Easter 6, 2026
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
So, this morning’s gospel text picks up where we left off last week, and that means that—even though we’re still in the Easter season—we’re still hearing about the night before Jesus dies. And to make sense of this passage, we really need to keep one foot on each side of Easter. Because, in the timeline of Jesus’ life, he has not yet died, but in the Church year, he has already died and is already risen. So, we need to keep both of those times in mind when we hear these words from Jesus to his disciples.
And then, just to complicate things a little more, I’ll remind you that this text was written and first read maybe 100 years after Jesus’ death. AND, here you and I are today, trying to understand it 1900 years after that. In a sense, we’re all over the map as far as timelines, which fits perfectly with today’s reading from Acts.
Okay, but back to the text . . . At this point in John’s gospel, Jesus is giving something of a pep talk to the disciples. He is trying to encourage them in advance of his departure, and part of his reassurance is that he will be sending the Holy Spirit (or paraklete) to guide them into truth. Now paraklete is a Greek word that gets translated something like, counselor, or comforter, or advocate. Literally it means, a person called to your side. Counselor and advocate, to us, usually get interpreted as having something to do with a court of law.
Many people will tell you this is important because the Spirit is our advocate and counselor before the judgment seat of God. That is, the Spirit will argue on our behalf so that God will not smite us into everlasting damnation. Essentially, that way of seeing things would lead us to these two conclusions:
1. God the Father will judge us, and judge us harshly. And,
2. God Holy Spirit is like the ultimate lawyer, defending each one of us against the punishments of this harsh judge.
To the first point there, I will just say that we believe—as we say in the Nicene Creed every Sunday—that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. The judging God of popular imagination (you know, with the beard and the lightning bolt) is the Greek god Zeus, not the God of Abraham. Jesus will judge us, and in case you’ve never heard it before, I’ll give you this spoiler: Jesus loves you. Enough to give up his life for you. You do not need a defense attorney when you appear before Jesus, because Jesus is the one who loves and welcomes you!
And, to the second point—that the Holy Spirit defends us in the Court of God—I want to remind you that God is united, not divided. We do not need for one person of the Trinity to defend us against another. It is just plain wrong to think that Jesus saves you from the wrath of the Father. Or that the Holy Spirit argues God out of burning you forever. It does not even make sense to think that the God who created you really wants to kill you with everlasting fire, and is only thwarted by that pesky Jesus fellow. Or that God only decides not to punish you because that cracker jack lawyer the Holy Spirit built an amazing case that will get you sprung from the gallows.
But, just to be clear, the Episcopal Church is not a “confessional church.” And that means, I will not spend much energy telling you what to believe, because we are a broad tent. And that also means, you are certainly welcome and encouraged to disagree with me any given Sunday. Or every given Sunday.
So I will not often tell you exactly what you should believe about God; but I will happily tell you what you should not believe about God. And this is one of those days: I am telling you as clearly as I can . . . Do not believe that our loving Creator’s true nature is one of punishment and damnation. Do not believe that Jesus saves you from the Father. Do not believe that the God who created you is actually out to kill you, or that you need some Holy Spirit advocate in the court of the vengeful god Zeus. There is no basis for believing those things . . . except that everyone else already believes them.
So, with my heretical haranguing out of the way, if the Holy Spirit is not our heavenly lawyer, what then do we do with this idea of the Spirit being an Advocate, or Counselor? Well, let’s try looking at it from a different perspective. Jesus says he is sending an advocate. Now what if Jesus is sending the Advocate to make God’s case TO us? What if the Paraklete comes to our side to make God’s appeal to our judging hearts? Jesus says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.” And notice he says, “another Advocate?”
Seems that maybe Jesus is the first Advocate, doesn’t it? Like Jesus came to make the case, to show us the love of God in his words and deeds, and now another Advocate will come to continue to make the case to us. But, “the case” seems the wrong term, really. “The case” sounds like legal talk. Because it’s not a court of law; it’s a romance!
The Advocate is not sent to be our helper in the courtroom, but is sent by God to win our hearts. What if God loved the world so much that he sent his only son? Doesn’t Jesus show the ultimate depths of God’s love for you, in that Jesus is willing to lay down his life proclaiming the love of God? Jesus walks among us, preaches the Good News to us, and then . . . well . . . we don’t want to hear it. His courtship is rejected in the Court of Human Hearts.
But God does not give up. Here comes the Advocate to deliver the same message. And, in a way, the Holy Spirit becomes like the Heavenly Postal-Carrier with a certified letter. The Spirit has a word for you—the Word for you—and will make repeated delivery attempts throughout all your earthly days. Neither rain nor snow nor dark of night will prevent this Counselor from the appointed rounds. The Spirit knocks on your heart’s door with the message of God’s love, and will continue to do so forever, because forever is how long God’s love for you lasts. Well beyond the grave, I might add.
And do you want to know the contents of the letter the Spirit is trying to deliver? Of course you do! I will tell you the most important part of the letter. Jesus says it himself in today’s Gospel: Because I live, you also will live.
There’s a lot more to the message, of course, but it all grows out of that main point: Because I live, you also will live.
And the importance of that message just increases, because of the time confusion that I mentioned in the beginning. Jesus is talking to the disciples in that room before his death. But Jesus is also talking to the community in which the words were written 100 years after his death. And Jesus is also talking to us, gathered here in Massillon 1900 years after that.
AND, he’s making a promise to all these listeners throughout the centuries that we can fully live our lives right here and now, because he lives. And at the same time, also making a promise to us about what will happen when our lives are over . . . in all these groups of listeners, across the ages, because he lives, we live, and also will live. Both in the here and now, and in the final judgement. Jesus is pleading his case, which the Spirit continues to plead to our doubting hearts: Because Jesus lives, we also will live. And, because Jesus lives, we live . . . right here, right now.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, comes to each one of us, constantly and continuously delivering the most important message in the universe: Because Jesus lives, you will live. Everything else in life grows out of that message. It is a message of love, a message of forgiveness, a message to live your life without fear and trembling. You don’t need an advocate to plead your case in the judgment court of Zeus and his thunderbolts. But you do need an Advocate to plead God’s case before the judgment of your own doubting heart.
We cannot come to Jesus unless the Father draws us. And the Father draws us by sending the Son, and the Advocate to plead with our hearts. And the Father, the Spirit, and the Son together draw us to this altar today, where with the saints of every time and place—with all of them—we meet the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread.
Amen.
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