Readings

Acts 17.22–31 – Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring.” Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

John 14.15–21 – ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

Sermon

There are moments in life when absence is felt very sharply. A loved one leaves the room. A familiar voice falls silent. A season of life comes to an end. And even when we know that change is necessary, there is still a sense of uncertainty: What happens now? Who will guide us? How will we manage without them?

That is very much the atmosphere surrounding today’s gospel reading from Gospel of John. Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. These chapters of John’s gospel are intimate and tender. The disciples know that something is changing, even if they do not yet fully understand what. Jesus has spoken of betrayal, denial, suffering and death. Their world is beginning to wobble beneath their feet.

And into that uncertainty Jesus says: “I will not leave you orphaned.”

It is an extraordinarily gentle promise. Not: I will make everything easy. Not: You will never struggle. Not even: You will always understand what God is doing. But: I will not leave you alone. That promise sits at the heart of today’s gospel.

Jesus also speaks about love and commandments, but not in the sense of cold rule-keeping. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” he says. In John’s gospel, the commandment above all others is this: to love as Christ has loved. The obedience Jesus speaks about is not mechanical obedience. It is the natural shape of a relationship rooted in love.

We can probably recognise the difference instinctively. There is a world of difference between doing something merely because we are forced to and doing something because we love someone deeply. Love changes the character of obedience. It transforms duty into devotion.

And then Jesus speaks of “another Advocate,” the Spirit of truth. The word “Advocate” can also mean comforter, helper, companion, encourager. Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will continue his presence among the disciples. Christ may no longer be physically beside them in the same way, but God will remain profoundly close to them.

That matters because the Christian life is not simply about trying harder to be good people. It is about God dwelling with us and within us. “I am in my Father,” Jesus says, “and you in me, and I in you.” This is not distant religion. It is relationship. Communion. Participation in the life of God.

And perhaps that is where today’s reading from Acts of the Apostles becomes especially illuminating. Paul stands in Athens surrounded by altars, philosophies and competing visions of truth. He notices even an altar “To an unknown god.” The Athenians are searching. Reaching out. Trying somehow to name what they cannot quite grasp.

Paul does not begin by condemning them for that longing. Instead, he begins with recognition. He sees their hunger for God. And then he declares that the God they are searching for is not distant after all. “He is not far from each one of us.”

That line could almost stand as a commentary on today’s gospel. The God revealed in Jesus Christ is not remote or hidden away in some inaccessible heaven. God is near. God is active. God is present through the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes we imagine faith means managing to climb our way up to God. But the gospel tells a different story. Again and again, God is the one who comes towards us first.

That is the pattern of Easter.

The risen Christ comes to frightened disciples behind locked doors. The risen Christ walks alongside confused travellers on the road to Emmaus. And now, before his ascension, Christ promises that his presence will continue through the Spirit. “I will not leave you orphaned.”

For the Church, that promise has always mattered enormously. Because there are many times when Christians have felt uncertain or overwhelmed. The early disciples certainly did. After the ascension, they could no longer rely on simply turning around and physically seeing Jesus beside them. They would have to learn what it meant to trust the Spirit’s guidance.

The Church in every age has had to learn the same lesson. And so do we.

There are times when God can seem obvious and close. And there are other times when faith feels quieter and harder. Times when prayer feels dry. Times when the future is unclear. Times when the Church itself feels fragile or anxious.

Yet the promise of Christ remains unchanged. Not abandoned. Not orphaned. Not alone. The Spirit of God continues to work; sometimes dramatically, but often gently and quietly.

In courage that arrives when we thought we had none left. In forgiveness that softens a hardened heart. In compassion shown to a neighbour. In worship, sacrament and prayer. In moments of unexpected peace. In the steady faithfulness of ordinary Christian life. Very often, the Spirit’s work is less like a lightning bolt and more like breath: unseen, but life-giving.

And perhaps that image of breath is helpful in Eastertide. Breath sustains us constantly, even when we barely notice it. Most of the time we are not consciously thinking about breathing at all. Yet every moment of life depends upon it.

So too with the presence of God. The Spirit quietly sustains the Church, generation after generation. Quietly sustains our faith. Quietly draws us back towards Christ again and again. And this matters not only for us individually, but for the world.

In Athens, Paul proclaims that all people ultimately live within the reality of God: “In him we live and move and have our being.” The gospel is not about escaping the world, but about discovering God already at work within it.

That means Christians are called to live as people attentive to God’s presence; in our communities, in our relationships, in our care for one another, and in our witness to Christ. Because if God is not far from each one of us, then no person is beyond the reach of his love.

And perhaps that is finally where today’s gospel leads us: not simply towards reassurance, but towards confidence. The disciples are anxious about losing Jesus. Yet Jesus is preparing them not for abandonment, but for mission. The Spirit will enable them to continue Christ’s work in the world. And the same is true for the Church today.

We do not follow a dead teacher preserved only in memory. We follow the risen Christ, who continues to dwell with his people through the Holy Spirit. The Church lives because Christ is alive.

And so, even amid uncertainty, the words of Jesus still speak with quiet power: “I will not leave you orphaned.”

Amen.