+ 6th Sunday of Easter – May 10th, 2026 +
Series A: Acts 17:16-31; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the beginning, the Lord declared everything he made to be good. Creation, with its greater and lesser lights, its flora and fauna, its creeping things that creep on the ground. Finally, on the 6th day of creation, the Lord declared it all that he had made not only good, but very good. There was, however, one thing that was not good in Eden. It was not good for the man to be alone. So God made Eve as a helpmeet and companion and wife for him.
From the beginning, where God gave Adam and Eve to each other as husband and wife in the garden, to the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation, God’s grace is our constant companion, and in his compassion he creates us to be in communion, in fellowship with him and with one another.
God patterns our earthly lives after his own mysterious, eternal life and being. God himself is an eternal communion: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the eternal three in one.
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.
What’s true of Adam and Eve in Eden is true for Jesus’ disciples and for you. It’s not good for us to be alone.
For when we’re alone, we are the sheep that stray and wander from our Shepherd.
We’re Israel in the wilderness, grumbling and complaining and longing to return to slavery in Egypt. We’re Cain living East of Eden, with a heart full of murder and hands stained in blood.
We’re Israel in the days of the Judges, each of us doing what is right in our own eyes.
We’re David, full of lies and lust and love of self. We’re the dead, lifeless bones Ezekiel saw decaying in the valley.
We’re there with the disciples in the upper room. Afraid. Dismayed. Bewildered. Betrayers. Alone. Worried. Sinners in need of rescue. The guilty in need of an advocate. The helpless in need of a Helper.
It is not good for us to be alone in our sin.
So what does our Lord do? For us, he is no fair-weather friend. Jesus is faithful. The friend of sinners. Our advocate.
The Good Shepherd who leaves the 99, pulls us out of the wolf’s jaws, throws us on his back and carries us home. Jesus is our Passover Lamb who was sacrificed to set us free from slavery, sin and the serpent. Jesus is our brother whose blood speaks for us a better word than the blood of Abel – pardon. Forgiveness. His life for our life. Jesus is the one who does what is right in the Father’s eyes for you. Jesus is David’s son and David’s Lord and our faithful King, crowned in thorns and blood and robed in all our lust and lies to save. Jesus breathes his life-giving breath on his disciples, and upon you, raising your from the dead by His life-giving Spirit.
What Jesus promises, he gives. What we lack our Lord supplies. The comfort and help we can never seem to find on our own, Jesus delivers. The Holy Spirit, the other advocate we need, Jesus sends.
It’s not good for us to be alone. So Jesus sends another Helper. Another Advocate. Defender. Comforter.
When Jesus sends his Holy Spirit, splashing into our lives and hearts and minds in Holy Baptism, you are given the holiness you lack. You are given a holiness you did not earn or deserve. That’s what makes God’s work grace. Gift. The Spirit, and fruits of the Spirit and life by the Spirit…freely given to you in Jesus.
When Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit, we who were alone in death and darkness and the dungeon of the grave are made and declared to be a new creation by water, word, and the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who hovered over the waters of the deep in the beginning, makes you a new creation and a new beginning in Jesus.
When Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit, our lifeless, dead, decaying bones are raised from the dust and the ashes. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live
Jesus sends his Spirit not only do the work of God for his disciples - comforting them, strengthening them, encouraging them - but He will also do the work of God through them. He will dwell with them and be in them (14:17). The Spirit will lead them to keep the commandments of Jesus. The sacrificial love of Jesus becomes the sacrificial love of His disciples and the world will know God’s people by the love they have for one another and for the world (14:12, 15, and 21; cf. 1 John). “I will not leave you as orphans” Jesus promises. I will come to you.
Our Lord knows that it’s not good for us to be alone. So until the day of our Bridegroom’s return and the return of the King and the marriage supper of the Lamb, our Lord sends the Holy Spirit
Who points us to Christ.
Who consoles us in the cross and resurrection of Christ.
Who intercedes for us through the blood of Christ.
Who hallows us in the name of Christ.
Who dwells with us and for us and in us filling us with the love of Christ.
Who instructs us in the Scripture of Christ.
Who enlightens us, enlivens us, and encourages us in our daily callings in life in Christ.
Jesus sends his Spirit to you still.
To comfort you in the cross of Jesus.
To strengthen you in his Word.
To point you, like a good hunting dog, to the word and water and body and blood where Jesus crucified and risen abides with you and for you.
It’s not good for us to be alone. And in the Father who sends His Son, in the Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son to you and in you, you are never alone.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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