Jesus’ grief-stricken followers cannot imagine life without him. So absorbed are they in their loss that they fail even the courtesy of asking him how he is negotiating these turbulent waters. Yet Jesus is convinced that the Advocate (traditionally, Paraklete) will more than compensate for the kind of ‘absence’ that he foresees:
But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
It is difficult to accept that this will be. Will this Advocate illuminate their lives with prescient teaching? Will he heal ugly, oozing disease? Will he restore demented minds to their prior clarity? Can an Advocate restore the sight of blind people, make lame ones dance?
Will an Advocate accompany these men and women through life’s batterings with the gentle-strong solidity that they have come to know in their friend Jesus? Can he face down the ‘religious authorities’ who have turned matters of faith into personal prerogative?
Yes, Jesus assures them. He will.
Canter Bridge 
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