Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 8, 2025
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 14:23-27
Theme: Our Loving Lord Has Not Left Us Alone!
- We have his Word.
- We have his Spirit.
- We have his peace.
There’s nothing worse than being left alone. Just ask Macaulay Culkin. It happened to him twice on the silver screen. Two different times his family went away on vacation and accidentally left him home alone. Of course, in a movie you can have a pretty good time in a situation like that. In real life it isn’t quite so much fun. It was a number of years ago now, but the story still sticks in my mind. Two children in the Chicago area were left home alone by their parents–not accidentally, but intentionally. Though both were less than 10 years old, they were left by themselves for a whole week while their parents went away on vacation to Hawaii. For them, being left alone wasn’t much fun at all. It was a rather frightening experience.
What about us as Christians? Do we ever feel that way? Are there times we may feel that we’ve been left all alone? No doubt there are. When a spouse passes away; when we lose our job or run into financial problems; when our doctor gives us some distressing news, that the problem is serious and requires major surgery–at times like that we may feel pretty lonely. We may even wonder if our Lord has left us. At times like that we need to remember what Jesus tells us here in our text. Contrary to what we might think, our Lord has not left us alone. For one thing, we have his Word. Secondly, we have his Spirit. And thirdly, we have his peace.
The setting for these verses is Maundy Thursday. Jesus is in the Upper Room with his disciples. He had some difficult news to share with them: He was going to be leaving. “My children,” he said back in the previous chapter, “I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come” (v. 33). True, after several days Jesus would return to them and their hearts would be filled with joy. But after a relatively short period of time, he would leave them again and return to the Father’s house. And this time he would not be coming back for a very long time.
As you can imagine, the disciples were upset and saddened by such news. During the past three years they had built a rather close relationship with Jesus. He was their leader. He was their teacher. He was their Savior. And now he was going to leave? “You can’t be serious.” But Jesus was serious. And in order to comfort his disciples and to put their hearts at ease, Jesus shares with them the words of our text. In a number of ways he assures them that he would not be leaving them alone.
For one thing, they had his Word. Over the past three years the disciples had spent quite a bit of time listening to Jesus’ words. They had listened to him preach a lot of sermons in the synagogue and teach a lot of lessons by the lake: the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Prodigal Son, the parable of the Rich Fool, just to mention a few. In the process the disciples had heard Jesus speak some inspiring and memorable words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest”(Mt 11:28); “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…and I lay down my life for the sheep”(John 10:14+15); “I am the Resurrection and the Life”(John 11:25); and so on. Though they wouldn’t have Jesus very much longer, they would always have his word. And that is where they could turn for comfort and strength whenever they needed it.
Of course, having Jesus’ word was a blessing in and of itself, but Jesus wanted them to do more than simply have his Word. He wanted them to treasure it, to hold to it as their most precious possession. “If anyone loves me,” Jesus said, “he will obey my teaching”(v. 23). A better translation of the original Greek would be, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” The word the NIV translates “obey” literally means “to guard and keep.” Picture something very valuable or precious: the gold necklace your grandmother gave you, the baseball cards your grandfather gave you, the ones of Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Do you leave things like that just lying around on the floor? Do you take things like that to work and then leave them lying around on the table in the break room? Of course not. You treasure things like that. You take extra good care of them. You put them in a safe place like a jewelry box or a safe or a safety deposit box so you don’t lose them. That’s the idea in v. 23. Jesus is telling his disciples that if they love him, they will love his Word too. They will treasure his Word as something very precious and special. They will hold on to his Word and make sure they never lose it.
What Jesus wanted for his disciples back then is the same thing he wants for his disciples today. You and I are fortunate to have the words of Jesus our Savior. They have been faithfully preserved for us over the centuries. We don’t have to rely on someone to tell us what Jesus said. We can read it for ourselves. We can read his Sermon on the Mount. We can read his many parables. We can read what Jesus says about life and about death, about marriage and divorce, about sin and forgiveness, about what happens to a person when they die and about how a person gets to heaven. It’s all right here. Like the disciples, we have Jesus’ word.
But Jesus wants us to do more than simply have his Word. He wants us to treasure it. I know some people who have Jesus’ Word. They have a Bible at home, but they hardly ever open it. It just sits on a shelf, collecting dust. That isn’t treasuring Jesus’ Word, is it? I know others who learned Jesus’ word when they were little. They read and studied the Bible in Sunday School and confirmation class, but it isn’t very precious to them now that they’re older. They seldom come to God’s house to listen to Jesus’ word. They pretty much ignore what it says. It makes little difference in their lives. That isn’t treasuring Jesus’ Word either, is it? Jesus wants us to look at his Word as something precious and special. He wants us to open our Bibles and read them often. He wants us to come to his house and hear his Word often. He wants us to hold on to his Word and cling to what it says and make sure we never lose it.
