…has come.
7 But I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I am leaving; for if I do not leave, the Helper [the Holy Spirit]will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
Jesus makes this statement to His disciples. The ones that have been with Him from the beginning. He says that it is to their advantage that He leaves. The reason, because the Holy Spirit will not come to them! Jesus says that the Helper, chooses not to come till Jesus leaves! I picture in my head a WWF match where one wrestler has to tag the other in order for him to come in. But I don’t think that would be an accurate analogy.
By saying the Holy Spirit will not come, he is saying the Helper can come but chooses not to.
The beauty of God’s creation of man is that He gave us free will. It has also been our downfall. What if we explore this thought: We have to let go of Jesus that we may receive the Holy Spirit.
That thought jams my brain. Jesus has already assured us that he will be with us till the very end of the age. And when we love our neighbor, it is actually him we are serving. And when just two or three of us gather He is there. So how do we take in this statement that He must go so that the Holy Spirit will come?
Jesus was their rabbi and teacher and counselor. He was flesh and blood that they may rely on Him to show them the way. Now they have to let go of Him as a flesh and blood teacher and rely on God directly to show them the way. Jesus is directing them to trust the Holy Spirit to guide them and lead them. They have to let go of what they can see and touch and hear so that they can grab a hold of what they cannot see, touch and hear.
When I put myself out there to love my neighbor, then the Spirit helps, counsels and comforts me.
That does not come easy for any of us. For some of us, we have seen and heard some peculiar things done in the name of the Holy Spirit. For others of us those strange things have lead to silence about the Holy Spirit. But we can’t back away from something this huge in the story of God and man. We know Jesus is talking about the Holy spirit. But many translations use the words Helper, Counselor or Comforter.
Perhaps this can be understood that until we let go of the idea that Jesus will do everything for us, then we will remain blind to the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we are willing to do what Jesus did/does, then we see the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. When I put myself out there to love my neighbor, then the Spirit helps, counsels and comforts me. When I don’t ask Jesus to do it all but I trust God that I can be Jesus to others, then I see the Spirit at work. Perhaps Jesus is telling us that we will not see the Spirit working in our lives until we are doing what Jesus taught us to do.
Just a thought😁