He Does Not Ration His Gift

April 19, 2012

Thursday of the Second Week of Easter

"We must obey God rather than men. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus, though you had him killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins. We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him." Acts 5:29b-32

But the one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. John 3:31-34

Piety

Father, help us to be changed as you changed Peter and Nicodemus. Move us from curious students to committed disciples with your perfect and complete gift of the Spirit. Amen.

Study

"He does not ration his gift of the Spirit."

Long before Jesus was hanging from a tree bleeding out every ounce of blood, sweat and tears he had as a man for our sake, he knew that his commitment to us was complete. In this conclusion from the episode with Nicodemus, we learn with the Inquisitive Pharisee that God was "all in" on rebuilding this relationship with us.

On the cross, Jesus gave his all and after a taste of wine was pressed into his lips, he bowed his head and gave up the spirit. "It is finished." In Luke's Gospel we hear the last words of Jesus as "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."

When I first heard this read aloud, I thought Jesus was saying that he commanded his spirit to move into the hands of the Father. But upon closer examination, Jesus uses the verb "commend" which means to entrust for care and preservation. This spirit of unquenchable love was passed back to the Father where it remains until it descends back upon us through the sacraments.

This gift of the spirit of which Jesus speaks in the first encounter with Nicodemus, is the end result of that supreme act of love and physical sacrifice. It is not partial. It is complete. It is perfect. "When the perfect comes, the partial will pass away." (I Corinthians 13:10)

Before this supreme act of love, the disciples were scared and reluctant to suffer the same fate. They became traitors, rationing out their commitment to the Lord in order to save their souls. But through the Crucifixion, they were changed. We know now that the Inquisitive Pharisee who sought out Jesus first under the cover of darkness was one of the few to be seen at the foot of the cross, assisting Joseph of Arimathea, in anointing the body of Christ. Also, we know now that the disciples -- as reflected in the first reading today from Acts, also were no longer afraid to be fully committed to the Lord risking arrest and death with their defiance of earthly rulers in order to obey the commandments of the one who comes from heaven above all.

Action

How do we ration our gift of the loving Spirit? How often do we put some other temptation before our commitment to the Lord? What else do we need before we will fully rely upon God?

Jesus commended his spirit into God's hands and the Father passes that spirit back to us to spread in this world. We can do some of that work this weekend in support of the men of the 124th Cursillo starting tonight and extending into Sunday. Check out the web site for ways you can support this weekend in your piety, study and action.