John 15:26-27

The Paraclete (not Parakeet)

Author Dennis Rainey tells about an exercise he leads each year with his sixth grade Sunday School class. He divides the class into three groups (wouldn’t it be nice to have a sixth grade class that you could divide into three groups – or even just a sixth grade class!). 

Anyway, these groups then compete in putting together a jigsaw puzzle. As these 12-year-olds scatter into three circles on the floor, he explains that there is only one rule in the competition: they must put together the puzzle without talking. 

The contents of puzzle number one are deposited on the floor and Group One immediately goes to work. The group promptly sets up the box top that depicts the picture of the puzzle it is completing. 

Then Dennis Rainey moves to the second group, dumps the pieces of a second puzzle on the floor and quickly gives the group a box top. What this group doesn’t know is that the box top is for a different puzzle! 

The third group is given the same puzzle pieces, but it doesn’t even receive a box top. Usually the kids in the group start to protest, but Rainey quickly reminds them there is to be no talking! 

What follows is fascinating.  Group One is somewhat frustrated by not being allowed to talk, but it still makes steady progress.

Group Two keeps trying to use the picture, but nothing seems to work. And since the kids in the group can’t say anything, their frustration level soars. The group members look at their teacher with pleading eyes. Soon, he sees that misleading  box top go flying out of the group across the room! 

Group Three is interesting. Because the kids have nothing to guide them, they do their own thing. The kids give up and just lie on the floor. 

 Dennis Rainey asks, “Am I a cruel teacher? No, there is a point that I make that day. Life, marriages and families are like the pieces of the puzzle. The pieces are all there for us, but something is needed to help us bring order out of chaos.” 

Bringing order out of chaos.  We could all use a dose of that.  But how?  In his book, The Pursuit of Happiness, David Meyers writes that from 1957 to 1990, per capita income in the US more than doubled, but the number of Americans who reported being very happy remained the same.

All the advances in medical sciences, all the achievements in technology, all the increase in material wealth and prosperity has not supplied us with an answer to our  deepest yearnings or fulfilled our deepest needs.

Never have we been so self-reliant, or so lonely. Never have we seemed so free, or our prisons so overstuffed.  Never have we had so much education, or such high rates of teen delinquency, despair and suicide. Never have we been so sophisticated about pleasure, or so likely to suffer broken or miserable marriages.

This is a confusing world. We need a guide we can depend on. Well, the Good News is that God has sent someone to help us.  And that someone has a name.  It is a name you may have never heard before.  The name is Paraclete. It’s a name that comes from the Bible, but you aren’t likely to find it in your Bible even if you were to read it from cover to cover.  Let me explain.

The New Testament was written originally in Greek, and Paraclete is a Greek word.  It was in our scripture reading today, but you didn’t hear it.  Our text says, “When the ADVOCATE comes” (15:26) -- but the original word was Paraclete – “When the PARACLETE comes.”

Jesus was getting ready to ascend back to heaven.  He was getting ready to leave his disciples, who had staked their lives on him.  He was reassuring them that they had nothing to fear -- that, although he would be leaving them, he would send this Paraclete -- this Advocate -- to help them. 

In fact, he was telling them that it would be better for them when this Paraclete came.  He said:

“It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate (the Paraclete) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (16:7).

So who was this mysterious Paraclete?  William Barclay, noted church theologian, says that Roman soldiers had Paracletes.  Here’s what that meant. 

Roman soldiers had a “buddy system.”  They were paired together so that they could help each other.  If one needed sleep, the other would pull guard duty.  If they were surrounded by the enemy, they stood back to back so that they could protect each other. 

Having a Paraclete was like having an extra pair of hands.  Having a Paraclete was like having eyes in the back of your head. 

Fighter pilots still use that system.  They don’t talk about Paracletes, but they do talk about wingmen -- maybe they say wingpersons today.  But whatever the word, fighter pilots are trained to watch out for each other -- to help each other -- to protect each other.  Each fighter pilot has a Paraclete -- a buddy -- a helper -- a friend.

