1st Peter 3.13-22; John 14.15-21
Today, Jesus promises to send the Spirit of Truth to the disciples, the Holy Spirit who abides with us and is in us. The setting of the gospel this week, like last week, is the night of the Last Supper, the night of Jesus’ betrayal, the night before his crucifixion. The disciples are anxious, confused, and fearful about what the future will bring. To seal and secure their relationship with God, Jesus promises to send the Spirit who will come to them, be present with them, sustain them in the truth forever.
Our translation has Jesus speak of the Spirit as an “Advocate.” Yet no one word gives the full sense of what Jesus means. It is multi-faceted like the sides of a gem, all reflecting the beauty of God. The ancient biblical word is the Greek word Paraclete. Sometimes the word is left in its original form, not translated. “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete.” But Paraclete is an odd word, such an odd word that spell check on my computer doesn’t recognize it as being a word at all and offers the alternative of ‘Parakeet.’ Now since artists sometimes depict the Holy Spirit as a bird, maybe the computer is on to a theological truth. Or maybe not. To avoid any confusion, then, the word usually gets translated.
One translation is ‘Helper.’ “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper.” This facet of the Spirit’s life shows up elsewhere in the scripture. St Paul says that “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.” When we cannot find the words to pray, the Spirit translated our sighs into prays understood by God.
The word Paraclete literally means, somebody called to stand beside you. This is the way a teacher stays after school to help a struggling student regain confidence instead of giving up, the way a bystander intervenes when someone is being harassed or bullied, how a hospice worker sits with a patient, so the person won’t die alone. The Spirit comes alongside us to help us. Yet the Spirit, as helper, is not just there to lend a hand when needed then leaves again for you to manage on your own. The Spirit, Jesus says today, will be with you forever. The Spirit is with us always to give us the strength and energy to do what we have to do to live for God, to live a life of faith, to be God’s people in the world, to keep God’s commandments, to witness to God in the way we live our lives. This is the Spirit as helper.
Another translation for the word Paraclete is ‘Comforter.’ Often, older translations have Jesus say, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, who will abide with you for ever.” This is ‘Comforter’ not merely as a warm blanket on a cold night but as God’s personal presence for us.
The prophet Isaiah says, “The Lord will comfort Zion, will comfort all her waste places, and make them like a garden of joy and gladness.” What feels futile and grim now has a future in God that is fruitful and hopeful. And this comfort not only brings consolation but strength and courage. Because God comforts us, Isaiah says, we need not fear other people, mortals who perish like dried grass. Today’s reading from 1st Peter says the same. Peter looks at the threats of the world and the anxiety that can stir up in us and says, “Do no fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated.”
Now this sense of comfort is both a wonderful gift and a paradox. When you are distressed or enduring a hard time, the fact someone is there with you and alongside you—maybe doing very little and saying even less—gets you through to the next moment, then on to the one after that, and the one after that. That is wonderful. But it is also a paradox because, in those times, nothing changes outwardly: the tragedy is still tragedy; the grief still hurts; but the support and comfort of someone alongside you strengthens you for the challenges you face and changes you. The Holy Spirit as the ‘Comforter’ is the continued presence of Jesus with to comfort and strengthen us to face our challenges.
Various facets of the Spiri5 as Paraclete reflect the work of God in our lives: Helper, Comforter, and the word used today. “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.” In both its biblical and contemporary meaning, ‘advocate’ is a legal term—someone standing alongside an accused person to explain the client’s point of view in a court of law. This facet of the Spirit’s life shows the disciples when they face trials—as they are about to with Jesus’ death—and us when we face suffering, difficulty, and distress—as we surely will—that we are not alone or left to our own resources.
Consider people in society described as ‘voiceless,’ people on the margins who aren’t heard when they speak. There are always people who seem to get put on hold when they call for help; people who feel as though, in the classroom of life, their hands are up but they’re never noticed; people stuck at the back of a line that never moves. To have an Advocate beside you, speaking for you, making sure you get heard, is good news. That there is an Advocate for us in heaven sent by Jesus is the best news. God notices us in our need. God is for us. The Spirit of Truth is our Advocate, pleading our case with the Father who loves us and the Son who saves us.
Which word is best to speak of the Spirit: Helper, Comforter, Advocate? ‘All of the above,’ one more meaningful than another at any given time in your life. Yet all keeping us focused on the beauty and truth of Jesus.
And one of the places and times that this Spirit is given to us and for us by God is in the sacrament of Holy Baptism. Peter describes the gift of baptism for our lives in today’s second reading. And when we celebrate baptisms here, we pray for the people newly baptized and say, “Heavenly Father, we thank you that by water and the Holy Spirit you have bestowed upon these your servants the forgiveness of sin, and have raised them to the new life of grace.” That is the gift of the Spirit in baptism—the Spirit as Helper, Comforter, Advocate. And we pray for that same Spirit to be work in them all through their lives. “Sustain them, O Lord, in your Holy Spirit. Give them an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and to love you, and the gift of joy and wonder in all your works.” Baptism is the pledge and promise that God does not leave us orphaned or abandoned, as Jesus says today—the gift of the Spirit of Truth who abides with us and in us.
St Anselm once depicted all the facets of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, as the source of our life, faith, and hope in a prayer. Anselm said, “Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you. You are as gentle with us as a mother with her children. Despair turns to hope through your sweet goodness; through your gentleness we find comfort in fear. Your warmth gives life to the dead, your touch makes sinners righteous. Lord Jesus, in your mercy heal us; in your love and tenderness remake us. In your compassion bring grace and forgiveness, for the beauty of heaven may your love prepare us.”
Jesus, like a mother you gather your people to you. You are as gentle with us as a mother with her children. On the night he was betrayed and before his own death, Jesus said to anxious, confused, and fearful disciples, “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you forever.” This is the gift of Jesus ongoing presence in our lives. The Spirit of Truth helps you in your weakness, comforts you and gives you strength, and pleads your case before a Father who loves you and the Son who gives you life. All the facets meaning in Jesus’ promised gift of the Paraclete as Helper, Comforter, and Advocate shining with the beauty of God for you, alongside you, with you and in you, and to be with you forever.
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