The Advocate (Sixth Sunday of Easter)

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Sometimes, I’ve been in conversations with other Christians who have told me about the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  And they’ve told me things like, “I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit.”  Or, “the Holy Spirit has convicted me of the need to do such and such a thing.”

And at those times, I emotionally cringe!  I know what they mean.  And it’s really a good thing.  They usually mean that God has convinced them of the need to do something important, or really worked in their lives in a way that’s felt emotionally powerful and supportive.  And that’s great!

But “conviction” is horrible metaphor!  When you’re “convicted” it means you’re found guilty.  It probably means you’re going to get punished.  But worst of all, it’s exactly the opposite of what Jesus says the work of the Spirit is all about.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is giving his disciples his final lessons before he goes to the cross.  And for the first of four times in this section of the Gospel, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the “Advocate.”  And actually, that term is an ancient courtroom term.

But to understand the importance of an Advocate, you also need to know the Old Testament background.  Most of the community to whom John was writing were Jewish, and would have been very familiar with the Old Testament’s courtroom analogies, especially the analogy of the heavenly court of God.  And in books like Job, God is sitting enthroned as the judge of all creation.  But the one who accuses people of misdeeds – the one who tries to convict them – is “the accuser”: ha-Satan.  That’s what the word Satan means – it means “the accuser.”

And the accuser is the one who tries to convict you.  The accuser is the one who tries to get you punished.  The accuser is the one who wants to make you look bad in front of God.

By contrast, an Advocate in that situation is your defender.  The Advocate speaks on your behalf.  The Advocate is the one who comforts you and helps you in the face of the accusations. The Advocate is the one who pleads the case for why you should be given mercy and leniency.

I make this point because I think the language we use about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is important in our relationship with God and with each other.  If the work of the Holy Spirit is to “accuse” and “convict” us, it makes it sound like the work of the Spirit is pretty much the same as the work of “ha-Satan”!

But Jesus promised his first disciples – and us – that the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the work of an Advocate.  And that’s important for us, because it reminds us each day that:

• God is actively at work in our lives trying to help us and guide us into truth and righteousness – not surveilling us so that we can get caught and punished every time we mess up.  And that’s vitally important in a world in which so many people – of many religions and no religion at all – imagine that a “god” is a being out to throw everybody into eternal punishment (or an imagined being who “religious” people invoke to threaten others into living in ways they want them to live…). But that’s the job of the Satan, not the Advocate…

• God is actively at work in the life of the world, trying to help and guide others – not out there seeking to punish everybody who doesn’t agree with “our side”.  And that’s also vitally important in a world in which so many voices call us to outrage and anger, and ask us to join in accusing and cancelling anyone who runs afoul of our sense of goodness and righteousness.  But if we’re not careful, we can easily get totally caught up in the anger and the accusations… But that, also, is the job of the Satan, not the Advocate…

• God gives us the Advocate not simply for our own comfort and help, but so that we can be advocates in the lives of others.  It’s really easy for me to look around and tell you how dumb or evil other people are in the world.  It’s probably easy for you, too.  But it’s much harder to advocate for kindness, understanding and sympathy.  One of the hardest parts of Luther’s Small Catechism is when he’s writing about the commandment not to bear false witness against you neighbor.  And Luther points out that this obviously means stuff like not lying about your neighbor.  But then he goes on and says that to REALLY fulfill this commandment, I also need to “defend them, speak well of them and explain their actions in the kindest way.”  That is not nearly as much fun as slamming them for their mis-deeds, but it is doing the work of the Advocate, instead of the work of the Satan…!

And in the end, the Advocate does not defend us because we’re really beautiful and perfect deep down. Instead, the Holy Spirit defends us for the sake of Christ’s death and Resurrection.  That is, Jesus’ death and Resurrection counts for more than anything we’ve done or not done.  Jesus’ promise of mercy and life is more important than any threats of punishment or death.  And Jesus’ atoning sacrifice had paid the price for anything any of us have done or failed to do.

And Jesus’ call to living in the Resurrection right now means living with the constant presence of the Advocate.  And the Advocate is the one who guides us into righteousness and truth, even and especially when we’ve strayed.  The Advocate is the one who reminds us and promises us that God’s love and forgiveness always count more than anything we’re accused of.  And the Advocate is the one who calls, gathers and enlightens us to be people who can advocate for others and the world God made, so that the light of the Resurrection can be seen and felt today.

Amen.