THE WIND! 

A  TOUCH  OF  THE  SPIRIT  

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “The Wind! A Touch of the Spirit.”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel has one of my favorite sayings, “The wind blows where it wills.”  I like to say that when someone sort of doubts or wonders about how life, church, realities are going.

“The wind blows where it wills.”

That’s the translation – the mantra – that blew into my mind a long time ago. It’s the translation I like- maybe in the earlier Confraternity of Christian Doctrine translation of the New Testament. I noticed that’s the way the New English Bible translates the Greek text of John 3:8

The New American Bible translation – the one we use in our liturgy has, “The wind blows where it pleases.”

Listen to the whole context again from today’s gospel reading: “The wind blows where it pleases; you can hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

That’s John 3: 8. Jesus is saying all this to Nicodemus who comes to him at night. Nick is a man who knows there is more – and he has heard and he senses in Jesus – “Here is the one who can bring me the More – the More called ‘God’”.

THE WIND

I have always liked and been moved by that  statement of Jesus, “The wind blows where it wills – or pleases – or chooses.”  The Anchor Bible puts it this way, “The wind blows about at will….”  Those words have for me, a touch of the Spirit.

Did Jesus hear those words or did Jesus feel those words?  In other words, did he come up with them on his own – feeling the wind on his face one day – or was he in the synagogue or the marketplace and he heard someone say that?

How many people down through the years have felt the tug, the pull, the presence of the Spirit – the Spirit of God – when they experience the pull of the wind – or a storm – or a breeze?

The poet is us, the person needing, searching for spirituality, searching for God in us, sees leaves shaking in the sunlight, or branches waving or trees swaying and dancing in the distance – and God thoughts hit us.

We say, “The branches are moving – but wind – air – is invisible.”

How many people have come to an awareness of God because of the wind?

The wind: it has a mind of its own.

The wind: it does what it wills.

The wind: it’s out of our control.

The sailor knows this.

The farmer knows this.

The person walking down the street in the rain and it’s windy and they have an umbrella up – they know this.

The weather woman or man on the TV knows this.

Those who operate the Bay Bridge – know this on windy days – when they know big trucks will be moving across it.

The wind, as Jesus put it, blows where it wills.

Tornados, hurricanes, storms, come pushing towards us – and usually never at a time we expect them.

In the Book of Genesis, 3: 8, Adam and Eve, experience God when He comes to them in the garden – for a walk and a talk  - in the cool of the evening.

In the First Book of Kings, Chapter 19, Elijah experiences God in a tiny, whispering sound – and not in the strong and violent wind that crashes against the mountain – or the earthquake or in fire.

And others cry to God in the tornado or hurricane.

In the Acts of the Apostles – the disciples were in the locked upper room, filled with fear, - part of the scene in today's first reading - Acts 4: 23-31. It’s then that the Spirit of God, the Wind of God, comes barreling into the house they were in. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, shook them down to their bones – and brought them back to life – just like the scene in Ezekiel – where all the dead – were seen to rise from the dead and come back to life.

If we’ve ever been out on the Bay – or the Ocean – or a lake or even the Lake of Galilee, we’ve seen and felt wind across the waters.

I’m trying in this homily to say that there is something about wind and God, wind and the Spirit.

CONCLUSION

The Book of Genesis – and all through the Scriptures – we get hints at what Jesus was coming up with when he said, “The Wind does what it wills.”

The various religions all know this: breathe in and breathe out – feel God in your breath – the God who formed us from the clay of the earth  - and breathed life into us.

We know the new born baby needs to get breathing. We know the dying person takes that last breath.

The wind, our breath, the invisible air – but so, so real – because we not only see plastic bags flying on a windy day – but birds glide on the air every day. We’ve seen sails pregnant – flags flapping – and kites flying – each telling us that they have a touch of the Spirit in them. Amen.