The spirit gives us the grace to our life to be shaped according to the life in Jesus
“When the spirit comes, he will demonstrate to the world what is sin, righteousness and judgment “ (John 16.8).
The disciples began to grieve, because Jesus was saying goodbye and saying he was returning to the father. The farewell discourse of Jesus is beautiful for our life, but, at the same time, it is also a testament, a legacy of the master. John brings it to us with many details. What Jesus says is the following: “If I don’t go, the spirit will not come to you”. Why will the spirit will come to us? First, to show the world what is sin, righteousness and judgment.
It is the spirit who shows us what is sin, and the sin of the world is not recognizing the Savior, the one who saves us and gives us the understanding to know what is not the grace of God. The sin is not accepting Jesus, is not living the life in him. It’s not simply believing in him or not. We can believe, but not accept the life from him or not live in communion with him. The great sin that we can make is not to live life in Jesus.
The spirit gives us this wisdom, this discernment and grace so that our life is shaped according to the life in Jesus. The Spirit shows us what is justice, which is to be fair. Justice, first, is the welcome of God, his grace, the Envoy of the Lord, because the Father worried about us, moved all of Heaven to say: “I need to save my children”. He sent his own son to our midst, who became one of us, took our human nature, took all our weaknesses, died by us and for us. It is a great injustice not to acknowledge the gift and the grace of God in our midst, by the name of Christ Jesus.
The spirit, coming to our rescue, will show us the trial, which is precisely this: Welcome life in God, receive his son Jesus.
You see, it’s not God who judges and condemns us, we make our choices. Each is free, has a mind of his/herown and, in freedom of choice, each knows how to pick what’s best for him or her.
Let us make good use of the freedom that we have to choose the good, the Kingdom of God and grace. The spirit that comes to our rescue, the Advocate, our lawyer who gives us the necessary aid to live in the grace of the father!
God bless you!
Fr Roger Araujo