For Those Times When We Feel Abandoned

  “I will not leave you orphaned.” John 14:18

John 14:15-21                                                             Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                                                       May 1, 2005

What would you say are some of the greatest fears that children have? Well, for most kids there’s the fear of the dark, and sometimes fear of monsters under the bed or in the back of the closet. Later on, especially as teenagers, many experience a fear of fitting in and belonging. Unfortunately, more and more young people today even fear for their personal safety at school.

But perhaps the greatest fear of them all (and thank goodness not all children experience this) is the fear of abandonment – of being left alone.

When you were a child, did you ever get lost or separated from your parents or family while at a grocery store, or the mall, or worse, at the State Fair? Many of us can probably remember a time when we were young, and lost, and felt like we would never be found again. It is indeed one of the worst of all feelings.

Separation anxiety is an ever-serious problem in our society today. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this. With the divorce rate over 50%, adults as well as children experience this particular anxiety. There’s the anxiety of moving, like to another town, to another job, or to another church. Common among immigrants is the anxiety of moving to another country, having to leave one’s family, friends and familiar places. There is also often an element of a sense of abandonment after the death, or impending death, of a loved one. And it also must be mentioned that there are countless stories by people of faith, perhaps yourself, who go through periods in their lives when they feel as if God has abandoned them.

I suspect that everyone in this sanctuary this morning could share a story of a time when you felt the anxiety of being abandoned. Yet with the passing of time, circumstances usually change, and hopefully we learn to adjust and cope. We discover that our parents could indeed find us again; after a divorce, children most often maintain a loving relationship with both parents; when we find ourselves in a new place we can make new friends; we learn to live again, even if perhaps a little less fully, after the loss of a loved one; and hopefully we learn that God never abandons us, under any circumstance.

The fear of abandonment has always been a universal and timeless reality. It is certainly a fear expressed by Jesus’ disciples after he told them that he would soon be leaving them – in reference to his arrest and crucifixion. But today’s biblical text is addressed to more than just those disciples in that upper room on the night of the last supper. The author of the Gospel of John is also addressing an issue that is important to his own community of faith some 60 years or so after the death of Jesus. They would have been wondering: How is it that the Christian community can experience the spiritual presence of Christ without the physical presence of Jesus. For this new generation of Christians, and for every following generation – including ours today – the gospel promises the presence of the divine Spirit of God.

Different English translations translate the Greek word parakletos (from which we get Paraclete) as “Advocate” (NRSV) or “Comforter” (KJV) or “Counselor” (NIV). We are also told that this divine spirit is the Spirit of Truth. One of the purposes of this Spirit of Truth is to “remind” believers of what Jesus has said and to empower them to fulfill his commandments. In this way they will know that Christ dwells not only with God but also dwells within them.

The author of John reveals that love, which is so central to his understanding of Jesus’ mission, is defined in terms not of emotional feelings, but of “accepting” and “obeying” Jesus’ instructions.

The author has indeed set up a kind of distinction (which I know we try to avoid) between who is inside the community of faith, and who is outside. The distinction is not about what persons believe, but is between those who love, and those who do not. Those who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ are defined as those who obey his command to love. Perhaps you’ve never thought of to define what it means to be a Christian in this particular way.

When we, as disciples, live in love (thereby keeping Jesus’ commandment) we experience the indwelling presence of God and Christ. That, primarily, is how we define the role of the Holy Spirit.

Listen again, now, to the words from John 14:15-17. But first, let me mention something very important to the interpretation of this passage. When we refer back to the original Greek language we notice that all the personal pronouns, “you,” in these verses are plural, not singular. The promise of the divine presence is a promise made to the community, not merely to the individual. So now, using the Texas vernacular, this passage would read:

“If ya’ll love me, ya’ll will keep my commandments. And I will ask God, and God will give ya’ll another Advocate/Counselor/Comforter, to be with ya’ll forever. This is the Spirit of truth… ya’ll know this Spirit, because this Spirit abides with ya’ll, and the will be in ya’ll.”

Again, in this passage Jesus does not promise the Spirit of Truth to individuals, per se, but to the community that lives in love. That has a lot to say to the Christian church today, and it certainly helps answer the question, “Why is it so important to be a part of a community of faith, a member of a church?” The answer, in part: because that is where the Spirit of truth dwells!

The lesson for the early church was that relationship with Jesus does not depend on his physical presence, but on the presence of the love of God in the life of the community. One biblical commentator writes, “The insistence of these verses on love as the sign of fidelity to Jesus and the way to communion with God suggests that the believing community in any generation will enter into relationship with Jesus only when it takes on and lives out the love that Jesus revealed.”

This emphasis on community, rather than on the individual, directs us to ask of ourselves: How well are we, as a congregation, taking on and living out this commandment to love? How is love present in our worship, in our study, in our fellowship, in our stewardship, in our evangelism, in our social action?

Love should always be our primary motivation for ministry. For when we love one another, that is when we experience the presence of Christ within and among us. When we love one another, we reveal the Spirit of truth that dwells within and among this community of faith.

These three promises: God’s presence; the continuing spiritual presence of Christ among us; and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, reiterate one of the greatest promises of God in the Bible: “I will not leave you orphaned.” Recall these words anytime you feel the anxiety of abandonment, of being left alone.

I want to close with a brief personal story that I shared a few years ago. When I was a young child I often felt afraid of the dark when I went to bed. So my parents put up a cross on my bedroom wall. But it wasn’t just any cross. It was made out of a kind of fuzzy cardboard material that would glow in the dark when the light was turned off. It may sound corny or like bad theology now, but as a child I was indeed comforted by seeing that glowing cross. At a child’s level of understanding, I knew that God was with me, that I wasn’t abandoned alone in the dark.

What reminds you of God’s constant presence?

Amen.