Jesus 2.0 - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A

Jesus 2.0

Easter 6A

May 14, 2023

Christ, Preston, MN

John 14.15-21

My wife and I have been married almost 43 years and of course, been together longer than that. An early lesson I learned still sticks with me all these years later. I learned that most of the time when she gets upset about something she doesn’t want it fixed. Rather, what she really wants is for me to just sit with her, commiserate with her, and maybe hold her hand. That was (and still is) hard for me because I dislike seeing her in pain and I want to fix it. But it’s not about what I need; it’s about what she needs. That’s a lesson that’s carried over as a pastor, to know when someone just wants a presence, someone to listen.

“Jesus said, ‘And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.’” These verses follow last week’s well-known text about Jesus preparing a place for his followers and us and the well-known “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” It’s the Last Supper, just before Jesus is arrested, tried, beaten, and crucified. He knows his followers will feel lost and alone without him, so he does three things in this long, final speech to them. First, he reminds them of his mission from God, which is now their mission from God, to love and bless the world.

Second, he tells them they will be together again, that he goes to prepare a place for them. And third, in the meantime, as they focus on the mission, they will not be doing it alone. In a foreshadowing of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus tells them that another Advocate is coming, this one also sent by God the Father just as he has been. In other words, the Holy Spirit is going to be Jesus 2.0, only they won’t physically see him.

The Greek word that the NRSV translates as “Advocate” is paraclete. (No, this is not the bird parakeet. The Holy Spirit is depicted by a different bird, the dove.) If you were to look at 10 different Bible translations, you will probably see 10 different words, such as Counselor, Guide, Helper, etc. I’ve even seen “Coach” used. If you literally translate paraclete, it becomes something like, “One who has been called to walk alongside.” Or, as it sometimes happens, one who comes to sit with another and perhaps holds her hand. We know that living our life is up to us, but the presence of another makes that living easier. That’s why community is so important to us.

This is all well and good, but according to the text, it seems this presence depends upon whether we love Jesus or not. It’s almost a “chicken or the egg” conundrum. Which comes first, God’s love or our love? First of all, we remember that elsewhere in the Bible it says that “God is love,” and that “We love because he first loved us,” both in 1 John 4. But I think it’s also helpful to know that the Greek word for ‘if” can be also translated “since,” or “when.” In other words, “Since you love me you will keep my commandments” or “When you love me you will keep my commandments.” Jesus is trying to express in words what is almost inexpressible, the mutually abiding love relationship between God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and us.

Now, Jesus is not talking about romantic love here, though there can be feelings involved. Rather, Jesus is talking about agape, sacrificial love. Even so, it’s still true that when you love someone, when you are in a mutually abiding and intimate relationship, you want to do the right thing. So, we don’t beat someone else up because we don’t think they are following Jesus properly. That’s not our job. Instead, we become Jesus 3.0, Christ to others, walking alongside in both difficulty and delight. May you know the abiding love of the Holy Spirit and share that love with others always. Amen.

My sermons often preach a little differently than written and you can find the video here.