(You can hear a podcast of this sermon here)

John 14:8-27

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

“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 forever. 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.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

That great Iranian Sufi mystic Rumi in his work “Mathnawi”, which some have called the Persian Koran tells this interesting story: (It is worth noting that Persia/Iran falls within the boundaries of the listed observers in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost)

“A certain king used to persecute the Christians, desiring to exterminate their faith. His Vazir persuaded him to try a stratagem, namely, to mutilate the Vazir himself, and expel him from his court, with the intent that he might take refuge with the Christians, and stir up mutual dissensions amongst them.

The Vazir’s suggestion was adopted.’ He fled to the Christians, and found no difficulty in persuading them that he had been treated in that barbarous way on account of his attachment to the Christian faith. He soon gained complete influence over them, and was accepted as a saintly martyr and a divine teacher. Only a few discerning men divined his treachery; the majority were all deluded by him.

The Christians were divided into twelve legions, and at the head of each was a captain. To each of these captains the Vazir gave secretly a volume of religious directions, taking care to make the directions in each volume different from and contradictory to those in the others. One volume enjoined fasting, another charity, another faith, another works, and so on.

Afterwards the Vazir withdrew into a cave, and refused to come out to instruct his disciples, in spite of all their entreaties. Calling the captains to him, he gave secret instructions to each to set himself up as his successor, and to be guided by the instructions in the volume secretly confided to him, and to slay all other claimants of the apostolic office. Having given these directions, he slew himself.

In the event each captain set himself up as the Vazir’s successor, and the Christians were split up into many sects at enmity with one another, even as the Vazir had intended. But the malicious scheme did not altogether succeed, as one faithful band cleaved to the name of “Ahmad,” mentioned in the Gospel,’ and were thus saved from sharing the ruin of the rest.”

What on earth, you may ask, has this story to do with the feast of Pentecost?

Well, the ending gives the key. Rumi refers to the one faithful band who cleaved to the name of “Ahmad mentioned in the gospel” I have never heard of Ahmad, except as a name for Muslim men I have met, so I was grateful for the footnote in my copy of the Mathnawi that states:

“John 14:26 “But the Comforter (parakletos) shall teach you all things.” Muselmans (sic) read periklytos, (praised) as referring to Mohammed” An interesting way of sychronizing ,or should that be syncretising, the Gospel with the Quran.

Despite Rumi’s little bit of triumphalistic proselytising, ( sometimes it does us Christians some good to be on the receiving end!) the story is a powerful one. The power comes from the fact that it is so true!

As a Protestant I am humbled and embarrassed that my “brand” is one of over thirty thousand Protestant denominations that have divided and divided and are still doing so at viral rates; all in the name of Jesus and claiming to be blown by the Holy Spirit!

Just like the lying Vazir we have clung to our dogmatic beliefs that our Bibliolatrous books and doctrine will save us and like the Vazir we have even begged to be mutilated in our self-chosen martyrdoms and then have licked our wounds with relish and believed we are suffering for Jesus. Yet just as in the story, the megalomania eventually withdraws, kills itself and leaves chaos and division in its wake. Just look at the number of churches on the streets of your town and you will see what I mean.

This was certainly not what Jesus had in mind when he prayed in John 17:21 “...that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

What could possibly have gone wrong?

Jesus was very clear. The paraclete, the counsellor/comforter/helper would teach and remind us of all that Jesus taught. That was pretty simple to remember anyway, “Love God, Love your neighbour, Love yourself, Avoid violence, Don’t seek power, Remember the poor, Pour our your life daily” This is not difficult to recall especially when we have the helper, the Spirit of Jesus, his heart, his mind, his soul united to the Father and breathing in us every moment of every day!

It is here that Rumi’s parable delivers the killer punch. In the story, the Christians don’t listen to the paraclete, they listen to the Vazir.

A Vazir, eymologically means counsellor too. The word entered English in 1562, from the Turkish vezir (“counsellor”), and from the Arabic wazir (“viceroy”), āzara (“to help”), and the root wzr (“to help somebody”)

The word however came to mean Viceroy and Chief Minister to the Caliph, and was adopted to have only political and not spiritual meaning.

So instead of hearing the Paraclete whispering in our hearts to remember Jesus, we have come to trust the Vazir beguiling our heads to believe our suspicious fears.

We divide, we destroy, we deny that we are lost. Whatever we are doing, and for whatever reasons, it is not working! We have been listening to the wrong voice in the wrong place.

I think we need a breath fresh air.

Thank God, the breath of Pentecost is coming!