Reflection on John 14:15-21

“Mom, what can I possibly do for you?” the adult daughter asked as she joined her mother at the side of the bed in the hospital. 

Remember when you could do that…actually be there at the bedside? 

In any case, the mother looked with the loving smile that you can only get from your mother and she said to her daughter, “You can be here for me.  That is all I need.”

I do not intend to start this sermon out on a sad note; that is not my intention.  However, there is a lot of sadness to go around right now, so I think that it is inevitable that it will creep in here too.  In fact, as I left this morning to go and film this sermon, Isaac, my almost three year old, broke down in tears.  His Dad, who has, for the most part, been home with him for an entire two months was leaving him!  He was losing his Dad…if only for a few hours.

We need to have those we love beside us.  We need those who love us to be close. 

And, that is what is making weddings, and funerals, and lost family gatherings, and lost graduation ceremonies so difficult.  Imagine having to call up a good friend and letting him know that he did not make the cut to attend the wedding because only 25 people are allowed to be present. 

I have not gotten any better at reversing the sadness of this sermon have I?  Well, let us look at things in the positive then. 

When looking at the entrance to the haunted house, with sounds of ghosts and screams seeping through the doors, the young child will desperately hold onto their parent’s hand, knowing that the parent is right there, beside them the entire time. 

And, that kind of presence is what the disciples needed as Jesus’ final hours before dying on the cross approached.  They needed Jesus to be there.  They needed him to continue to be there, just as he had in the past. 

In the past, they literally followed Jesus and trusted he knew where they were going.  How would they do that with him gone? 

In the past, they literally listened to his voice and listened to his teachings.  How would they learn anything with him gone? 

And, when trouble arose, Jesus was right there to protect them.  Who would protect them now?

Jesus knows the troubled ruminations of the disciples, of course.  He knows the fears and sadness in the disciple’s hearts, and he knows the fears and sadness without our own hearts too.  So, Jesus does what any of us would do in the face of fear and sadness; he moves to pray to his Father.  He fiercely turns to prayer, and through prayer the answer will come for the disciples and for us.

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever,” Jesus says.

^“This is the Spirit of truth.”  He continues,

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.”

And, Jesus finishes by declaring that those who have his commandments to love and who in fact do show acts of love are those who love him.  He says, “And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Parents try to walk alongside their graduates as they go off to college, or trade school, or off to live and work on their own.  Some parents send daily texts.  Some send letters of support, or emails.  Some call at 9pm every night. 

All of this, of course, can elicit the response of “Come on Mom!” or “Geez Dad!” 

Even so, these parents are right to do so, because when the world has been turned upside-down for you, you need someone to walk alongside you.  These parents are simply acting out of the love that has been given them from the one who walks beside them, Jesus Christ our Lord, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word for Holy Spirit after-all literally means, “The one who walks beside.” 

You, O people of God, have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit.  You, O people of God, have the one who walks beside.  And, as the mother in the hospital said, “That is all I need.” 

It is enough for Jesus to simply be present. 

It is enough, in the face of the unknown, to know that Jesus and his glory and power is with you. 

It is enough, in the shadow of loneliness, to know that Jesus walks right there, beside you through the Spirit. 

And, it is enough to know that even if you start walking on the wrong path, there is someone bedside you, full of forgiveness and love to help you to see a new path to walk. 

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”  Jesus says. 

The message cannot be any simpler. The Spirit will accompany us. The Spirit will be our companion.  

And, in these times when uncertainty starts to settle deeply into our souls in disturbing ways, this accompaniment, this love through presence, is exactly what we need, and perhaps this love through presence is just what we need to do.

So, what does love look like when everything has gone wrong?  What does love look like when no one can even plan two weeks into the future?  Well, love looks a lot like…being there. 

Love is walking along beside.  Love is making the call.  Love is traveling over to someone’s house and choosing to at least and stand six feet away in their front lawn and visit with them. 

Love is being present, because Jesus is present.  Jesus says, “Love one another, as I have loved you,” and, so, we will.  We too will walk beside.