Hello, and welcome to the STC podcast. My name is Casey Strine, I’m a member of the STC staff, and I’m excited to be sharing a few of my reflections on the Gospel of John with you this week.

This week we will be looking at materials from chapters 12, 13, and 14 of the Gospel according to John.

This section of the Gospel of John include Jesus’ final public conversation and some of the last conversations he has with his closest disciples. These passages are filled with the ideas Jesus wants to ensure his closest followers understand before his death because they are the concepts on which God will build a movement of people following Jesus and seeking to complete his mission.

REFLECTION:

With the beginning of chapter 13, the Gospel of John has taken us literally inside Jesus’ inner circle of disciples. Already this week we have seen Jesus’ wash their feet, expand the command to love others, and to promise these disciples will do even greater things than Jesus himself. Today, John tells us how God remains present with us after Jesus’ departure.

There is no harder idea in Christianity to understand than the Trinity. If anyone says they can explain it to you, their heart might be in the right place, but, I’m afraid to say, they’re lying. Preachers search for illustrations to make it comprehensible; theologians make up words even they know aren’t real words to write about the Trinity; most people just attempt to avoid thinking or talking about the Trinity if possible.

Within the complexity of the Trinity, perhaps nothing induces more confusion than the identity and role of the Holy Spirit. I can’t possibly solve those questions – but I think I can explain what is said about the Holy Spirit in this particular passage.

Jesus opens this section of his discourse with the disciples by saying that he will ask God the Father to send another to help the disciples. This helper is called the advocate. That might make you think of a solicitor or a barrister – a legal advocate. It is the realm in which we most often use this language in English. It isn’t a bad analogy: the idea of someone with knowledge, training, and an appreciation of a situation that might be unfamiliar, uncomfortable, and intimidating to someone without that knowledge.

In this passage, Jesus explains two thing that the Holy Spirit does.

First, the Spirit teaches things to those who will listen. The point Jesus is making is that he has only told the disciples so much – in his mind, not as much as they will need in the future. It is the Spirit, then, who will be with the disciples every step of their lives. The Spirit will teach them all the other things of God they need to know. That must have been a great assurance to those disciples. Since it holds true for us today too, it should be a great encouragement for us as well. Indeed, it is really reassuring to someone, say like me, who has advanced training on how to read and interpret the Bible and still feels unsure about what God would say on so many subjects!

Second, Jesus explains that the Spirit will remind them of those things Jesus did teach that are relevant for them in whatever situation they find themselves. Whether that is a specific verse from the Scripture, a saying of Jesus, one of his parables or a story, or simply the recollection that Jesus has entrusted them to complete the work of God that he started, it is the Holy Spirit that will bring to mind what they need when they need it. This promise remains true for all of us today too. It is equally as good a piece of news as the first one.

When Christians speak of the Holy Spirit being active in the world, we mean that in sometimes obvious ways and in sometimes almost impossible to explain ways the Holy Spirit offers guidance to those who ask for it. To return to where I started, it might help you to think of the Holy Spirit like a legal counsellor who is by our side telling us ...