All four gospels talk about the night before Jesus died, but only John details Jesus' instructions to his disciples. Jesus lets the disciples know that He will be leaving them, and they respond with surprise, confusion and dismay. He lets them know that He has to leave so that the "other advocate" can be with them. If we think of an advocate as a legal advocate in today's world, it is someone who represents you, someone who stands up for you and even someone that makes a case for you. With God the Father as the judge, Jesus is our defender and our advocate. He is making a case for us with God. But after that, the analogy breaks down. Jesus didn't just represent us and make a case for us. When God, the judge, pronounced us guilty, instead of the sentence being imposed on us, Jesus took the punishment through his death on the cross. I'm not aware of any defense attorneys that have done that for their clients. So if Jesus is our advocate, who is the "other advocate" he refers to. The other advocate is the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us. While Jesus, the first advocate, speaks to God on our behalf, the Holy Spirit, the other advocate, talks to us for us. I want to do a better job listening. And I pray that is true for each of us today.
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