“Jesus’ Valentine: The Advocate”
John 14; 25-31
I called up a florist in
Even
though Joan had been in
And
had only left on Wednesday and we had exchanged cards
And
even shared a box a candy Tuesday night,
I
still wanted there to be a physical reminder of my love
When
she was at her Presbytery office on Thursday.
Well, I found out that one does not
order flowers on Valentines Day.
The florists simply won’t take extra orders on
Valentines Day
Even from a desperate pastor in
Fortunately for us, Jesus is a better
planner than I am.
Well
before Jesus death he offers a living Valentine,
A
demonstration of his love to his disciples:
“If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.
And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you
another
Advocate, to be with you forever.”
In this passage Jesus identifies himself
as the first Advocate.
The
word is paracletos which literally
means “comforter”,
“advocate”,
“helper”, “counselor” is a term that is first
applied
to Jesus and later to the Holy Spirit,
whom
the Father will send in Jesus’ name.
What a great way to understand Jesus in
this season of Lent.
He
is our advocate, comforter, helper, and counselor.
That’s
why we offer our prayer of confession
From
the Baptismal font to remind us that
When
we stand before the judgement throne
We
are not alone.
Jesus
is with us as our advocate. He speaks on
our behalf
Just
like a human lawyer would speak to a judge.
Not only that, but he is also our
comforter.
That
means that he stands with us giving us strength
We
are weak and struggling.
I
had that image powerfully brought to life this week
When
I was called to the hospital to baptize a baby
For
another Presbyterian Church whose pastor
Was
out of town.
The
little baby was having trouble breathing, digesting food,
And
was facing surgery later in the day.
The
parents knew that God was with their little baby
But
they still wanted her baptized so that they would have
A
physical way to remember that when they took
Their
little baby away from them to surgery
That
their little child would not be alone
But
would have the comforter,
Jesus
Christ in that pre-op room,
And
the operating room,
And
recovery room.
We all need advocates when we are in the
hospital.
I
have seen some pretty amazing advocates in my visits.
Advocates
get the nurses when we need them,
Help
us to eat our food when we can’t,
They
limit the number of visitors if we have too many
And
invite people to come visit if we need more,
And
they stay when everyone else leaves.
They
encourage us when we need encouragement
And bring us back to reality when we need that.
But
they are always on our side, no doubt, no question
They
are there for us.
There are some pretty amazing advocates
in this congregation
They
come in the form of husbands, wives, sons and daughters,
Sisters
and brothers, best friends, neighbors, grandchildren,
Nieces
and nephews, and church friends.
You know who you are and you know who
your advocates are!
Now take it one step farther.
Who
looks after you when your earthly advocate,
Your earthly
comforter has to take some rest.
Who
looks after you beyond the doors that say
“Not
visitors allowed beyond this point.”
Who
looks after you even beyond the bounds of our earthly vision,
Beyond
life and death to life eternal.
Jesus is that Advocate. Comforter,
Counselor, Helper.
He
was that for his disciples and they knew it
And
he knew that they would be crushed when he
Not
only stood with the disciples
through
their life struggles but took their place
on the cross that they might be
forgiven
and free to live whole and
healed lives.
I
was once in a hospital room when the nurse came in
And
asked with a playful look which person
they were
going to take to the surgery.
Even though we were all there with the
patient.
We were all advocates for the
patient,
But none of us volunteered
to take
The
patients place for surgery.
And
yet that is what Jesus does on the cross.
He
takes our place as the ultimate Advocate, Comforter
So
that we can be made free and whole again.
Now
that is an advocate.
Of course Jesus had to prepare his
disciples for that time
When
he was not physically present with them and so
He
sends another Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
To
teach his disciples and to remind us
Of
what Jesus has already taught us.
And
the gift he offered them is “peace”, shalom
Which
means “health, healing , wholeness”.
So the Holy Spirit is the Advocate but
not a new advocate
Simply
a continuation and part of Jesus advocating for us.
Because
the Holy Spirit is still with the disciples,
Jesus
is still with the disciples.
It’s
confusing and yet I had a little glimpse of it
When
I last went to
It
used to be that when I visited they were all excited
Because
I had traveled all the way from
to see
them. They would jump and shout.
Now when I go visit them, I still travel
7 hours from
But
they simply say “Hi Grandad”.
I
was initially disappointed until I realized that the reason
They
didn’t make a big deal was that I wasn’t really gone
In
their minds- because I had an advocate,
Who was
always there- Joan.
She
was there so I must be there even if they didn’t see me
They
knew that we were together so when they saw her,
I
was there.
Jesus is with us through the power and
person of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
didn’t disappear after his death on the cross and
Resurrection
appearances.
Jesus
was our advocate and still is our advocate through the
Power
of the Holy Spirit and that’s good news.
It
is Jesus eternal Valentine to us- the advocate.
Sue said it when she preached on John
“God so loved the world that he sent his only
begotten son
That whosever believes in him shall
not perish but have eternal life.
God sent the son into the world, not
to condemn the world,
but that the
world would be saved through him.”
And Jesus confirmed it when he spoke to
his disciples
in the Great
Commission: “Lo I am with you always
to the close of the age.” Amen