"He will give you another Advocate to we with you forever"
In this passage, Jesus reminds us of the Help the Holy Spirit gives us in times of need.
A young Armenian girl named Elizabeth Casaman saw Turkish troops arrest her father for no apparent reason. While her father languished in jail, Elizabeth and her mother lived in terror of what would happen to him. The next time Elizabeth saw her father, the Turks were taking him away to be executed. Elizabeth's father resisted, so his captors wrapped him in an old piece of carpet, threw him on the back of a donkey, and took him away. That was the last time Elizabeth saw her father alive.
YOu can imagine the anguish that Elizabeth feld over losing her father in such a brutal and senseless fashion. But she and her mother were Christians, and the Spirit helped them to endure that tragedy without becoming bitter or cynical. In fact, Elizabeth grew up to become a nurse. She took a job at a mission hospital where it was her task to cut away old bandages, cleanse the wounds, and apply fresh bandages. this was sometimes a painful process so Elizabeth got into the habit of rambling on while she worked in order to distract her patient from the pain.
One day, while nursing a Turkish man she had never seen before, Elizabeth began talking about how her father had died. The man listened intently. Finally, in a low voice, he said, "I am the man who killed your father. I rolled him off the donkey, still wrapped in the carpet, and ran him through with my bayonet. I still see it in my mind; it still sickens me."
Elizabeth said nothing, but went on bandaging his wounds. One can only imagine what a strong temptation it must have been to beat that man, to lash out, to hurt him, or even kill him. Some people would say that what happened next was not humanly possible. But then Elizabeth had an Advocate who is more than human. When Elizabeth finally spoke, she said, "Jesus told us to forgive our enemies, so I forgive you."
Day after day, she returned to his bedside and carefully cleansed the wounds of the man who had murdered her father. And one morning, just before Elizabeth was transferred to serve at an orphanage, the Turk looked at her and exclaimed, "Your Jesus must have been greater than I ever imagined, if he can live in you like this!"
In our Gospel today, Jesus prepares the Disciples for a time when he will be gone. "I will not leave you orphaned," he said. "I will ask the Father and He will give you another advocate to be with you for ever." No single English word can fully capture the richness and depth of the Greek word "paraklitos", which we translate as Advocate or Paraclete. But the fullness of this word suggests at least three ways in which the Holy Spirit is with us, now and for ever.
The Holy Spirit comforted that young Armenian woman in each of these ways. He comforted her in the loss of her father, strengthened her when faced with her father's murderer, and equipped her to minister to that man. And what the Spirit did for Elizabeth Casaman, the Spirit will do for us.
May the Holy Spirit fill each one of us with the assurance of the Love of God as the Advocate in our lives as we seek to obey his commands and share His love with the people around us.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Jan Dijkman
May 1, 2005