I’ll Not Leave You Orphans
(Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; 1Pet.3:15-18; Jn.14:15-21)
One of the deepest human fears isn’t pain, or even death. It’s the fear of being left alone. Of being forgotten. Of having no one to lean on when things get difficult.
That’s why so many people take great interest when Jesus says ‘I’ll not leave you orphans’ in today’s Gospel. It strikes a deep chord.
But note when Jesus says it: just before leaving his disciples. He knows they are worried. And he knows what it’s like when someone you love goes away, leaving you wondering how to live without them.
Jesus doesn’t promise that they’ll never feel alone. He promises something much deeper: that they’ll never be alone.
In Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre, Jane knows what it’s like to feel alone. She is an orphan, a poor and hungry one, living with her heartless aunt.
One day, Jane is falsely accused and publicly humiliated. And she finds herself standing alone before her entire school, with no-one to defend her.
But she’s resilient. She refuses to believe that she’s worthless, and she holds tightly onto the truth, even though no-one else understands it. Then later she discovers that she wasn’t as alone as she thought. The headmistress listens to her, believes her and restores her dignity.
This is what Jesus means in today’s Gospel. He’s not saying, ‘I’ll stay exactly as you want me to,’ or ‘you’ll always feel close to me.’ Rather, he’s saying ‘I’ll not leave you orphans,’ which means that you’ll never be alone, even when you think you are.
St John of the Cross understood this well. He knew what it is like to feel abandoned, not just by friends or institutions, but by God.
In 1577, when he was 35, he was abducted by his fellow Carmelites who strongly resisted his attempts to reform their order. They cruelly locked him up in a tiny stone cell, a putrid former toilet, where he was forced to live for nine months, in darkness, heat, and hunger. He was also beaten and mocked and had no idea how long it would last.
He called this misery his ‘dark night.’ But what tormented him most was not the physical suffering but the silence. He had no sense of God, he got no comfort from prayer, and he couldn’t see how his pain served any purpose at all.
St John of the Cross felt utterly abandoned, as though God himself had left him. And yet, in the darkness of his cell he came to write some of the world’s most beautiful Christian poetry – about trust, love, and union with God. His wisdom has since guided the Church for centuries.
John came to believe the simple truth that ‘Where there is no love, put love – and you will find love.’ And he realised that God had not left him at all. Rather, God had been teaching him to trust without needing to feel held.
He wrote that God’s love is sometimes so deep that it strips away any emotional consolation, not to punish us, but to free us from needing constant reassurance. So that God becomes present in a quieter and purer way, no longer felt, but trusted, knowing that he is never absent.
In today’s Gospel, this is exactly what Jesus is preparing his disciples for.
He knows that if his disciples keep clinging to the comfort of his physical presence, their faith will forever be fragile. So, he promises them something more enduring: the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, who will always stand with them.
Jane Eyre survives not because her life becomes easy, but because she refuses to believe that abandonment has the final word.
St John of the Cross endures not because God feels close, but because he trusts that God is always there and is always faithful.
And Jesus stands between them both and says: ‘I will not leave you orphans.’
Today, these words are meant for us.
If you’re feeling spiritually dry, if you’ve lost someone you depended on, or if God seems far away, then this message is for you:
Jesus is not denying your loneliness. Rather, he’s asking you to trust in his presence, without expecting constant proof.
The Spirit that Jesus promises us doesn’t always make his presence known, for he works silently. But you can be sure that he’s always with you.
So, let’s no longer wonder why God feels so far away. Instead, let’s remind ourselves that, wherever we are and whatever our circumstances, ‘I am not an orphan.’
We cannot see him, but Jesus is always with us. Always. That is his promise.
The love that raised Jesus from the dead is always quietly holding us, even when the night seems very dark.