John 14. 16 "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforter..."

John 14. 16 "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforter..."

Jesus is going away, but promises to come back and take them to be with him. They are facing a major change. They won't have Jesus with them; whatever happens to the Kingdom they signed up for, will be their responsibility.  They were human. Like us, they were uncomfortable with change and with responsibility.

Jesus goes on to say he is going to get these rooms ready for them to occupy. "You know the way there", he says. The lads are upset about this.  They are arguing with Jesus...

 "No, we don't know, Lord," Thomas said. "We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?"  (v5 NLT, which translates Thomas' words brilliantly!)

Jesus answers, "I am the way, the truth and the life... If you know me, you know the Father.  From now on you have seen him..." and Philip again begs to differ.  "Show us the Father and we'll be happy with that.  That's all we want..."  (He doesn't agree that they have seen the Father.)

Jesus says, "Have I been around so long yet you guys don't know me. If you've seen me you have seen the Father. What about the powerful things I have done? Don't they show you something of the Father's character?"

It seems like these guys were really slow.  But so are we. And we argue with Jesus too.  We sometimes think, "What's he on about?"  or, "That can't be done."  We want to do the safe thing - arrange a meeting like we know we can do because we've done before; get a good speaker, show a film, buy into a programme, hand out leaflets. Or else we want to tell ourselves witness if difficult because nobody's listening; ... Jesus says, "heal the sick; find the person of peace; tell them the good news; the fields are white for harvest; you'll do greater works than me (not more spectacular miracles but a more widespread mission)"

Three years intensive training and mentoring with the best teacher the world has even known, the most effective mentor - because he could do the stuff as well as teach it; and because he understood exactly what was going on inside his students all the time.  Yet they still didn't get it.  Facing this big change from having Jesus walking with them from day to day, to knowing Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father, it was not just knowledge they needed... they needed power. They needed presence. They needed someone to keep walking with them, and not only with them but in them: "Another Comforter, The Holy Spirit."

Unlike English, Greek has two words for "other".  "Heteros" means another, different.  Don't you get annoyed when people say "England" when the really mean "Britain"?  We want to tell people, "Scotland" is another country. It's different to England.  That's "heteros". The second word is "allos"; it means another of the same.  Remember the song about the red yo-yo?  It finishes off when "Wee Annie announced that her Granny had bought her another yo-yo."  It was another of the same: "a red yo-yo wi' a wee yellow string!"  That's "allos".  Jesus says the Spirit is another comforter, an "allos" comforter, another the same as Jesus.

The "Comforter".  That word is one attempt to translate a Greek word "parakletos" that means "one called alongside" - like a lawyer who stands beside you in court and speaks on your behalf.  Like a comforter or an encourager who is with you in difficult times. Like a helper who does the things you cannot do for yourself. Jesus says "another comforter."

The Holy Spirit... The breath, the wind of God blowing in and through them.  The Spirit who was hovering over the deep at the beginning of creation; the Spirit of truth who has been already working with them through Jesus; and who was going to come to work inside them.  That is who the Holy Spirit is.  He is God; like Jesus is.  He is God who is always there, with us and around us all the time; he is God come to live inside us, and to equip us from the inside.

Now let me say I believe in teaching and I believe in training and mentoring.  I believe that in Church leadership we need to do what we can do to develop skills, knowledge and character, so all Christians can become Confident, competent and credible.  But teaching and mentoring on their own are not enough. We need something else... We need the Holy Spirit...

How can we have the Spirit?

He is given...to people who love Jesus and have fundamentally brought their lives into line with his Kingdom. The synoptic word for that is repentance... Jesus doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is only given to people who are perfect.  We are not going to be perfect and sinless until we see Jesus in Heaven.  We sin; we repent; we are forgiven; we are slowly transformed.  That's the mystery and the process of grace in our lives.  But grace, forgiveness, the Kingdom of God, are all about repentance, a decision that says that as far as we are able, we will live our lives under god's rule and authority.  "If you love me you will obey my commands" Jesus says.

He is given...Because of Jesus.  It is Jesus who asks. He promises to do this asking.  He does this asking from the right hand of the father.    He hints at that when he says, "If I go away I will come to you".  In John 7. 37-39 we are told the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.  It's the glorified Jesus, the Jesus who has paid for all our sins, who has brought us back to the Father, restored us into a relationship with our Heavenly Father, who promises to ask the Father to give us the spirit.  And in John 7.37 Jesus says we need to thirst and to drink.  Drinking is a matter of putting yourself and the water together. Holding the glass to your lips, tipping it towards you and swallowing.  To drink is the simplest way in which animals take things into their bodies.  We need to ask the Father. When we pray for the spirit we join with the Prayers of Jesus.

He is given...By the Father. "Jesus says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you the Spirit".   Jesus also tells us that the father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him...  We have a loving Heavenly Father who delights to give good gifts to his Children.  You don't have to impress your heavenly Father to receive the Spirit.  You don't even have to twist his arm.  He is a loving Heavenly Father who delights to give.  Jesus knows.  He walked and walks intimately with the Father and he knows, "I will ask the Father and he will give you the Holy Spirit."  This is a Father/son issue here.  We need to get to the place where we know our Heavenly father's love and care over us, and where we trust our Heavenly Father enough to know, just to know that throe will be no prevarication, no criticisms, no arguments. Just generosity. He will give you the Spirit.  The Spirit comes from both the Father and from Jesus. Like two people clubbing together to get a really special Birthday present for a friend: but whose idea was it; and who put the most money into it, and who went to the shops and bought it? That doesn't really matter; the present comes from both of them.


You can't follow Jesus simply on the basis of Bible teaching, mentoring, and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. You need to Holy Spirit to come and to fill your life.  The Holy Spirit is Father's gift and Jesus' prayer to you.  If you are walking in obedience to Jesus, Jesus has asked the Father to give you the Spirit. Expect the Spirit to come: expect him to bring a focus on jesus; to help you to understand God's truth from his word; to give you gifts that equip you to serve; to help you share God's love with other people.  Will you add your prayer to those of Jesus today and put yourself in the place where the Spirit can fill your life?

© Gilmour Lilly June 2011