like a whisper lost in the chaos, in the noise of this city. If we disappeared tomorrow, perhaps few would notice. So we are led to ask: what are we to do now that Jesus has gone to the Father? “How will we manage without You?”

And what about our own lives? How often do even the simplest things feel like a struggle? More than once I have described my life experience with a metaphor: I am like a broken-down car, held together with industrial tape, two broken windows, that somehow runs—but more by miracle than anything else. Probably many of you feel the same way. And where is Jesus? What are we to do now that the Master has gone away? “How will I manage without You?”

And here, forgive me, but I must lightly criticize the editors of the lectionary, because they have taken this section of Jesus’ discourse without looking at what He says just before: “The Spirit of truth will guide you into all the truth… He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (vv. 13–14). (We are in the period between Easter and Pentecost, and you will see that this promise of the Spirit appears several times in the Gospel during these weeks.) “How will we manage without You?” In reality, we are not truly “without You.” Jesus does not leave us as orphans. He sends His Holy Spirit into us.

Even today, the Spirit of Jesus is here with us: every time we gather in the name of Christ, every time the Word is preached and the Sacraments are administered, every time we exhort one another in the faith, every time we ask the Father for the Spirit (as Jesus promises), every time the Church is truly the Church—the Holy Spirit is present and active among us.

He works through His Church, comforting us with the promise of Christ: “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.” Where has Jesus gone? If we want to find Him, we must go to His Church, where His disciples proclaim His words and dispense His gifts. It is not true, as some say, that one can find God just as well in a forest as in a church. Of course, the building itself is not what matters—but you know what does matter? The communion of saints, the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, gathered around the Word, the Sacraments, and mutual exhortation. Do you want to hear the voice of God? This is where you can find it.

So yes, we are small. We are few. We are a dented and malfunctioning machine, each one of us—sinners, uncertain, confused… But here and now, we are the mouth of Christ to one another. What does Saint Paul say? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). The Holy Spirit has placed us here, in this place, at this time, to be His Church—to be the voice through which God encourages each one of us.

And the Holy Spirit has placed us here today to be His outpost in this city. Do we realize the calling He has given us? At the foot of the hill where lives the man who claims to be the vicar of Christ on earth, who binds all to obedience to him under threat of eternal condemnation… the Holy Spirit has pitched His small tent among us. And of course, He has called and ordained certain men to serve as pastors—but not to the exclusion of the vocation of each one. Saint Paul reminds us in his letters that the Church is one body made up of many members, and each has its gift, its contribution, its “charism.”

“How will we manage without You?” We are not “without You.” In our midst is the Spirit of the Most High, who breathes, lives, and speaks through His Church. Christus Victor is not a small personal enterprise of mine and Joshua—it is our congregation, all of ours, because all of us are called by the Spirit to be witnesses: witnesses to one another, and to the world out there. Here, and here alone, we find Christ at work—in the Word, in the Sacraments, in the mutual exhortation we give to one another. When we bring the Word of Jesus to each other, we become (I repeat) the mouth of Christ to one another.

This reminds us how important we are to each other. There is no such thing as a Christian detached from the Church. There is no pastor without his congregation, and no congregation without the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments. It is not I who govern the Church, nor Joshua, nor Tyler, but Jesus Christ—and His Spirit still speaks to us through the Word and the Sacraments.

And what does He say to us? He forgives our sins and lifts up our hearts. He encourages us to be patient until that blessed day when we will finally see Jesus again, “and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”