I read a story that illustrates very well what a Paraclete is supposed to do.  A woman named Linda set out in a little Honda Civic to drive from Canada to Whitehorse, Alaska.  Her last night she stayed in a motel, and asked for an early morning wakeup call. 

The clerk looked surprised when she asked for that early morning wakeup call, but she couldn’t imagine why.  But the next morning, when she got up, she understood.  The place was totally “socked in” by fog.

She went to the restaurant for breakfast, and two truckers asked to join her.  They asked where she was going, and she said, “Whitehorse.” 

The truckers laughed, and one of them said, “Whitehorse!  In that little Civic!  No way!  The pass is dangerous in weather like this.” 

But she said she had to get there, so the trucker said, “Then I guess we’re just going to have to hug you.”  

Shocked, Linda replied, “Don’t you dare touch me!”

But the trucker just laughed and said, “Not like that!  We’ll put one truck in front of you and the other in back, and we’ll get you through the mountains.”

So Linda spent the morning following the two red taillights of the truck in front of her -- and had the comfort of knowing that there was another truck following her -- and they made it through the mountains.

Those truckers were Linda’s Paracletes -- her buddies -- her helpers -- her Comforters.

So what does that have to do with us?  Just this!  When Jesus told his disciples that the Paraclete would come to help them, he was talking about the Holy Spirit -- God’s Spirit.  That’s who the Paraclete was -- the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was telling his disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to serve as their Paraclete -- their helper. 

The Good News is that the Holy Spirit is our Paraclete too.  The Holy Spirit is God with us -- God living in us -- God guiding us -- God protecting us. 

I must be careful not to give you the wrong impression.  The fact that we have the Holy Spirit living within us doesn’t mean that we won’t experience hard times.  Jesus’ apostles didn’t get a free ride.  They were beaten, imprisoned, and even martyred for their faith. 

Jesus didn’t promise them a bed of roses, and they didn’t get one.  But what they got was lives worth living -- and faith to sustain them through good times and bad.

That’s what we need -- lives worth living -- and faith to sustain us through good times and bad.  That’s what Jesus offers.  That’s what the Paraclete -- the Holy Spirit – gives us.

Are you surprised to hear me say that we need faith to sustain us through the good times and the bad?  You might think that we need faith only to sustain us through the bad times.  And then during the good times we’ll be just fine – thank you very much! 

But good times can be dangerous, too.  We saw that recently with the economy.  If people had behaved themselves during the good times, we wouldn’t be having bad times right now.  The prices of our houses and stocks wouldn’t have soared to the sky, but neither would they have plummeted to the depths. 

I’m not sure how we solve that problem at the highest levels, but I do know how to solve it at a personal level.  Whatever is happening around us, we can ask God to take charge of what is happening inside us.  When God takes charge, wonderful things can happen.

Of course, that is easier said then done.  How do we take advantage of this counselor, this advocate, this revealer of truth? It doesn’t just automatically happen. Would that it be so! We need to be intentional.  We need to invite the Spirit into our hearts.  And we need to listen to its promptings.

There are three basic steps we can take to enhance the work of God’s Spirit within us. Do these without fail for thirty days and I promise your ability to feel and discern the Spirit will be greatly enhanced. And the good news is that it doesn’t take a lot of time.

1. Upon waking up in the morning -- before you charge into the day, invite the Spirit to accompany you throughout your day. Say a short prayer of invitation like, “Spirit of God, come into my life in such a way that I will be aware of your presence and lead me on the path you would have me take.” Do this every day! 

2.  Take a few moments several times during the day to stop and see where the Spirit is leading you and if you are aware of its presence.

3.  And then, finally, keep a Holy Spirit journal so that at the end of each day you can record the instances that you were aware of God’s Spirit guiding and directing you. 

It will be difficult for most of you at first. There may not be any Spirit recognition moments the first few days – or there may be a lot.  But stick with it – change takes time. You deserve it.

Most of you won’t do this and it will be a shame.  But for those who do, your life just might be changed, your awareness of God’s presence in your life will be increased, and your life will be more joy-filled.

My invitation: Try it for 30 days… and then we’ll compare notes!
Amen.