In today’s Gospel Jesus makes a promise to his first disciples and to all of us. His promise is to send the gift of the holy Spirit. Right before today’s Gospel Jesus promises that he will never abandon us: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (John 13:18). Jesus is present with us in the gift of the holy Spirit as we hear in today’s Gospel: “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (John 14:25-26).
The holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus after he has ascended into heaven. “And I [Jesus] will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth.” (14:16-17). The Greek word translated as Advocate is paraklētos (paraclete). In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us the Spirit has two tasks: 1) to “teach you everything, and 2) to “remind you of all that I have told you.” The Spirit first reminds the disciples of everything that Jesus has taught them and then teaches them to understand the Scripture and how to apply Jesus’ teachings in their daily life. For example, when Jesus performed his prophetic action of “Cleansing the Temple” and spoke the words “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (2:13-19). The disciples at first did not understand what he was doing or saying. The Evangelist tells us:
“But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they came to believe the scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.” (2:21-22).
When Jesus was raised from the dead the Spirit enabled them to “remember” and understand what Jesus taught.
God has sent the Spirit to each one of us. This Spirit reminds us of Jesus’ words and deeds and teaches us to apply Jesus’ teachings to our daily life. The holy Spirit is both our Advocate and our teacher.
Image: “Dove of the Holy Spirit” by hops_76 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.