Jesus' parting gifts

From Helen 

This week the Church will remember Jesus ascending into heaven. In our gospel reading (John 14:15-27). this morning we heard Jesus preparing the disciples for this time.  I wonder how the disciples felt. They had been with the risen Jesus and they must have got used to having Jesus around them, but maybe they were a little unsure as to what would happen next. In the reading we heard of Jesus trying to explain to them that He was going but also reassuring them that He was leaving them with the promise of something amazing, as He told them about the Holy Spirit. 

Now, you all know that I can be a little bit unusual at times. So I don’t disappoint you I am going to tell you about a childrens’ story called Badgers parting gifts. The story is about a badger who had to leave the wood and all the animals missed Badger, they were very sad. As they thought of badger they thought of all the things that he had taught them. One animal could cut great shapes because Badger had taught him how to use scissors, another animal could bake amazing gingerbread biscuits because Badger had given her the recipe. The list goes on but at the end of the book all the animals realise that actually Badger would always be with them because of all that he had taught them.

I wonder if this is how the disciples felt about Jesus. In the gospel reading we heard of Jesus’ own way of leaving His parting gifts. The gifts Jesus was leaving the disciples were incredible. He was leaving them with the promise of the Holy Spirit, they didn’t necessarily have any idea what this meant but all would soon become clear to them. He was leaving them His peace and He was also leaving them with a Commandment, a commandment to love. 

Jesus as He was leaving the disciples was promising them the gift of the Holy Spirit, an advocate who would come alongside them. This must have been very confusing to hear and even more confusing on the day of Pentecost but Jesus was promising the disciples that He was not abandoning them. The Holy Spirit is Jesus with us, He is God and He comes alongside us. The Holy Spirit is our advocate. Jesus was not leaving the disciples in the dark. His parting gift as God the son was the promise of God-the Holy Spirit. I read recently that the Holy Spirit is almost like a light for us, a little like Jesus over our shoulder. I think this is a really great thought. Jesus’ parting gift to the disciples and to us also isthe Holy Spirit.  God always with us, alongside us, our advocate. 

The next parting gift was peace. Now to be honest if we look at the world around us we wouldn’t necessarily think of peace. But the peace Jesus offered was a perfect peace, its just we tend to mess it up sometimes. 

Whenever I think of peace I am reminded of a lady who was part of the Church that I grew up in. Her name was Gloria. She was a nice lady but found mornings quite hard. I however have always been quite good in the morning. As a child I was very alert in the morning. One morning Gloria was at the house and as she watched me bouncing around she said to my Mum, ‘is she always like this ? – if she was mine I would kill her !!’. I decided to be kind and ask how I could make things better and she answered that peace and quiet would be nice.

So, I got an old ice cream tub and put some tissue in it, made a table and chair out of foil and offered her – her very own personal box of peace and quiet! A nice thought – although I expect that I danced around afterwards.

Jesus left peace with the disciples. The peace was one that was about being secure. It wasn’t quiet or an ice cream tub, it was peace that in all things God would be with them. The disciples could have peace because God loved them and was with them. 

Jesus gave the disciples peace and it wasn’t peace that was going to disappear. It was peace for always. 

The other parting gift was a commandment. Now the word commandment doesn’t sound very gift like but it was a commandment to love. To be fair being told to love is a pretty cool thing to be asked to do. We all like to love and to beloved. Whether it is our family or our friends, loving is something that we all like. 

The problem is that loving with Jesus is a different type of love to the easy love of people that we like. Jesus in His love for the disciples and in His love for us made sure that the parting gift of the promise of the Holy Spirit was given, He made sure that we knew His peace and He showed that He loves us but He always made it clear that we are to love. 

I really like our community here in this Church. It does feel very much like a family. We are concerned for each other. Sadly, like any family there are moansfrom time to time but by and large we all rub along rather nicely. 

We as believers are called to love even when its tough. We love because we are loved. The problem is though when we realize that we need to love someone whom it is difficult to love. Maybe the type of people who don’t seem to care or offer love back. Maybe the person who has hurt us in the past. Loving is hard, but in Jesus’ parting gifts before He ascended He commanded us to love, He taught us about peace and He offered the promise of the Holy Spirit. 

May we be ready to accept those gifts and may we remember to love and offer peace asking God to help us to do this. AMEN