On Holy Spirit the Giver of Life

And so it was that when Jesus taught the truth of the Eucharist, many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him. The Gospel both attracts, and it repels. The Gospel attracts those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who know they are in need of a Savior; the Gospel repels those who think themselves already righteous, not in need of a Savior. The specific teaching that repelled many disciples and caused them to not follow Him was the teaching on the Eucharist: that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” When they heard that Jesus is the living bread which came down from heaven, it threw these disciples over the edge. It was obvious to Jesus, not only in that they walked away, but before that they murmured amongst themselves. And, as S. John tells us, Our Lord knew from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. It makes one wonder if our Lord knows this about disciples in the Church today, that He likewise knows who those are today in the Church that do not believe, and who those are today in the Church that would betray Him, which must mean teach about Him falsely and in a way contrary to Church tradition?
Be that as it may, from this episode comes important teaching, for our Lord teaches that it is the Holy Spirit that gives life. Indeed, the importance of this teaching in John 6 is attested by the fact that it is part of the Nicene Creed. For we say about the Holy Spirit that He is the Lord and giver of Life. The Life is Christ; the giver of the Life is the Holy Spirit. The basis for the Church is the presence of the Holy Spirit in His power; likewise, the basis for a parish church is the presence of the Holy Spirit in His power. As our Collect reads, the Church is gathered in unity by the Holy Spirit. If God chooses to take away His Holy Spirit from a place, which is His prerogative being as He is God, then without the Holy Spirit, a parish church loses unity and shrivels up and dies. It may still exist as a social gathering, a social club, a community of like-minded individuals, but it is not part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
If this sounds too drastic a statement, I present to you the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as He who “will teach you all things, and bring to remembrance all that I have said to you.” Jesus also said that it is the Holy Spirit Who guides us into all truth. Without the Holy Spirit, we have no one to teach us, no one to bring to our remembrance the words of Christ, no one to guide us into truth. Without all that, of course there cannot be the Church. And so we must take our Lord’s teaching today with full seriousness: It is the Holy Spirit that gives Life.
And while many stopped following Jesus, some did stay, and we have a glorious account from Saint Peter, who responded to our Lord’s question “Do you also wish to go away?” by saying, “Lord, to Whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” This shows the Holy Spirit active in His power within S. Peter and the other disciples that agreed with Peter and stayed. For Peter spoke truth, and no one can speak truth about Christ without the power of the Holy Spirit working in him. Peter in this moment is seeing beyond mere flesh and blood, and into the divinity of Christ. S. Paul teaches that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Peter was beholding Christ with the eyes of Spirit, eyes opened and illumined by the Holy Spirit. Peter was glimpsing how Christ is the icon, the image, of the invisible God the Father, that Christ is the Holy One of God. The Holy Spirit, Who is the Kingdom of God, bore witness to Christ among Peter and the disciples that did not draw back and instead continued with Jesus.
And so we see that the joy of the Gospel is life in the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, we recognize the presence of Christ, like Mary and Elisabeth at the Visitation. By the Holy Spirit, we accept our Lord’s teaching that the consecrated bread and wine in the Liturgy is transformed and changed into His most precious Body and Blood. Jesus said so, and the Holy Spirit lets us see these words about the Eucharist as the words of eternal life. And indeed, by the Holy Spirit we accept the Sacred Scriptures as Holy, as Inspired, as the Library about Christ. By the Holy Spirit we are united in the confession of one faith, with the power of serve Christ as a royal priesthood, even to preach the Gospel in our lives both in word and in deed: the Gospel of Him Who is the Eternal Word of God, Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
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