Are you embarrassed as I am about the poor attitude we’ve had at times toward Jesus’ Word, times we’ve taken his Word for granted, times we didn’t think the Bible was very precious or special, times we could have cared less what Jesus had to say, times we were more interested in reading the sports page or the sales ads or the latest news feed on our cell phones than read a page from the Bible? May God forgive us for such sins! May he forgive us for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior, the one who suffered and died for all our sins, including our neglect of his holy, precious Word! In love and mercy our Savior Jesus has not left us alone. He has given us his Word. Let’s be sure to treasure it.
A second thing Jesus has given us so that we might not be left alone is his Spirit. “All this I have spoken while still with you,” Jesus said. “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you”(vv.25+26). Think for a moment of your very best friend, the person you would turn to for comfort or help in a time of crisis. That’s the picture behind the word “Counselor.” He is someone who comes to your side for assistance, someone who comforts you, who encourages you, who gives you the guidance and direction and help you need. This is the role the Holy Spirit would fill in Jesus’ absence.
Before long the disciples would not have Jesus around to help them understand the Scriptures, but that’s O.K.. They would have the Holy Spirit instead. The Spirit would help them understand the truths of God’s Word, the truths that Jesus had been teaching them. Likewise whenever questions arose, the disciples wouldn’t be able to run to Jesus and ask, “Hey, Jesus, what about this?” or “Hey, Jesus, what about that?” Instead they would have the help of the Spirit. The Spirit would help them remember the things Jesus had taught them so they could teach those truths to others, or in John’s case, so he could record the things Jesus said and did accurately, so they could be preserved for future generations. Likewise, the Holy Spirit would help the disciples carry out their mission, that of making disciples of all nations. He would give them the courage and the ability to share God’s Word with others and bring more people into God’s kingdom. Yes, Jesus would be leaving them, but they certainly would not be left alone. They would have his Spirit.
The same holds true for Jesus’ disciples today. The same Holy Spirit Jesus sent to his disciples back then he sends to us today. He is our Counselor, someone sent to our side to assist us. The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us understand the truths of God’s Word and helps us believe those truths. In fact, he is the one who put faith in our hearts in the first place. Without his help you and I would not be Christians today. We’d still be lost in the darkness of unbelief, separated from God and his love. Likewise, the Holy Spirit helps us remember the things Jesus has taught us. He helps us carry out our mission, that of making disciples of all nations by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with others. He comforts us when we are hurting. He encourages us and lifts our spirits when we are discouraged.
And do you know how he does all of those wonderful things? Through Word and Sacrament. That is how he works. He doesn’t work through pepperoni pizza. He doesn’t work through mint chocolate chip ice cream. He works through Word and Sacrament.
Take the apostle Paul, for example. There was a man who was filled with the Spirit. There was a man who was empowered by the Spirit and accomplished great things for God. There was a man who was filled with the Word. Remember what he said in Colossians ch. 3? “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly”(v. 16). If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, if you want his comfort and power and guidance and blessing in your life, then do like Paul and make God’s Word and Sacrament a rich and regular part of your life.
Thirdly, in addition to Jesus’ Word and his Spirit, we also have his peace. We pick it up at v. 27: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” The peace that Jesus is referring to is not a physical peace, a peaceful and relaxing life for his disciples. Jesus makes that clear a couple of chapters later where he tells them, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”(16:33). The peace that Jesus is referring to also is not a worldly peace, the end of all fighting and violence. The world hopes for that kind of peace, but that’s not the kind of peace that Jesus gives.
No, the peace Jesus was talking about is an inward peace, a spiritual peace, a peace of heart and mind. It’s a peace that comes from knowing that our sins are all forgiven. It’s a peace that comes from knowing that God is our dear Father and we are his dear children. It’s a peace that comes from knowing that our Savior Jesus is preparing a place for us in the Father’s house, and one day he will take us there to live with him forever.
Being left alone is a terrible feeling. To be honest, I can’t imagine how awful those children in Chicago must have felt when their parents took off for Hawaii and left them behind to fend for themselves. Fortunately, as children of God, you and I will never have to experience that same kind of feeling in our relationship with our Lord. While it is true that Christ our Savior is no longer with us, he has by no means left us alone. He has given us his Word. He has given us his Spirit. And he has given us his peace. Together these three are more than enough to keep us safe and secure in our faith until Jesus himself returns. Amen.