Jesus often used loaded words. just go to the red-letter bits in your bible and note how Christ's wordchoice was intentional. buttons were pushed on purpose; challenges were issued; the world changed forever.
still, we sometimes forget that the words we read are not the words Christ spoke. english, as a language, hadn't even been invented yet. everything that we read as the words of Christ has been translated and interpreted in the translation- yet through all of this 'due process' the Holy Spirit is at work, ensuring that somehow the intended meanings remain his.
so when we read Jesus' words spoken in john 14.15-31 about the sending of the Holy Spirit, we need to read these words with an open heart, seeking to understand the Divine through the lenses of our context and experience, as well as through the translated words provided for us by God's grace.
the word that is translated as counsellor in the NIV appears as comforter in the King James version. It’s not just that we would be receiving one who gave advice and direction, but would do so from a place of personal, relational interest, desiring our peace…
This comforting counsellor came upon the people gathered in the upper room to pray at the beginning of Acts 2, and spread like wildfire through the crowd, anointing each person who would receive him with God’s capacity to be instrumental in the redemption of the world… to bring a sense of ongoing jubilee and restoration to our fallen planet; to become love to, for and with others.
it is a wonder that, as we read in acts 2.47, the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved…not because somehow the disciples were fools and blowhards (although this was probably true to a varying degree for them all) but because the movement of the Holy Spirit to bring about new life and restored shalom to an environment rife with so much to the contrary is, if nothing else, wondrous.
and that we are entrusted with this legacy, with this anointing to bring salt, light and God's comforting counsel to a world gone mad a couple millenia later is both exaltive and humbling at the same time.
2 comments:
"and that we are entrusted with this legacy, with this anointing to bring salt, light and God's comforting counsel to a world gone mad a couple millenia later is both exaltive and humbling at the same time."
this is indeed a very humbling legacy. for me, it's one which some days is so awesome, but yet other days so challenging, sometimes overwhelming, maybe because the concentration falls on the smaller picture of now rather than the larger picture of what only He knows. or simply because when you put yourself completely into a situation you can't possibly be detached or unaffected by those situations you are placed.
this post is a good reminder of the importance that i can't simply take one translation as the biblical truth. then you're only privy to a one-dimensional view and not always the most accurate.
and also of the fact our words aren't always the most important thing...the things like simply sitting with someone, a hug, zipping up a coat, giving a ride and countless other things are comfort and speak deep counsel into peoples' lives without needing to say many words.
thanks for those reminders...
"and also of the fact our words aren't always the most important thing...the things like simply sitting with someone, a hug, zipping up a coat, giving a ride and countless other things are comfort and speak deep counsel into peoples' lives without needing to say many words." (cinder)
yeah, jaylynne- exactly right. what did someone once say about actions and relative volume?
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