Trinity Sunday, 2022 - The Spiritual Truth We Cannot Hear

In his Farewell Discourses (John 13-17), Jesus made an interesting comment to his disciples. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” John 16:12.

The disciples were not in a place emotionally-relationally-spiritually to hear what Jesus wanted to teach them. They could not understand his teaching nor could they accept it, allowing it to shape their thinking.

It seems to me the disciples were not the only ones in this position. Not being able to bear — that is, hear, understand, accept, and embrace — what Jesus taught is a normal part of the spiritual journey. This inability is tied to an inherent characteristic of our human condition. Social scientists call this condition confirmation bias. It means we use how we already think and what we already believe to determine what is true. If what we hear aligns with how we already think and what we already believe, we accept it as true. If what we hear challenges how we already think and what we already believe, we reject it as not true. Consequently, confirmation bias is a barrier to learning anything new and to broadening our understanding. It keeps us stuck intellectually as well as spiritually.

How we think shapes how we live. Consequently, as how we think changes, how we live changes.

Learning to think differently is foundational to progress on the spiritual journey. It lies at the heart of any and all spiritual growth. The Apostle Paul said we are transformed “by the renewing of our minds,” Romans 12:2. We put off the old self and put on the new self by “being renewed in the spirit of your minds,” (Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:9b-11).

Our starting point on the spiritual journey is the way the world trained us to think. The world’s thinking is merit-based thinking. Merit-based thinking is built around laws, social norms, and expectations. It emphasizes conformity to those laws, norms, and expectations. It rewards those who conform and punishes those who don’t. As a result, it creates hierarchal relationships and hierarchal standings. Merit-based thinking fosters an earning and deserving mentality. It champions self-reliance and self-effort. It creates us-them thinking that divides the world into those like us and those not like us, those who conform and those who don’t, those who measure up and those who fail to measure up. It also fosters attitudes of being better than the other. It creates either-or, black-and-white, right-or-wrong thinking that reinforces our sense of being right and, therefore, better than the other. It cultivates a not-so-subtle attitude of arrogant superiority. The world’s thinking is how we were trained to think. It shapes how we live.

Spiritual progress involves moving beyond this old way of thinking. Spiritual growth happens as our thinking begins to be shaped by the character of God and the ways of God. As our thinking changes — is renewed, to use Paul’s term — our hearts are cleansed and our lives are transformed. How we live changes. How we live begins to reflect the ways of God that now shape our thinking.

This renewing of our minds and transformation of our lives is the work of the Spirit. Jesus spoke to his disciples of the Spirit’s work. “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,” John 14:26. The Spirit teaches us spiritual truth — the things of God Jesus taught. The Spirit teaches us the wisdom of God — the deep things of God rooted in God’s character (1 Corinthians 2:7, 10-13). The Spirit guides us into understanding those things we struggle to understand and accept. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth,” John 16:13. The Spirit leads us beyond our old ways of thinking into understanding and embracing thinking shaped by the character of God and the ways of God — what Paul called “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). As our minds are renewed, our lives are transformed.

The disciples could not bear — hear, understand, accept, or embrace — what Jesus had to teach them. I wonder what Jesus would teach us but we cannot bear it. I wonder what the Spirit would teach us if we did not resist it. I wonder what old way of thinking is blocking our spiritual growth. I wonder what it would take for us to be open to the Spirit’s work of guiding us into what we cannot bear.