Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”

Tags

Advocate, another advocate, ἄλλον παράκλητον, Dead Sea Scrolls, Food for Thought, gift of the spirit, God, God the Father, gospel john, Gospel of John, Greek Orthodox Church, Holy Spirit, holy spirit dove, πνεῦμα, Jesus, John, Mark, paraclete, Peace I leave with you, postaday, Qumran literature, Reflection in water of the Holy Spirit dove, religion, spirit, Spirit of Truth, spirituality, Sue Ann Jackson, This is life, tvaraj

Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter – The reading is from the Gospel of John 14:15-31.

Reflection in water of the Holy Spirit dove by Sue Ann Jackson (www.sueannjacksonllc.com)

The Advocate – John 14:15-31

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.

Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.q

Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

“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.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’t If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.

I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, (John 14:16)
καὶ ἐγὼ ἐρωτήσω τὸν πατέρα καὶ ἄλλον παράκλητον δώσει ὑμῖν, ἵνα μένει μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, (ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 14:16 Greek NT: Greek Orthodox Church)

By the phrase “another Advocate” (Greek: ἄλλον παράκλητον), Jesus implies that he is the first advocate – the paraclete.

The Greek term paraclete (παράκλητον) derives from legal terminology for an advocate or defense attorney, and can mean spokesman, mediator, intercessor, comforter, consoler, although no one of these terms encompasses the meaning in John. The Paraclete in John is a teacher, a witness to Jesus, and a prosecutor of the world, who represents the continued presence on earth of the Jesus who has returned to the Father.

My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. (1 Jn 2:1)
Τεκνία μου, ταῦτα γράφω ὑμῖν ἵνα μὴ ἁμάρτητε· καὶ ἐάν τις ἁμάρτῃ, παράκλητον ἔχομεν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν δίκαιον· (ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ Α΄ 2:1 Greek NT: Greek Orthodox Church)

where Jesus is an advocate in the sense of intercessor in heaven.

The phrase “the Spirit of truth” in John 14:17, is also used in Qumran literature (aka “Dead Sea Scrolls”), where it is a moral force put into a person by God, as opposed to the spirit of perversity. We have to keep in mind that there is no consensus among scholars whether the Qumran text represents an original reading or a secondary expansion.

“the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.” (John 14:17)

While it has been customary to use masculine personal pronouns in English for the Advocate, the Greek word πνεῦμα for “spirit” is neuter, and the Greek text and manuscript variants fluctuate between masculine and neuter pronouns.

The terms “Advocate,” and “the holy Spirit” are more personal in John; it teaches the realities of the new order

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 14:26),

and testify to the truth