This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder John 14:15-21. The English Standard Version, the ESV, supplies the heading “Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit.”[1]
The text is in the “farewell speech” section of John’s Gospel, his account of God’s plan for the world, worked out through Jesus.
John wrote for Jewish people who had been kicked out of synagogues because they said Jesus’ life, work, and death, was the fulfilment of God’s plan.[2] He wrote for people who looked to him for comfort.
Their situation was like that of Muslims and Hindus today who are rejected by their communities because they exercise their religious freedom, reject the faith of their parents, and become apostates.[3]
John was a pastor. He was at least in his eighties. He knew, they knew, that he was approaching death. How could he comfort them?
He comforted them by giving his own farewell speech in the form of his Gospel. He comforted them by sharing with them what Jesus promised in his farewell speech. He comforted them by telling them of the promise Jesus fulfilled, the sending of a “Comforter,” which the ESV translates with the word “Helper.” Jesus had said to them,
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper [Comforter], to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
For us today, the word “comforter” means something we cover ourselves with in bed; or it means a counsellor who helps us handle bad news.
John wrote in Greek. He used the word parakletos. The ESV tells us the word can also be translated “Advocate” or “Counsellor.”
First things first. Why did he begin with the words, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”?
In today’s text, we see the word “keep” four times. Clearly, keeping Jesus’ commandments is important. What are his commandments?
The most common and easiest answer is the Golden Rule,
“Do to others what you would like them to do to you.”[4]
Or, in more biblical language,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. … And love your neighbour as yourself.”[5]
That really means practicing and promoting justice and equality.
If we look at what our pastors do today, it will seem that we expect them to comfort people, especially pray for them, when they’re sick or bereaved, or have family members who’re suffering in schools, marriages, or workplaces. These are real needs which must be addressed.
But how many are suffering because they’ve been kicked out of their homes and their communities because, like members of John’s congregations, they’ve rejected the faiths and practices of their families?[6] Are such rejections happening as often as they did in John’s time?[7]
The problem faced by John’s church members was so severe that he responded by reminding them of Jesus’ promise of God’s presence with them in the person of the Holy Spirit.
Their problem was so severe that John told them Jesus designated the Holy Spirit parakletos, which means advocate[8] or comforter.
If all we do are things like housing, feeding, clothing, and educating our neighbours, and if we encourage all others to do the same, why would anyone seek to harm us? Why would we need an advocate or comforter?
The answer lies in the other designation Jesus used. He called the parakletos “the Spirit of truth.”
The designation “Spirit of truth” is important because our world is so filled with claims that everything is about our personal comfort. We’ve become infused by messages that say we can and must get indigestion tablets, back pain treatments, image makeovers.
We forget the story of Jesus. We forget God’s plan for the world. We forget the journey to fulfilment of the Kingdom of God – a kingdom which results from the overthrow of earthly tyrants who oppress people or are populists who pander to the whims of the entitled.
The designation “Spirit of Truth,” reminds us of the Spirit-inspired words of Mary, who spied the future when she included these words in the Magnificat, the song she sang after receiving Jesus in her womb:
“he has brought down the mighty from their thrones.”[9]
As I ponder the suffering of John’s congregation, I remind myself that they suffered because they rejected the compromises of their families.
I remind myself that that’s the cost of discipleship. I remind myself that as we function as his servants, we too will know the parakletos is with us.
Peace be with you.
[1] To verses 15-31.
[2] John tells us in 16:2 that Jesus said they would be put out of synagogues.
[3] In Malaysia, only Muslim Sharia courts can “release” Muslims from Islam. But they refuse to recognize the converts as apostates, won’t allow them to legally renounce Islam and so be freed from Sharia laws. See the short entry, “Where legal realities meet lived experience” at https://betweenfaithandlaw.com/. The author is Shameeer Pv, “a legal researcher and writer focusing on freedom of religion or belief based in Malaysia.”
[4] A paraphrase of Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
[5] Matthew 22:37-39. The Christian philosopher and scholar Nicholas Wolterstorff has reminded us that these words from Leviticus 19 are nestled in a list of laws.
[6] Or because they remind rulers of injustices and bad policies and demand change.
[7] In a sermon on today’s passage, the American Methodist leader Will Willimon speaks of a teenager at a Bible study who asked how those in the room respond when graffiti is written on their cars because of their Christian witness – as had just happened to him.
[8] Or lawyer, usually with the meaning, “one who pleads another’s cause before a judge.”
[9] Luke 1:52.
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