One word can make a big difference. For example, to say “She rode the horse bareback” is not the same as saying “She rode the horse back bare.” One word, big difference. The one word which commands our attention today is “another.” Jesus says, “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate.” ”Another” presumably means there was a first, an original Advocate. That can only be Jesus, he is the first Advocate. In other words, Jesus wants the disciples, and that includes us, to understand that even though we are living after his death and resurrection we still possess the possibility for a personal, intimate relationship with him. The other Advocate is the Holy Spirit, the abiding presence of Jesus in our hearts. The other Advocate makes it possible for the disciples (again including us) to continue to know Jesus, to love him, to be in relationship with him. The good news which brought great joy to the Samaritans as we heard in the Acts of the Apostles was that Jesus is alive, that we can know him, that he leads us to God in the Spirit. We share in that great joy.
When you don’t notice that word “another” you can easily get a mistaken notion of our situation. We might imagine that we live in between the good times. Those people who walked and talked with Jesus in the hills of Galilee were the lucky ones. We think, wouldn’t it have been great to have been at the Sermon on the Mount, at the Last Supper? Then there are the people who anticipate what it will be like at the end time, where every tear will be wiped away. Won’t it be great when God makes all things new? But we’re the poor slobs stuck in between the good times who just have to slug it out. We suppose Jesus to be more real either in the long ago or in the far away. We can reduce ourselves to being nostalgic for Jesus or to anticipating him. But that “another” changes the picture entirely. When Jesus says, “I will not leave you orphaned; I will come back to you” he doesn’t mean at the end of time. He means now, today, in that other Advocate, in the Holy Spirit. We have the exact some opportunity to have an intimate relationship with Jesus as those sitting at the Last Supper. Even they didn’t know who he truly was — what they hoped him to be blinded them to his reality. It was only in the other Advocate that they came to recognize Jesus. “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live,” says Jesus to us. We see Jesus not as a historical character who said and did some neat things back in the day or even as the one coming some day soon to fix the mess we’re in in the future. No, we see Jesus as the one who remains with us, who lives within us as the other Advocate, in the realm of the Spirit.
Or do we? Do we really understand what it means to have a personal intimacy with Jesus? Do we see that Jesus is with us now? It’s all well and good for Jesus to talk about the other Advocate being with us but sometimes we don’t see it, we don’t feel that presence. When old wounds haunt us, when doors are closed, when nothing is going right, when prayer is empty, when God is silent, when burdened with grief, when my spirit is drained — how can I see God then? Where is intimacy with Jesus then? Apparently Our Lord expected that we would have these kinds of difficulties because we’re told what to do in order to experience Jesus: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me … and I will love him and reveal myself to him.” In order to recognize the Spirit of Jesus which remains within us we must obey the commandments of Jesus: which are — as we’re told elsewhere — love God whole-heartedly and love neighbor as yourself. To obey the commandment of Jesus to love assures us of his abiding presence with us and is what makes for great joy.
Of course, the Jesus that we see today comes disguised. We must look through that disguise with love to see his presence among us. To see Jesus, love your family: your parents, your children, your spouse, your brothers, your sisters. Love them enough that you are willing to forgive them. Life is too short for grudges. Love them enough that you want them to be better than they are now. Love them enough that you are willing to challenge them to love you back as you deserve.
To see Jesus, love all the people in your life: your friends, co-workers, people down the block. Love them enough that you are free to be yourself around them. Love them enough that you trust their good intentions even when they do something ridiculous or harmful. Love them enough to let them be different from you.
To see Jesus, love the world: in a preferential way, love the poor. Love them enough to feel a genuine connection with everyone. Love them enough that your lifestyle and values are changed. Love them enough to do what you can to feed the hungry, house the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned. Love them enough to work to change the reality that makes these conditions happen.
To see Jesus, it’s most important to love yourself, which is, after all, the foundation of love of neighbor. Love yourself enough to accept that your limits do not prevent you from being wonderfully made as God’s image and likeness. Love yourself enough to be patient that your conversion is a gradual process. Love yourself enough to believe God isn’t finished with you yet.
To see Jesus, to enter into a relationship with Jesus, we only have to love as best we can. That will be enough for the Holy Spirit to give us joy. Once there was a spindly little sparrow lying on its back in the middle of the road. A horseman comes by and asks the sparrow why he is lying there upside down like that. “Haven’t you heard, the sky is falling,” said the sparrow. “And I suppose your puny little legs can hold it up!” said the man. “One does what one can,” answered the sparrow, “one does what one can.”