"A Vital Advocate"

In John’s gospel Jesus is a talker – big time. Someone has said that only Jesse Ventura could out talk him, having had an opinion on religion and politics while he was in office in Minnesota.

John’s gospel has all the “I am” passages – over 20 different “I am” sentences from Jesus.

Today’s scripture is in the middle of his longest speech; it lasts the better part of three chapters – 14 – 17. It includes some of his most memorable and beloved sayings:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. (14:6)

I am the vine, you are the branches. (15:5)

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. (13:34)

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (15:13)

If you read this speech slowly you discover that it’s right in the middle of Judas’ going out to betray him and his arrest and betrayal.

The section of the speech I’m about to read begins with Jesus’ answer to a question from the non–Iscariot Judas, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” We hear Jesus’ response, and more. In a brief summary, “I’m leaving, I’ll be back, and it’ll be another me the next time.”

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So, today is Mother’s Day. I came across six definitive descriptions of when you know you are a mom:

You know you’re a mom when your feet stick to the kitchen floor and you don’t care.

… When your idea of a good day is making it through without a child leaking bodily fluids on you.

… When you have your local pizza dealer’s phone number memorized.

… When your baby’s pacifier falls on the floor and you give it back to her, after you suck the dirt off of it because you’re too busy to wash it off.

… When your junior high kid makes jokes about burping and other bodily functions, and you think they’re funny.

… When you are so desperate for adult conversation that you unload on the telemarketer and he hangs up on you!

Finally, my mother taught me humor when I was about 10 years old with the comment, “When that lawnmower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”

With all of our humor, guilt, disappointments, and anxieties about motherhood, typically, mothers are the front line advocates for their children. Such advocacy is often aroused out of protection, like a mother bear over her cubs being threatened, but it also is caused by perceived unjust treatment of their children.

The kind of advocacy which impresses me the most in mothers is that which surfaces when mothers, and parents, generally, are advocates for disabled or handicapped children. Children with autism, or Down syndrome, or a speech disorder, or dyslexia, or attention deficit disorder – – whatever the dysfunction. Through my years of ministry I have watched mothers out of their deep love for their child change entire school districts. Such love motivates advocacy.

An advocate is a supporter,

   Backer,

      Promoter

         Believer

            Campaigner

   Activist

      Sponsor

         Comforter

            Counselor.

When you need an advocate you are feeling vulnerable and in a position of weakness or in danger. When you feel susceptible or defenseless you seek an advocate – an accountant or an attorney or a therapist, but as a child you turn to your mother or grandmother.

This scripture reading in John’s gospel is one of the most profound insights into the nature of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Jesus’ words promise an advocate, one who will be his peace among his followers after he is gone, and one whom we will celebrate in a few weeks at Pentecost. And Jesus pronounces these words while staring into the teeth of death, saying goodbye to confused followers who don’t understand that he’s going any farther away than the next town.

Several times in these short verses Jesus predicts his leaving and an advocate’s coming, and just so everyone remembers he says, “I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.” (John. 14:29)

Do you understand this Biblical passage? It’s proclaiming that we have a powerful Advocate before God.

We don’t much say the Apostles Creed, one of those creedal and confessional statements of Christianity through the ages. Whether it’s the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed or the Westminster Confession of Faith or the Declaration of Faith of our own denomination a few years ago, they all are framed around the trinity, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The Apostles’ Creed is one of the shortest and simplest: (The Hymnal, p. 14, Traditional)

I believe in God the father almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

I could design a theology course for an entire semester around the words of this creed and you all could chew on them, affirming some of them as part of your faith and loudly rejecting others.

But listen now… did you hear the phrase, “sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty?”

Jesus is our advocate at the right hand before the divine judge.

Friends, if you have ever had the experience of being in court and in need of legal counsel, your attorney sits at your right hand defending you before the judge. The legal arrangements of courtroom furnishings are not much different today than it was in ancient Hebrew courts of the Old Testament. For instance, in Psalm 121 the writer observes, “The Lord is your guardian, your defense at your right hand….”

Jesus is using legal language when he says that “The advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name.” You and I, and disciples of the Christ, have this Advocate before God that exceeds any imagery I can associate with motherhood for you. And this ancient creed captures it so succinctly. What a tremendous gift of salvation, grace, and peace from the Lord our God.

The Advocate, the Spirit, is with Godand among believers. We have nothing to fear then as we love as he loves and follow his commandments together. In the light of this giver of peace, anything seems possible. Amen.

I have relied on the following resources for this sermon: The New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume IX, Luke, John; The Book of Confessions, PCUSA; Pulpit Resource, Vol. 35, William H. Willimon; and Journal for Preachers, Vol. XXX, Easter, 2007.