Scripture can be found here…

This is the last Sunday in a long and beautiful resurrection season. And every text we’ve read, on every Sunday, has been a window into the resurrection, one way or another.

Today’s passage takes place on the night of Jesus’ betrayal, but, somehow, it’s the voice of the risen Christ we hear in Jesus’ words. This is part of a long passage—one that extends across three full chapters—that scholars call “the farewell discourse.” Jesus’ words to his friends here constitute a kind of last will and testament. Jesus knows he’s going to the cross. He is absolutely calm and committed to what he sees as God’s plan. He shows no sign of fear or anguish. And he takes this opportunity to offer comfort and hope.

But the voices of the disciples tell us that they are anguished. As the passage begins, Philip asks Jesus to “show us the Father.” One writer, Meda Stamper, describes this moment—and Jesus’ answer—this way:

Jesus himself, their friend and the one who is the embodiment of God’s love for the world… [he] is the way to the heart of God. That promise comes shortly after Peter’s insistence that he will follow Jesus to death, which he will not do, and that in turn has followed on the threefold commandment to love, which seems to have fallen on deaf ears.

The promise of the Spirit does not come to completely faithful, courageous people, already loving one another and the world boldly, already worshiping in spirit and truth. It comes in the midst of confusion and fear, which has made them unable to grasp what he is saying, and it is the answer to that.[i]

That is what Jesus is offering: the promise of the Spirit—his Spirit, the Holy Spirit. In our passage, Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, who will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever… I will not leave you orphaned.”

That word, “Advocate,” translates a Greek word, Parakleton, which means, literally, one who walks beside. These days, the word “advocate” carries a legal understanding. We tend to think of an advocate as someone who will plead our case for us, whether in court or, say, when we’re trying to persuade our health insurance company to cover something our doctor says we need. But that’s not the only translation for that word—that became clear in Bible Study this week, when people started sharing all the different translations they were finding in their Bibles. So, I decided to look at all the English translations I could find—nearly sixty of them. (Don’t be impressed: using the Bible Gateway website, it took about twenty minutes.) There are more than a dozen different words used to translate “Parakleton.”

Advocate… one who pleads our case for us.

Comforter... one who cares for us.

Companion… one who accompanies us on our journey, literally, one who breaks bread with us.

Consoler… one who dries our tears.

Counselor… one who can advise us, help us to understand.

Friend… the person we’d most like to be with, the one who has our best interests at heart.

Guide… one who shows us the way.

Intercessor… one who conveys our needs to another.

Helper… one who lets us know we don’t have to go it alone.

Paraclete… one who comes alongside us.

Spirit of Truth… one who enlightens us, helps us to see clearly.

Strengthener… one who helps us when we feel weak.

Standby… one who is ready for duty or deployment.

What strikes me is the variety of meanings here. All words that refer the human experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Jesus makes this presence possible for us. Stamper notes,

Jesus tells them that simply in their love for this person they know, they are opening their hearts to the presence of God … who will guide them and embolden them for love.[ii]

“I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus says. You will have the Spirit. And the Spirit is with us and for us as individuals, to be sure. But the Spirit is also the connective tissue that helps Jesus’ work to continue. Another writer, Osvaldo Veda, says this:

When Jesus is gone, and the Spirit comes, the community will replace Jesus as instruments of God. God will be incarnated again, this time not in a person, Jesus, but in a group of people who will continue Jesus’ work to an even greater degree. The same kind of… relationship that existed between Jesus and the Father will now exist between the community and the Holy Spirit… This is his “second” coming.[iii]

That last sentence. That really got me.

I told someone this week that I’m not usually a person who longs for the end times. But I have begun to long for Jesus to come and fix this world which right now seems so irreparably broken. In this week when we are drowning in the tears of those who have lost loved ones to gun violence—which is the leading cause of death for children and youth now—I have been longing for our savior to show up. This week, I said, to my friend, I’m ready for Jesus to come.

But, if Mr. Veda is correct, Jesus has already returned, in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, who is our Advocate, when we want our voices to be loud and strong; our Comforter, when we feel that all may be lost; our Companion, when we need someone with us in a difficult moment; our Consoler, when the tears will not stop flowing; our Counselor, when we need advice; our Friend when we feel alone; our Guide, who can show us the way; our Intercessor, when our words feel inadequate; our Helper, when we know two heads are better than one; our Paraclete, who comes alongside us to steady us when the path gets rough; our Spirit of Truth, who gives us vision; our Strengthener, when we need to climb on a back that’s strong; our Standby, at the ready.

In the midst of anguish and fear, Jesus promises the Spirit. The Spirit is here with us, in the midst of our anguish and fear, whatever that might be in this moment. Honestly, at a moment when I was feeling dispirited, I started typing out these words and thinking about their meaning, all those different words for the Spirit, and I knew the Spirit’s power and presence was already with me, just as the Spirit’s power and presence are already with you. But the most powerful access to this Spirit, the Advocate and Guide, comes when we join together. The work of Jesus is done, not by one person, but by a community.

Together, guided by the Spirit, we can remember that, through that power, we can participate as God does infinitely more than we ever think to ask or imagine.

The Spirit is coming. The Spirit is here. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[i] Meda Stamper, “Day of Pentecost, Commentary on John 14:8-17 [25-27], Working Preacher, June 5, 2022. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/day-of-pentecost-3/commentary-on-john-148-17-25-27-5.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] Osvaldo Veda, “Day of Pentecost, Commentary on John 14:8-17 [25-27], Working Preacher, June 9, 2019. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/day-of-pentecost-3/commentary-on-john-148-17-25-27-4.