In the Gospel reading for this upcoming Sunday, Jesus promises to send "The Advocate" to us: "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him" (John 14:16-17). This Spirit who is to succeed Jesus on earth is described with the Greek word "Paraclete," which was a word used most commonly in the Greek world for lawyers ("Advocates").
Lawyers are very useful people to know. My family has been involved in law since my grandfather's generation. When he first became a lawyer in New Jersey during the Great Depression, few of his clients could pay him. He accepted chickens and other goods in barter, but often people didn't even have that much. He told me how they would come into his office and say, "Mr. Johnson, I can't pay you anything, but I sure do have a problem..." As he was a young lawyer just getting started, this experience was probably as valuable to him as it was to his clients, but he never forgot his obligation to help people if he could. His passed his practice and values on to his son (my uncle) who has since taken on his son (my cousin) as his partner.
Of course, whenever anyone in my family has had a legal matter that needed some advice, the temptation to simply pickup the phone and call "Johnson & Johnson" has been reassuring. When you get to the point where you need a lawyer, you know you want someone you can trust to represent your interests.
This makes Jesus' description of the Holy Spirit as a kind of divine family lawyer even more poignant. This is someone who will represent our interests through the trials of life. Furthermore, he promises to do it with with a word of Truth that will abide in us, unknowable by the world. It's a beautiful promise that should give us much courage as we face our trials.
Holy God, source of all knowledge and truth, your being surpasses all human knowledge. Send your Holy Advocate to abide in us as a word of Truth. Enlighten and change us with your indwelling spirit. Comfort us with the presence of Truth now and until the end of the ages. We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-t
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