John 14: 15-21
It has finally, happened an invention that will solve all our problems … Are you ready for it...a magic wand that replaces all of our remote controls. According to the web site "Think Geek" for $90.00 "the wand can learn from any remotes in your house and once you master its 13 movements, you can mastermind a symphony of electronic enjoyment from the comfort of your couch. Flick the wand from side to side to flip the channels, twist the wand to turn up the volume and a beam of light will shoot out the unicorn tail hair and magic will happen!"
Well, I don't know about you although the concept of ditching all our remote controls for a wand is kind of appealing in a geeky kind way, I do not think that is a good solution. I quite did not know why until I read about the rule of usability.
As many of us have experienced, less than a few decades back, when TVs and other electronic gadgets started arriving with remote controls, the buttons were few and controlled only a small number of functions. They were not too complicated to use. But with each new generation of consumer electronic devices the number of buttons has crept upward. And the increasing number of buttons has made such things as setting the time of day to adjusting the color too complicated for many people.
According to Jakob Nielsen, a user-interface expert, whether it is a remote control with buttons or a wand that you can flick, they all violate a primary rule of usability --- unless that gadget should first present users with a limited number of features, those likely to be the most useful, and then allow users to get to more advanced features if they want to access them. Nielsen suggests that many of today's electronic devices error because they either put every last feature and function on the hand-held controller or just the opposite, the device is so limited that makes them unusable over time --- instead devices should grow with us.
I have been wondering about this rule of usability as we approach Pentecost, because consider that concept in our gospel reading. We may not realize it but this primary and very important rule of usability plays a role in what Jesus says to his disciples at the Last Supper.
This is the sixth Sunday of Easter, two Sundays before Pentecost. Pentecost was when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, empowering Jesus' disciples for ministry. But here we are, a couple weeks ahead of time, where we are given a glimpse of what's coming --- a sort of preview of Pentecost. And what do we hear?
Well, today's gospel is a small piece of a lengthy message that Jesus is sharing with his disciples during his last evening with his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion. Although Jesus knows that his time with them is about to come to an abrupt end, Jesus does not try to stuff a lot of final instructions into the conversation. To the casual observer, this might seem odd, for these followers are the ones on whom Jesus is going to rely to carry on with the spreading of the gospel, but they are not nearly ready. In fact, Jesus quite calmly tells them as much: "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."
So Jesus is near his final days but he is between a rock and cross. Jesus is not saying that the disciples are resisting learning, or somehow Jesus is afraid that all is lost, but rather that the disciples have not yet had the experiences that will enable them even to perceive what knowledge they will need. Jesus know that there are encounters ahead for them where there are things they will need to know, but that from their present viewpoint, they cannot even imagine what those things are.
Think of it this way. Have you ever encountered a situation where you wished you could ask for example, the advice of a loved one who has died? Or if, while that loved one was alive, you could have anticipated that you were going to need his or her counsel for the particular conundrum you now face? But back then, you had no way of knowing what the future would hold, and so it never occurred to you to ask. That, in essence, is what Jesus is saying to his followers: "There are some things I need to tell you, but you are not yet in a position to comprehend them."
Jesus tells them something that does change everything, and it explains why Jesus is so calm in front of his disciples what we know to be coming on Pentecost. After he departs, Jesus says, the Advocate --- the word also gets translated "Comforter" or sometimes "Counselor" or "Teacher" or the transliterated Biblical Greek "paraclete" (παράκλητος) is used --- this Advocate will come to guide the disciples and convey to them what the Spirit hears from Jesus. "And I will ask the father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth."
But before we get to ahead of ourselves, to return for a moment, to that primary rule of usability, Jesus is introducing what he will be leaving his disciples with what they can handle at the moment and need for the present, but Jesus is also telling them that when they need more from him, the Advocate is the "mechanism" who will provide it.
The Advocate --- the Holy Spirit --- is not a gadget; rather in other words, there would be no one simple little button in Jesus' teaching of his disciples. Nor on the other had would there be no last-minute flurry of overwhelming instructions that the disciples could not possibly absorb. No. The law of usability would be observed. Jesus would leave them with what they had been able to grasp so far, and as they needed more and were able to receive it, the Holy Spirit would supply it.
Now let me very clear, some have suggested that today's gospel --- introducing the Advocate --- is somehow suggesting that there is another person coming who will interpret and help the disciples. Some Muslims have suggested this is the prophet Mohammed pbuh. Bahia's have suggested this is Bahaullah. With respect for both those faiths, that is not the case. The Holy Spirit will not bring someone else's teachings, but those of Jesus.
As Jesus explained it, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own ... He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you".
To us who follow Jesus today, there's great value in hearing these words about the future role of the Holy Spirit, for they remind us of two critical things: First, today's words remind us that at Pentecost, God will provide a way for Jesus to continue to speak to us and not just with things already taught and recorded in Scripture. But the Advocate will help us so that we can navigate a world that is quite different from the world the original disciples knew.
The Bible is the basis for our moral, ethical and spiritual decision-making. Paul for example, no doubt was thinking of the Old Testament when he wrote to Timothy, "... from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus," but we can surely apply those words to the New Testament as well. The Scriptures do contain what we need to know for salvation. But God did not stop speaking when the Bible was complete, and Jesus did not stop speaking when he ascended into heaven.
Thus we should look to the Bible as God's Living Word for our lives for our surface understanding of the Bible is not necessarily his last word on everything. Rather, the Holy Spirit takes the things that Jesus wants us to know today, and communicates those to us through many channels. Sometimes it is through new insight on the Scriptures we thought we already knew, but the Spirit also speaks through the power of inspiration, community, reason, insight, tradition, revelation and personal experience, especially as we seek to listen prayerfully.
The second valuable thing that Jesus' words about the role of the Advocate tell us is that not one of us understands all at once, all that Jesus Christ has for us. I love this quote by Mark Twain the American humorist who put it this way: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years."
When we are baptized, we all can lay claim to the power of God's love and grace. Our responsibility is to listen to the power of the triune God faithfully so we can think more clearly, feel more deeply, speak more truthfully, love more extravagantly, serve more creatively, give more lavishly and live more fully. Because Jesus was preparing us for the fact that anytime that we stand up for another, anytime we act like Jesus, anytime that happens we will bear the love of Christ to another.
As Jesus well knew, it is simply impossible to anticipate all that we will need as we mature and encounter the twists and turns of life. In these last words Jesus introduces that the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, operating by the primary rule of usability, declares to us what is Christ's, as we need it, as our experience of people, places, actions, touch, sight, sound, victories, failures, sleeplessness, devotion, love, faith and reverence makes us capable of hearing it. Let us listen as we act. Amen.
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