5 Easter, Year B

"ANOTHER COUNSELOR"
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, May 10, 2009
Acts 8: 26 – 40; Psalm 66: 1 – 8; I John 3: 14 – 24; John 14: 15 – 21

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor….”

In this Easter season, we’ve been privileged to look at some of the ways the risen Christ is present with us. Last Sunday, for example, we looked at John chapter 10, where we read that Jesus is “the good shepherd”, who draws the flock together, gives His life for the welfare of the flock, and who serves as the gate to the sheepfold.

And, it should be noted, we have also been privileged to be reading in this Easter season from the Fourth Gospel, for John’s gospel account is so rich, so unique in its perspective. (It’s my firm conviction that the Church ought to be reading lots of John, for his perspective and rich theology – which affirms Jesus Christ’s divinity and unity with the Father – will serve as a wellspring of knowledge about God’s acting in the person of Jesus Christ for God’s people until the Lord comes again.)

Today, then, we examine in our gospel text how Jesus is present with us in the continuing work He did and the words He taught us as “another Counselor” is given to us to assist us in this work/word.

As we turn to the gospel text, we should begin by examining the word which is translated in the Revised Standard Version (RSV) as “Counselor”: The Greek word which is rendered “Comforter” in the Authorized Version (AV)[1] is parakletos. This word has several connotations to it, including “comforter”, “counselor”, “helper”, and “advocate”. This Greek word serves as the basis for its rendering in English, “Paraclete”,

Biblical scholars have long noted that the word has legal implications. In the ancient world, a parakletos would serve as a counselor (we would use the term “attorney”) in a legal proceeding.

As you can probably tell, Bible translators have struggled to contain the various meanings of parakletos, but no one English word can do that properly. Hence the various renderings of the words in the translations we have available today.

For the purposes of this examination of the text in front of us today, I will lean toward the legal aspect of the term.

Recall with me that John has a looping writing style. That is to say, Jesus’ words are presented in such a way that there is a development of thought as key concepts are repeated, with new aspects of the basic thought being folded into the narrative as it goes along. (One of my seminary professors noted that such a technique tends to erase any notion of time, which would be quite consistent with John’s theological outlook, emphasizing as it does Jesus Christ as the eternal Word of God, one with the Father, who existed from the beginning and before time.)

This looping writing style is present in the narrative with respect to the Counselor. Jesus repeats the teaching about the coming of “another Counselor” a little later on in chapter 14, beginning at verse 26, where we read, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”[2]

And now, let’s turn our attention to the idea of the Holy Spirit as Helper, Advocate, and Comforter. For the Holy Spirit is all these things.

But the Holy Spirit is also Counselor, who, like a legal counselor, connects received truth to our daily lives.

Let’s look at that idea for a moment….In a legal proceeding, one of the tasks a Counselor (remember that this is a term which is applied to attorneys) would undertake would be to apply the law to a person’s life situation. An attorney would counsel the client about the law, and about the law’s application to the client’s life.

Similarly, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Another word for “law” is “commandments”.

The Holy Spirit comes as Counselor, the one who connects God’s truth, God’s law, God’s commandments, which come to us through Jesus’ teachings (remember that Jesus is the one who is sent from the Father, who “does nothing on his own authority, but speaks as the Father taught him”)[3], and in Jesus’ works (deeds).

In so doing, the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, continues Jesus’ own work as Counselor. For Jesus comes to us to show us the Father, saying “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”[4]

Jesus shows us the nature of God by words and by works. God’s love is seen in Jesus’ teaching, and in His miracles.

Jesus’ works, His miracles, are the focus of chapters 2 – 12 of John’s gospel account (often nicknamed by biblical scholars, “The Book of Signs”).

The two aspects of Jesus’ word, His words and His works, are inseparable. We cannot consider one without the other.

And so, the Holy Spirit comes, sent from the Father by request of the Son, to “teach us all things”.[5]

The Holy Spirit will act in the same role as Jesus has, standing alongside us as we are guided by that same presence that Jesus provided, He who comes to show us the Father, to demonstrate God’s love by words, and by deeds (which include the supreme act of love, His death on the cross). For, you see, by implication we see that Jesus is also a Counselor, one who connects God’s truth to our daily lives.

So the Lord continues to be present with us in the person of the Holy Spirit, the Counselor.

And the Lord is present with us when we keep the Lord’s commandments, acting in accordance with His deeds and His words, demonstrating the kinds of self-giving, self-emptying love that He did.

As we do so, we enter into the unity of the Father with the Son, and with the Holy Spirit. That unity is confirmed by our words and our actions.

May the Church be blessed to show by our declarations and by our actions the love of God, and His continuing presence in our lives.

AMEN.
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[1] Also known as the King James Version (KJV)
[2] Jesus repeats this teaching in John 15: 26 – 27, and develops it further in John 16: 4b – 15.
[3] John 8: 28
[4] John 14: 9b
[5] John 14: 26