When the Counselor Comes

The ministry of the Holy Spirit in His Church is meant to form the Person of Christ within you so that you can love your enemies, thrive even when persecuted, and be empowered to become like Christ!

Accepting help isn’t my strong suit. Of course, I try to disguise this weakness by boasting that I’m a servant to others and “ignoring myself.”

But the truth is often I just don’t want anyone to know I need help.

And that is prideful foolishness.

At the heart of this weakness is unexamined expectations. My expectation that I should always appear capable and free of needing help is simply unreasonable, and, truthfully, dishonest. When I don’t regularly and honestly explore my expectations for my self and others, I can guarantee I will stumble over those very expectations.

But having unrealistic expectations and allowing them to crush us into despair is harmful. So, how do we navigate this reality?

We look outside ourselves for our true purpose, and then we embrace the incredible truth that the Lord has sent us: “One called alongside to help!” And we confront the very real truth that we do, indeed, need the help from the Helper.

Here’s the lesson today in John 15:17-27; 16:1-2:

The Lord said to his disciples: “This I command you, to love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It is to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”

First, Jesus sets the goal! Love one another!

By the way, you must understand that commandment defines and sets the standard for “love” by how God loves us. Until you reach that standard, you have work to do and repentance to embrace. God loves expecting nothing in return. God loves even when we don’t love Him back. God loves. Period.

And then Jesus tells His followers and us what kind of world He commands them to love one another in. It is a world that will hate them because that world hated Jesus. And this hatred will end up having many think you are the bad guy for following Jesus. And not only that, but they will mistreat you and punish you, all the while thinking they are doing a good thing because you follow Jesus! Oh, and don’t forget to abandon hating them back or feeling like life is unfair because you are mistreated. Yep, all that has got to go as well.

Ouch, how am I supposed to ever hope from even getting close to following my Lord’s command to “love one another?”

I'm glad you asked!

Jesus has sent us the Help we need to obey His command! He has sent us the One Who eternally proceeds from the Father —the Holy Spirit —the Paraclete —the “One Called Alongside to Help!” How will the Holy Spirit help us? He will always remind us to focus on Jesus so that we can be His witnesses in the world.

You see, Jesus DOES love us more than we, ourselves, know how to love.

So, if I have any hope of growing and maturing and becoming strong and consistent in my love of you and Him, I have to have the power of attentiveness to keep my life focused on Him.

Here comes the Holy Spirit to remind me of Jesus’ life, His words, His wisdom, His love, His actions, and His strength. Here comes the Holy Spirit to strengthen me and focus me on Christ. Here comes The Helper because I need help!

And that strength that took a corpse and resurrected that corpse from the dead on Easter morning is the very strength available to me to accomplish everything the Lord has commanded! That makes following Jesus in a chaotic world that hates Him and me possible. There is no room for despair or giving up. He is here to help, at every moment, in every situation, all the time! And His help is nothing less than the very power and grace of God Himself added to our willing hearts to remake us into His likeness so that the world can see what true love really is.

St. Haralambos the Great Martyr is a classic example of what a person filled with the Spirit can endure. He was a priest in the city of Magnesia in Thessaly at the beginning of the 3rd century when Alexander Severus was Emperor. St. Haralambos was already very old when news of his powerful ministry converting many to Christ was heard by the local pagan Roman officials. They had him arrested and attempted to torture him into renouncing Christ, and, in spite of already being over 100 years old, this Spirit-filled man wouldn’t budge. In fact, as they tortured him it is reported he told his tormented “I thank you, brethren, that you have restored my spirit, which longs to pass over to a new and everlasting life!” Two soldiers witnessing his strong faith and endurance confessed Christ and were immediately beheaded and three women also turned to Christ in seeing the saint’s faith and they were also martyred. Finally, the saint himself was beheaded. The Paraclete empowered this great hero to see beyond the temporary and even love his torturers.

Today, are you feeling weak? Believe it or not, that’s a good place to be IF you turn your life to Christ and ask for His help to endure with joy, knowing you are not alone. You are not abandoned. The Comforter is holding all the wisdom and love of Christ, ready to pour that strength into your weakness as much as you can bear and as much as you need to make you a Normal Orthodox Christian!

P.S. O wise Haralambos, you were proven an unshakable pillar of the Church of Christ; an ever-shining lamp of the universe. You shone in the world by your martyrdom. You delivered us from the moonless night of idolatry O blessed one. Wherefore, boldly intercede to Christ that we may be saved.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV