6th Sunday of Easter Sermon
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ, Who has given us His Spirit of truth as our eternal counselor. Amen.
Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we come to You today with a so many things on our minds and weighing on our hearts. Good things, bad things, blessings and struggles, wisdom and questions, love and anger, peace and pain. Take all of this, Lord. We give thanks to You for all the good. We trust in You to work through and redeem all the bad. We ask You now to open our hearts and our ears to Your holy Word. Just as You sent Christ into our world to save us – to intercede and to be our advocate; to comfort and consol us – fill us with that other Counselor, Your Holy Spirit, that we may stand firm in the truth and boldly follow where You lead us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
There is an old legal proverb, “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.” I have also heard it said that his attorney isn’t too bright either. This saying has been quoted by people for hundreds of years. P. T. Barnum and Abraham Lincoln (a former lawyer) are both noted as having said this a time or two. It just isn’t wise to try to defend yourself in a court of law, no matter how smart you are.
In the U.S. we have been promised the right to counsel. In the words of the Miranda Right’s “You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you.” That means nobody needs to show up to court as a fool, representing himself.
Well, in today’s Gospel reading you hear even better news from Christ, the one with all authority. In John 14 you heard today that you have “another Counselor [who will] be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.”
Now let me just begin by saying I had heard this verse from Scripture countless times as I was growing up. I heard it in a few different English versions. I sang it in choir, I believe in both English and Latin. But for some reason I never thought of it in a legal sense. In original Greek word used here to describe the Holy Spirit is “Pa-ra-KLE-ton.” Perhaps you have heard Him referred to as the Parakleet.
The ESV translation we heard today renders “Pa-ra-KLE-ton” it as “Helper” in English. The King James Version translates the word as “Comforter.” The NIV translates it as “Counselor.” Given these different English words used here to describe the Holy Spirit, I used to always think that this verse describes the Holy Spirit as a bit of a therapist. I come to God with a troubled conscience, or hurt, or confused about something in my life, and through the Holy Spirit God consoles and counsels me; comforts and guides me. That by the power of the Holy Spirit, God cheers me up and strengthens me to do what I have been called to do through faith in Christ.
Now let me first say, one of the meanings for parakleet is “one who comforts or consoles.” However, it also carries with it the sense of a legal defender. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until I went through this verse in Japanese that I finally grasped this courtroom aspect of the meaning of the word.
I remember being so confused at first. There I was in a Bible study with a handful of Japanese folks who were not Christian. They had bilingual Bibles with a Japanese translation and the Good News Translation for the English. I was using the NIV, which uses the word “Counselor.” They read the Good News Translation which used the word “Helper” and then they compared it to their Japanese translation which used a Japanese word that means “Attorney.”
It wasn’t hard for them to associate “Attorney” with “Helper.” But when I started speaking of the word “Counselor” in terms of a marriage counselor or a therapist they got very confused. After taking a moment to sort through it all, my eyes were opened to the fact that like the word “counselor,” parakleet has a fuller, twofold meaning. I explained to them and to myself that counselor can mean both therapist and attorney. And in this verse “Attorney” is probably the better understanding of the word.
In our first reading from Acts we heard that God has set a day when Christ will return and judge the world with righteousness. Christ’s resurrection from death is pointed to as the proof that He has been appointed as our Judge. Christ has ascended and is seated at the right hand of the Father – the seat of power and authority; the Judge’s bench, as it were.
In our Gospel reading Christ says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” What has Christ Commanded? Love. Love and honor God with every fiber of your being – in everything you think and say and do. Love. Love those around you completely. Treat them as if their life is just as important to you as your own.
Now I don’t know about you, but there are times in my life (like, every day) when I know I do not measure up to these commands. I put my own will and desires before God’s. I put myself (my own will and desires) above my care and respect for others.
In light of this truth, I am tempted to stand before Christ as my judge and say, “Well, sure I broke your law here and there. I didn’t always obey Your commandments. But look at all the good I’ve done.” To which Jesus our judge says, “He who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
It is foolish to try to represent yourself before the Judgment seat of God. It’s stupid to try to justify your crimes against God and humanity by pointing to your better attributes. A Judge doesn’t concern himself with the good things you’ve done in life. He is there to judge the charges against you. And the charge against each of us is that we have not kept the command of Christ – The Law of Love. And the punishment due is two fold…separation from humanity (that thing we call temporal or physical death), and the eternal separation from God (that thing we call hell or the second death).
In the Gospel reading Jesus tells us that He does not abandon us. Because we cannot and should not try to defend ourselves, Christ our righteous Judge will request of our loving heavenly Father to provide us with legal counsel that is far better than any public defender – the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of truth. We have countless accusers. The whole world stands as witness against our failures in life. We ourselves – our own consciences – bear witness against us. And you can be sure that the devil will torment us and accuse us with every single one of our sins as we stand before the Judgment seat of our Lord. In fact the name Satan literally means, “Accuser.” Or adversary.
But for everyone who trust in the Lord, we have legal Help; a legal Counselor who has provided us with an Ironclad defense. You see the, the Spirit of truth doesn’t try to defend us by pointing to anything we have or haven’t done. He doesn’t try to justify our sins by pointing to our good behavior. No, the Holy Spirit simply does what the Holy Spirit does. He takes all of the accusations – He address the world, and Satan, and even our own consciences – and He points us to the cross of Christ. He reminds us of the power of the resurrection of Jesus. He tells us (and everybody) that in Christ, all of the accusations, whether true or false, are inadmissible in court. Amen?
We cannot justify ourselves with self-righteousness. But in Christ we are justified by His own righteousness. When given the choice between self-representation and being represented by the Spirit of truth, you would be wise to take the free legal Counsel. Trust in the Counsel of the Spirit of Truth who points is to Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Next week I have been blessed with the charge of welcoming another sinner (redeemed, and justified by Christ’s death and resurrection) into God’s family through the waters of Baptism. In this act we, the Church, as messengers of God, have applied God’s Word of Promise; His Word of Truth in Christ to a guilty defendant. Baptism gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit as our Counselor. God’s grace and mercy through Christ is our sure defense. In Baptism God has promised us that through Christ, the sins of all who call upon and trust in Him are forgiven.
As His people God has given us the wonderful responsibility to bring His Miranda rights to the world. We have the right to remain silent regarding our guilt at the Judgment. When standing before Christ our righteous judge we can plead the 5th. We do not need to answer any questions that would incriminate us of our sins. Our Father has provided us with an Attorney (a Counselor) who has an ironclad defense. The Cross of Christ, Christ’s resurrection, is all the evidence The Spirit of Truth needs to present in order to have us fully acquitted. Christ died for your sins. You have been granted full pardon in Him. Do you want proof?
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen in deed! Alleluia!). Amen.
Please pray with me.
- The Spirit is with us and in us.
- Remind us daily of the sure defense we have in Christ
- Strengthen us to live according to Your will, to obey what Christ has commanded, to the Glory of God.
- Send us our with sure confidence to share the message of forgiveness and love with everyone we meet.