Things Left Unsaid--Devotion for June 1, 2023

Things Left Unsaid--June 1, 2023

[Jesus said to the disciples:] "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; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." [John 16:12-15]

You could always tell you were getting close to the end when the sneakers came off. You knew when an episode of the classic kids show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was nearing the last minute or so, our old TV friend Mister Rogers would sit on his bench, untie his tennis shoes, and sing the closing song.  It was practically a liturgy.  And as part of the generation that grew up on that Presbyterian pastor of the airwaves, I can remember the words by heart.  He would sing to us, watching at home, moments before walking out his television house door, a promise:

"I'll be back, when the day is new,
And I'll have more ideas for you.
And you'll have things you'll want to talk about--
I will too."

It made the ending not so sad--maybe even a little bit hopeful.  It was an assurance that there was more to come, that the relationship (such as it was between a TV personality and watching children) would continue, and that there would be more to discuss and share together.  And it was a brilliant move on Mister Rogers' part, because it allowed a generation of kids to be able to think about endings in a new way, without despair, while holding onto the promise that there was more to come.  In fact, it was precisely the fact that there were things left unsaid that gave us reason to believe there would be more conversation: it was like Mister Rogers was saying, "We can't be at the end of our friendship, because we haven't talked about all the things on each of our minds.  So of course, we'll get together again."

Well, in so many words, that's how Jesus speaks to his disciples.  There is more to come--you can know it for certain exactly because we haven't talked about everything you have questions about, and there are still things I want to share with you but we haven't had the chance for all of it yet.  Jesus prepared his disciples, not just for the idea that he wouldn't be with them in the same way (after the cross and resurrection), but also for the idea of facing the world even without having all the answers yet.  The Spirit would keep speaking.  There was more yet to be said, and there were more things they would come to learn.  But in the mean-time, they would have to learn to be OK with not having the whole picture, and trusting that Jesus did.

That's something we still struggle with, isn't it?  We want to imagine there's some way to have all the answers, all correct, right now.  And then, of course, we can be in control.  We want to imagine that at some point, the last open question was answered, the final right answer was given, and the last unknown variable was solved, all in time to make inside the covers of our Bibles.  It's tempting, isn't it, to believe that every possible question or situation just needs the proper Bible verse thrown at it, because then we wouldn't need to wait on the Spirit anymore.  The Spirit will have no room to surprise us, no ability to show us a deeper reality, no need to lead us into the unknown--because it will all be known, answered, diagrammed, and resolved for us.  And if we are honest, some part of us wants a reality like that, where we're never called to trust that we'll be given the insight we need at the right time, and where we never have to admit in humility that we don't know it all.

Jesus, however, isn't offering us that kind of arrangement.  He doesn't say, "Wait until the Answer Book is finished--then you'll be able to confidently beat people up with the Bible verses you'll have weaponized, because you'll have control."  Rather, he tells his followers that the Spirit will keep speaking, and we'll have to keep listening, because we can't bear it all at once. (Perhaps, like T. S. Eliot said, "Humankind cannot bear very much reality.")  So Jesus himself doesn't believe the solution is to wait for a Book of Easy Answers (and he certainly doesn't think of the Scriptures that way), but rather to trust that the Spirit will keep telling us what we need to know as we go.  That's hard for us, because it means we'll never be in the driver's seat or calling the shots--we'll forever be trusting the Spirit to give us what we need, step by step, moment by moment, and situation by situation.

But, for those of us who know the Mister Rogers closing song, that also offers us hope.  It means that Jesus isn't done with us--because there's more yet to be said, more to be learned, and more to be shared.   At no point does Jesus say, "Here's the last answer to the last possible question, so now that you've got all the correct responses, you're on your own." Rather, he tells us to trust that the Spirit will give us the truth we need at the right time, and will keep speaking even now more than two millennia later.

It does mean a shift in our faith to learn to be OK with taking this life of following Jesus one step at a time.  We've wanted to have an answer book we can control, which won't ever have new information added or new questions explored (and so sometimes we try and pretend that's what the Bible is for), and instead Jesus gives us a Person--the Spirit--to trust to keep speaking as we face new situations and deeper realities. If we're going to be Jesus people, we're going to have to learn to receive what he gives rather than what we thought we wanted.  But, to be honest, he hasn't failed us yet... even if he hasn't been our genie granting our wishes for answers and control.

So let's trust today that where we need it, Jesus will give us the ongoing truthful voice of the Spirit.  Let's trust that when the time calls for it, the Spirit will direct us, give us new realizations, and move us in new directions that we cannot even imagine yet.  And let's trust Jesus promise that there is more to be said, so we can take the next step out the door and into the neighborhood.

Lord Jesus, give us the direction of your Spirit where we need it today, and allow us to accept the pace at which you give it.