Tracking the Advocate
Pentecost; May 27, 2007
John 14:8-17
Today we will talk about the Holy Spirit. We generally do talk about the Spirit on Pentecost, and generally only on Pentecost. That is not a surprise, since the Holy Spirit generally diverts attention elsewhere. In the New Testament, there is not as much talk about the Holy Spirit as there is activity of the Holy Spirit drawing people’s attention to the Father, or to the Son, or to people in need. But in today’s text Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit, so we will too.
You and I cannot see the Holy Spirit, but we can track where the Spirit has been, so the theme for this sermon is “tracking the Advocate.” “Advocate” is the translation in the New Revised Standard Version for what Jesus calls the Holy Spirit in this text. Other translations include “Comforter,” “Counselor,” and probably others. They are all legitimate and I’m not going to indulge in a Greek lesson just now. What are signs of the Holy Spirit? We will use verse 17 as our guide: “This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”
“The Spirit of truth,” Jesus says. One mark the Advocate leaves is concern for truth. “Truth” is a slippery notion in our day of “spin” and “sound bites.” We “spin” the facts so that the truth supports our own point of view and we reduce complex realities to 30-second “sound bites.” But those who bear the marks of the Spirit are concerned about truth; how about a couple of examples, from public life, so we all understand them?
You may have seen one of those emails going around lamenting that God has been banished from public schools and that children are not allowed to read the Bible in public schools. That sort of thing is said all the time, even though neither of those statements is true. The truth is that public schools are not permitted to require or sponsor prayers, but that does not mean children are forbidden from praying. Although public schools may not teach the Bible as the sacred text, they can teach the Bible the same way they teach Shakespeare and Homer, and they are to provide release-time in the school day for religious instruction off-campus if a religious organization provides it. Prayer and Bible groups are to be accorded the same accommodation as any other student-sponsored organization. But it does not suit the political agenda of certain persons to deal with the truth, so they continue to claim that God has been banished from public schools, where the children are not permitted to read the Bible.
On the other hand, there are those who claim that the Bush Administration was complicit in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and that the Administration had mined the levees at New Orleans, in order to destroy the city. Both statements are ridiculous, yet people believe them. These sorts of claims make it difficult to have a fair and honest consideration of our foreign policy and of engineering decisions with respect to New Orleans. We need to take a deep breath, slow down and not let the right-wing or left-wing nut cases set the tone of our public conversation, nor let the passion for short answers to complicated questions deflect us from the consideration of the truth.
Of course, the Holy Spirit is more active in urging us to be concerned with truths about
God. The Spirit rejects the idea that everybody’s opinion about God is equally legitimate. Some things that people say about God are more true than other things. God is not “whatever you perceive him to be: Hairy Thunderer or Cosmic Muffin” (Tony Hendra, “Deteriorata,” National Lampoon, 1972).
At the same time, the Spirit’s tracks reject a narrow conformity, as though there can be only one true thing about God. When talking about the infinite and eternal God, anything you and I say is necessarily limited and mortal. Whatever we say about God can be close, but can never be exactly on target.
Jesus goes on to say of the Spirit, “whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees her nor knows her. You know her.” Yes, you are right, I have changed the pronouns. Now it is time for a Greek lesson. Greek, like many other languages, but unlike English, has gender. That is, everything has a gender; gender in language is not necessarily related to sex. Greek has three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter and every noun is one of those three genders. The word “spirit” is neuter, so the pronouns referring to the Holy Spirit are the pronoun that we would normally translate as “it.” But you and I are not comfortable referring to a person of God as “it,” so the pronouns are usually translated “he,” “his” and “him.” The Greek, however, is not masculine, but neuter, so there is no good reason to prefer “he” over “she.” Therefore, for at least the rest of this sermon – if not for the rest of my ministry – I will refer to the Holy Spirit in the feminine.
Anyway, Jesus says the world cannot receive the Advocate, but you and I can. In the mind of Jesus, at least, there is a distinction between Christians and everybody else: not that Christians are better, but that Christians are different. The difference can be expressed in what he says in verse 15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Christians are those who love Jesus and therefore keep his commandments. You do not need for me to go over those just now, do you? (This was not a rhetorical question, but those present agreed they did not need a refresher on the commandments of Jesus.)
The Holy Spirit may leave tracks in our lives such as enthusiasm for Jesus that at least equals enthusiasm for our favorite actors or sports stars; she may encourage in us emotional engagement in worship. Those sorts of things may be; it is certain, however, that the Holy Spirit will generate in us the desire to keep Jesus’ commandments. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Lots of folks in churches are not much interested in obeying Jesus; lots of folks not in churches are interested. In some ways, the Mahatma Gandhi was a better Christian than lots of folks who join churches in that he read the Sermon on the Mount and decided to do it.
Jesus concludes this statement with, “She abides with you, and she will be in you.” It is typical of Jesus to be less concerned with what you are doing for God than with what God is doing for you. I have the typical preacher’s passion to want to stir people to do something. If the Acts of the Apostles is to be believed – and I think it is – then the presence of the Holy Spirit does stir people to do things. But that is not primary in what Jesus says; rather, he gives us the Holy Spirit – the Advocate, the Comforter, the Counselor – to be in us and among us. Unless you want another Greek lesson, take it from me that that is what Jesus says: the Advocate is in each of us and among us, to be the presence of God with us. As John Calvin put it – also more concerned with what God does for us than with what we do for God – the Spirit makes us partakers of Christ and of his blessings (in Calvin’s commentary on John).
If you are tracking the Holy Spirit, then look for these things:
1. Concern for truth
2. The desire to obey Jesus
3. A sense of the presence of God.
Relax, and let the Spirit do her work in you.
Come, Holy Spirit, renew your Church. Teach us truth, give us strength to obey Jesus, and be in us and among us. Amen.
Robert A. Keefer
Westminster Presbyterian Church
Clarinda, Iowa