“The Advocate”
John 14:15-24
There are not many things better in this world than a best friend. We may have many, many acquaintances, and we may have several good friends, but there always seems to be that one person that stands out from the rest, the one person we are closest to.
Through the course of life, we can
have a lot of best friends. When we were
younger in elementary school we had a lot of best friends usually depending on
whose house we are playing or whose toys we are playing with. Back then it seems that best friends were a
much more abundant commodity. But as we
got older, the number of best friends we have start to get smaller. Our lives change. We get involved in other things, like having
girlfriends or boyfriends, other extracurricular activities, other hobbies and
interests, we go off to college or seminary, we begin
a career.
Through all of these life changes
we realize that friendship isn’t about toys or which person’s parents let us
stay up late at sleepovers; friendship is about relationship. This is why best friends are special, because
our relationship with them endures the changes of life through the bond of
unity that has been built between them and us.
True best
friends don’t put up with our junk. They
tell us like it is. They’re not afraid
to tell us when we are wrong, when we are over reacting, or when we just don’t
get it. But they are the first to come
when we need them the most. They are the
first to give us a hug when we need it, praise us when we are down, or just be
with us when we don’t feel like talking.
Best friends are the ones we can count on through thick and thin. They are the ones who selflessly give
themselves to the relationship, and the ones to whom we do the same.
They are the ones who will tell us
when we are having a bad hair day, or when we have food in our teeth, or when
it is time to go shopping for new clothes, knowing that we won’t get
offended. They are the ones who stand up
for what is just, even when we are in the wrong, but we who will also defend
us, guard us, and protect us when we are in the right. They are the ones who both humble us and
raise us up, and who we have a lot of faith in.
Best friends
are the ones who listen, even when we are making no sense. They help us through our issues. They give advice about relationships, school,
work, and children. They counsel us,
guide us, nurture us, and sometimes lead us to a new way of viewing the
world. Best friends pray for us and love
us unconditionally and are willing to give up their lives for us. Best friends are the ones who we can’t
imagine living without.
I can only
wonder what it must have been like for the disciples that Thursday night while
they all sat together at the table. I
wonder if they were able to understand that this would be the last supper they
would have with Jesus. Jesus always
seemed to talk about his death and the final hour, but I wonder if they really
knew what that meant. The disciples were
not always the sharpest knives in the drawer.
They never really understood Jesus’ message and mission. They never really fully grasped his identity
as the Messiah. But I do believe that
Jesus and his disciples were best friends.
They had spent three years
together traveling from town to town.
They had witnessed his miracles.
They had heard his teaching on the
It is no doubt that Jesus and his
disciples had a relationship, a very close relationship, a friendship that endured
the changes that were taking place in their lives, a friendship that had built
through the bond of unity of agape love, a friendship grounded in faith and
devotion toward one another, a friendship that the disciples couldn’t have
imagined living without.
My friends, we may have many
fears, but when it comes right down to it, our greatest fear is being alone,
disconnected and separated from the other.
As human beings, we were created in and for relationship with one another
and with God. Our best friends are more
than just friends to us. Deep down we
know they make us whole. They complete
us. They make us truly human.
I can only imagine what must have
been going through the disciples’ minds when Jesus began speaking about being
with them for only a little longer. I
can only imagine what it must have been like for the disciples to finally grasp
the reality of what Jesus meant when he said he would be leaving them, and
telling them that where he is going no one can follow. I can only imagine the fear that must have
flooded into the disciples when they heard Jesus say that he was going to
return to the Father, because they knew what that meant. They would be alone in the world.
We live in a world that is filled
with fear, fear of the unknown, fear of the future. The true fear the world experiences isn’t
from the threat of violence, or warfare, or famine, or disease, or oppression,
or economic collapse, or all the many other things we encounter in the world, these
are only symptoms of a much greater fear – the fear of being alone in the end,
that this is all that there is, that there is nothing more, that there is no
one greater than ourselves at work, that there is nothing that binds us
together in human relationship. For the
world, the old bumper sticker says it all, “whoever dies with the most toys
wins.” The world’s fear is in that which
it does not see and does not know.
But we see
and we know, because we have received the promise of Christ himself, the very
same promise given to the disciples the night of Jesus’ arrest. Jesus’ promise to his disciples is that they
will not be left orphaned, that they will not be left alone in the world. His promise to them is that he will ask the
Father and the Father will give another Advocate, another Counselor, another
Helper, another Guide and Companion, another best friend. And this Advocate will be with them forever,
abiding in them, and working in them.
This Advocate will teach them everything, and remind them of all that
Jesus has said. This Advocate will
defend, guard, and protect them against the ruler of the world, and give them
life and peace.
For three years, Jesus had been
the disciples’ best friend, their comforter and helper, their guide and
companion, their intercessor and advocate. He is know promising
to send them the one who is the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit.
And who is this Advocate that
Jesus is promising to send? This
Advocate is Jesus’ very self, the Spirit of the living Lord, the very presence
of the Triune God, the bond of unity between the Father and the Son, the very
one who makes us holy, who gives us faith, and who is the source of life. Who is this Advocate? This Advocate is the
very one, who makes Christ present among us at the font, table, and pulpit, who
reveals the abiding presence of God in us, among us, and around us, who makes
us whole, complete, and truly human in our relationship with God and
others.
The realm
that exists over and against God and God’s ways, that Jesus calls the world,
simply does not know or understand this basic relationship between God and
us. At best, the world assumes that this
relationship can only be found in people, in some truth that is out there,
albeit an illusive one, or in some individualistic spirituality that seeks after
the divine mystery in something called “god,” or in some spark of some divinity
that has been captured by the body that longs to return to its source after the
death of the bodily vessel. At worst,
the world just dismisses us all together as unenlightened, zealous, religious
ethicists or social workers, who only hold on to ancient superstitions because
we can’t face the world alone.
The world lives in fear of what it
cannot see and does not know, therefore it cannot understand where we get our
reason for being, our mission, our source of faith, hope, and peace, our
strength and assurance, our obedience to Christ’s commands, our eternal life,
our love for God and for one another.
This love is a love not based on emotion, but is grounded on the
sacrificial giving of ourselves in faith and obedience to the One, who first
loved us, who loved us so much that he sent his only Son to die on the cross
for our salvation.
In this in between time, between
Christ’s resurrection and the day when he will come again in glory, we must
continue to live in the knowledge and reality that we still find ourselves
among a world that trembles in fear, but we also must continue to live in the
knowledge and reality that we are not left alone to contend with the world on
our own. We have already received the
One who is our Advocate, who is with us and in us, the One who fills us, uses
us, calls us, and leads us to the truth we know in Jesus Christ and to the life
of witness and mission as his faithful disciples, a life that we could not have
possibly chosen on our own.
As we prepare
ourselves for the celebration of Pentecost next week, let us remember that the
promise of Jesus Christ has already been fulfilled. Let us come next week as people who truly
live in the enthusiasm that only God gives, as people who are literally God
filled, filled with the presence of the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God who
binds us together in the unity of agape love, who gives us power from on high,
and who is for us our Advocate, Counselor, Helper, and very best friend. The very One who we cannot even imagine
living without. Amen.