John 14:15-21 (NRSV Updated Edition)
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This 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.
“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They 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.”
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"Parakleitos, in Greek, is the exact equivalent of advocate or the Latin 'advocatus'. The Paraclete is called on behalf of the prisoner, the victim, to speak in his place and in his name, to act in his defense. The Paraclete is the universal advocate, the chief defender of all innocent victims, the destroyer of every representation of persecution. He is truly the spirit of truth that dissipates the fog of mythology."
- René Girard, “History and the Paraclete,” chapter 15 from The Scapegoat, pg. 207
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"In today's Gospel which is a direct continuation from last Sunday's, ... Jesus seems to talk about an advocate who is the Spirit of Truth. ... [H]ere's Jesus before he goes his death, explaining to his disciples what's going to happen. He's just told them, as he's told them last time, that because he's going to the Father - meaning: because he's going up to his death, they will be able to do greater things than he. So this is part of his unpacking of that: what is it that will enable them to do greater things than he.
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"Strangely, the defense counselor is the Spirit of truth [vs 16,17]. Because Jesus has gone to his death, because he has occupied the place of death, of shame, of accusation, of lies, the one who is cast out falsely, what he's going to be able to provide to his disciples, which will enable them to keep his commandments and enabled them to love him, will be the Spirit of truth, which will appear as a defence counsellor. In other words, [the Spirit's] job will be to ward off the lies. It will be establishing the truth, meaning that Jesus' followers will start to be able to live as sons and daughters straightforwardly, becoming themselves in the midst of this very corrupt and violent world.
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“You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” He will dwell in you. In other words, this Spirit, this angelic presence, is going to be inside us, turning us into Jesus. That's what's being promised. And this is going to happen in the same way that it transforms us into people who hold his commandments and are loved by him. Being loved by him, receiving the Spirit and becoming people who hold his commandments and therefore become witnesses to him - part of the same project.
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“In a little while the world will no longer see me,”- he's about to be crucified - “but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” ... In other words, it's because I'm going to be in you that you are going to be able to share my life and see that I live. This is an entirely participatory understanding of God and of how we become God's daughters and sons.
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“They 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.“ 'Emphanisō' - I will reveal myself in them or into them, I will 'in-reveal' myself to them, rather suggesting that this spilling out of the Lord's affection and love is not only going to be a series of apparitions, which happened after the resurrection, but much more of the way in which he's going to show himself in us, so that we are able to become the manifestations, the hints of the spilling over of the love of God that makes us not orphans or servants, but friends, sons and daughters, heirs, insiders; those who are working through with the Spirit, the defence of truth that enables creation to open up in the midst of the vanity-stricken and futility-run world."
- James Alison, from video "Homily for Sixth Sunday of Easter Year A" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n3IP6_OgYw)
[Source of quote from René Girard's "The Scapegoat", and for analysis and discussion on all the lectionary texts for this Sunday: http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/easter6a/]
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