Revelation is Progressive Process

Homily for Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Eastertide

Today’s Gospel text begins with Jesus telling the apostles that he has many other things to say to them, but they are unable to bear it now. This single line from the Gospels is one of the most important, for it tells us that revelation, the things that the Holy Spirit will tell us, is progressive. God did not stop speaking to the human race in 120 A.D., the date when the last book of the Christian Scriptures was written.

God’s revelation to the human race is a revelation of all truth. It is quite wrong to think of it as confined to what we might call theological truth. The theologians and the preachers are not the only people who are inspired. When a poet delivers a great message in words which defy time, he is inspired. When H. F. Lyte wrote the words of the hymn “Abide with Me,” his words embodied one of the truths which the Holy Spirit is constantly telling us; namely, we are not alone. The great George Friedrich Handel tells of how he wrote the Hallelujah Chorus when he wrote in his diary, “I saw the heavens opened and great God sitting on a throne.” When a scientist discovers something which will help the world’s toil and make life better for us, when a surgeon discovers a new technique which will save our lives and ease our pain, when someone discovers a new treatment which will bring life and hope to suffering humanity, that is a revelation from God. All truth is God’s truth, and the revelation of all truth is the work of the Holy Spirit.

There we have the crux of the matter. Revelation comes to us, not from any book or creed, but from a living person. The nearer we live to Jesus, the better we will know him. The more we become like him, the more he will be able to tell us. To enjoy his revelation we must accept his mastery. Indeed, we are not alone. God is with us in the person of the Holy Spirit who comes as our advocate and will bear with it all truth.