Reflection for the Website – Sunday 10th May 2026 – Easter 6A
15”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. 18”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” (John 14:15-21)
As we approach Ascension Day, which falls this coming Thursday, question comes to mind: How will Jesus remain present with his followers once he has ascended back to heaven? This is exactly the question that comes up in our Gospel passage for today, in which Jesus gives us a glimpse of the answer. He reassures his friends: they will not be left alone. “I will not leave you orphaned,” he says. And he goes on to promise: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.”
Another Advocate… That phrase might make us pause. Another Advocate, we might ask? Wasn’t Jesus already our Advocate? And indeed he was the first Advocate. Now, though, he promises a new presence—the Spirit of Truth—who will act much like Jesus, walking with us, guiding us, encouraging us, even after Jesus has returned to the Father. And just as Jesus supports and encourages us, so too will the Holy Spirit, the Advocate. Always.
But there’s a condition, a simple one. Jesus says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” That is what opens the way for this promise of the Advocate. Later he explains it further: “Those who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me. And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.” Now, John’s Gospel doesn’t give us a long list of commandments. But just a little before this, Jesus gave the great New Commandment, which we remember especially at Maundy Thursday: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
So here’s the heart of it: to open ourselves to these amazing promises—God’s love, Jesus’ presence, and the support of the Spirit—we simply follow Jesus’ example. We love one another. When we do, we are loved in return. And we receive the Holy Spirit to guide us, comfort us, and sustain us through life’s challenges. And this is our mission too: to share God’s presence and love with others. Not just with words, but with our actions—by loving one another, by welcoming all in our community, by living out God’s love in the world.
So let us pray that we may experience this deep awareness of God’s presence, and that we may carry this love into the world:
God of all time and space,
you initiated the relationship of love and generosity
with creation,
at a time before and beyond all knowing.
Through the Word and the Spirit,
you continue in eternal love for all beings.
Fill us with a deep and abiding awareness
of your presence, your call, and your grace in our lives and in our world.
Shape us into the people you have made us to be poured out in creative mercy
for the sake of Jesus Christ in all creation. Amen.