June 25, 2025
Our Savior’s, Menomonie
Rev. Mary Erickson
Acts 16:9-15; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29
The Promised Advocate
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
The common thread running through all our scriptural passages today is the Holy Spirit. In Acts, Paul has a vision which beckons him to travel into a new territory. Revelation tells of John’s vision, where the Spirit leads him to witness a glimpse of heaven. And in the gospel of John, Jesus promises the coming of the Spirit to his disciples.
This gospel text today in our lectionary calendar spans several transitions. In the context of the book of John, it’s the night of Jesus’ arrest. His remaining time with his disciples is short. And so he leaves them with this parting promise.
But the text is also appropriate in this season of Easter. 40 days after Jesus rose from his grave, he ascended into heaven. That day of ascension occurs on Thursday this week. So the story of Jesus’ parting is placed within a context that is greater than just the evening of his arrest. Our thoughts move ahead to when his disciples will watch him ascend heavenwards, his final departure.
And before he ascended, he instructed them to stay in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high,” that is, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit.
So kudos to the arrangers of the liturgical calendar for their very aptly chosen gospel text for this a sixth Sunday in Easter!
The Holy Spirit. Martin Luther had this to say in his explanation to the third article:
“I believe that I cannot, by my own understanding or effort, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and kept me in the faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it united with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.In this Christian church, day after day, he fully forgives my sins and the sins of all believers. On the last day he will raise me and all the dead and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.”
As I’ve pondered Luther’s words since I first encountered them way back in confirmation class, there are two items that most stick with me. The first is his opening comment, that I have no ability within myself to come to faith. Faith comes to me only by the gift of the Holy Spirit at work within me and through the hearing of the gospel message. I marvel at how powerless I am and how faith itself is a gift. Likely the best gift I’ve ever been given, after life itself!
The second is his phrase “day after day.” It is, without a doubt, my favorite phrase in the entire catechism. Day after day: the constancy of God’s faithfulness, to be with me every day, all day, though all things – thick and thin, up and down, good and bad, sorrowful and joyful. Day after day, the gift of grace, the forgiveness of sins, the counselor at my side.
So let’s spend a little time looking at each of these passages and contemplate this promised Advocate.
First, our text from that upper room. Jesus can sense that his rendezvous with his destiny is very, very close. He has this one final evening with his disciples. They’d been together for the past three years, sharing everything, experiencing everything together. He’d shown them, he’d taught them, he’d counseled them. But now this sweet, precious time was quickly drawing to its conclusion.
With what little time they have remaining, he leaves them with his most priceless gifts. He prays for them, he will give them himself in a supper, and he gives them this promise of an Advocate.
The word in Greek is “paraclete.” The word had been translated variously: Advocate, Counselor, Helper. It means, literally, to stand beside and call out. Picture a long-distance runner. And alongside them, in a pace vehicle, their coach calls out to them with words of encouragement. The coach tells them what lies ahead and what they’ll have to be prepared for. They call words of encouragement: Keep at it! You can do it! You’re up to this!
That advocate is also like the attorney who stands beside you in a court of law and speaks on your behalf. The paraclete, the one who goes beside you and calls out.
Jesus says this Advocate will teach them what they need to know. It will remind them of everything Jesus had said to them.
I remember when I was in high school and I took driver’s education. After the classroom sessions, I had a driving instructor. His name was Mr. Guy. Yes, that was his name, Mr. Guy! He was a teacher at the high school.
Each of us was paired with another student driver. Mr. Guy took the two of us out for driving instruction that summer. When it was my turn, I sat in the driver’s seat and Mr. Guy rode shotgun. The one thing out of the ordinary about the car is that he had brake pedal that was tapped into my brake pedal. He didn’t have a steering wheel, but he had that break pedal, and there was one instance when he used it on me! He saw something that I didn’t. Part of the learning curve!
Well, we drove all over town that summer, up and down the streets of Beatrice, NE. And then my driving lessons were over. Soon thereafter I turned 16 and got my driver’s license.
And I’ll never forget the first time I drove solo. It felt weird, like something crucial was missing. Where was Mr. Guy? But then I became aware that I could still hear Mr. Guy coaching me in my head. All those hours together, he was still with me, calling out beside me.
I think the Holy Spirit is something like this, the one who calls out beside us. That still, small voice beckons us. It calls to us through the Gospel, enlightening with gifts from above, and sanctifies and keep us in true faith.
In our reading from Acts, we hear of Paul and his dream of the man from Macedonia. Now, just prior to this, Paul had ideas of his own. His intention was to travel into the region of Bithynia. But we’re told that the Holy Spirit shut that way off from him. Best laid plans, but he couldn’t get there. Instead, he came to the edge of the Asian continent, and that night, he had a dream about this man across the sea in Europe. “Come over here and help us!” the man beckoned.
The Spirit was calling beside Paul in his dream. And when he awoke, he realized what he must do. Suddenly it made sense as to why his way to Bithynia had been blocked. The Spirit had other plans for him!
I read recently in my daily devotions from Henri Nouwen. He was addressing the role of interruptions in our life:
“A few years ago I met an old professor at the University of Notre Dame. Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny twinkle in his eyes: ‘I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.’
That is the great conversion in our life: to recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and prepares us for his return.”
Paul thought his intentions were being interrupted when he couldn’t travel into Bithynia. But the call from the Macedonian man interrupted his mission and set him on a new and unexpected course.
Former dean of the Yale Divinity school, Leander Keck, wrote, “The Holy Spirit is responsible for the plot line of the church’s mission.”
To quote Martin Luther, this is most certainly true. By shutting doors, by opening windows, by gently coaxing and encouraging, by prodding and shouting, the Holy Spirit guides our church ever into our future mission.
So to you at Our Savior’s Lutheran, how is the Holy Spirit at work, writing the plot line for your mission? I leave you with that question.
Finally, we hear today from John of Patmos. He is given a dream, a revelation of what is to come. It’s a fantastical dream, filled with psychedelic imagery. Some of it is terrifying while other parts are rapturously beautiful. But what it all comes down to is this: God is at work making all things new. All things will be made new. It boils down to the simple fact that God is in charge and will have the ultimate say and the ultimate outcome. Nothing, nothing at all will get in God’s way. All things will end according to God’s plan.
We live most firmly and true when we ground ourselves in the promises of God: the promise of salvation, the promise of God at work in our here and now and also in all that the future will bring. These things form the core of our faith. You know, that thing which we cannot come to by our own understanding or effort. That gift of faith that comes to us by the promised Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us in the one true faith.
