Year A – Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2026
Pastor Megan Floyd
Acts 17:22-31
John 14:15-21
Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, who, together with Jesus Christ, abides with us, and in us, and we in them. Amen.
***
Just a year ago, Robert Francis Prevost became Leo XIV and… the first American Pope. Now, I do have great respect for the Pope in general, but… as a Lutheran, I don’t subscribe to the idea of Popes.
However, as an American who started life in Chicago, I have been rather delighted by Leo’s election. I kinda love that the pope is one of us, and in more ways than I could have predicted.
Just this past week, a story came out about Pope Leo… and I promise, this is not a set up for a joke…
It seems that Leo was doing some household financial oversight, and he realized he needed to update his address and phone number… new job and everything… it’s natural to get behind on those things.
So Leo called the customer service line for his bank, gave his name, Robert Francis Prevost, and answered all the security questions.
It might have been one thing if he were just moving his address from one side of Chicago to the other, but… to Vatican City??
The bank representative said that she couldn’t help over the phone… “Even though I gave you all the right passwords?” the pope asked.
“No,” she said, “you’ll have to come in.”
“That’s just not possible” he replied… “Why?” she asked. “Well… because I’m the pope.” Leo said. …And she hung up on him.
It turns out that once again, the pope is just like us… he also needs an Advocate!
And as it happens, our Holy Advocate… is just what we’re talking about this week…
Our Gospel text today continues from last week… we are still in Jesus’ “farewell discourse,” …his lengthy ‘goodbye’ to his disciples… his friends… on the evening of their last supper.
He is consoling and encouraging them… they are understandably distraught. But Jesus assures them that his departure is not abandonment… they will still be together as long as they keep going along the Way … the Way that they’ve all been traveling…
They will still be together, since Jesus IS “the Way.” …and even though he must leave, in his place, God will send them “another Advocate” who will be with us forever.
Indeed… our God knows… we all need an Advocate… even the pope! …We all need a guide, a teacher, a helper… an intercessor, a companion, and a comforter.
However we translate the word… Paracletos… it means, ‘one who comes alongside.’ And so, Jesus promises his followers that we will never be abandoned… never left to figure this all out ourselves… never left to navigate the Way alone.
And as we know… Jesus is the Way… the truth… and the life… and as we follow that Way, we have the Holy Spirit alongside us to sustain us… counsel us… and guide us along right pathways for the sake of the one who created us in love.
Jesus is the Way… and the Way of Jesus is always and ever… love. And so the Holy Spirit is with us to guide us in the ways of love… love for God, love for our neighbor… and love for ourselves. For everything, Jesus said, can be summed up by love.
And yet, as I shared last week… love is not always easy to feel. Sometimes, it’s about the last emotion we might be able to produce, despite God’s holy command.
And again this week, we are reminded that love is not a passive emotion… love is an action. Love is how we live, and move and have our being… in God, and for our neighbors.
And that is why Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If you love me, it will show through in how you treat the least among you… If you love me, it will be evident in how you work to break the chains of injustice…
If you love me, it will be clear in how you are… in this world. Not by how often you claim to love me… but in how often it shows through your actions.
Jesus says… “If you love me… you will keep my commandments.”
“If you love me…” It’s also an open-ended phrase that really invites us to think about how our lives of faith intersect with a world that doesn’t always recognize God.
Like Paul, in our reading from Acts… challenged to proclaim the gospel to Greeks who knew nothing about Jewish or Christian traditions. He was willing to meet them where they were… not offering condescension or judgment for their ways, but rather… invitation.
Paul fully encapsulated their spirituality by expressing that God, who made the whole world, is the same God who made them… and that God lives in them, and they in God, and through God, we all have our very being.
God is present… everywhere… even in places that do not call upon God’s holy name… even in places that take God’s holy name in vain. God… is still there.
And so Jesus’ words to us… “If you love me…” leaves us with the very real question… how do we show our love by keeping Jesus’ commandments when we are faced with people and policies that cause harm, or promote injustice and inequality?
How do we embody Jesus’ love in places that are decidedly antithetical to the Way of Christ?
Are we really called to love all people, regardless of whether they value the Way of Christ that we strive to follow?
I’m sorry to be the bearer of difficult news, but… yes. Yes, we are called to love them… love them as a piece of God’s good Creation that bears both the image of God, and the same promise of ultimate redemption that we ourselves carry.
For God promised that ultimately all of Creation would be redeemed… and all things would be made new. And I trust… I trust God’s promise.
So yes, we are called to love them… but we do not have to manufacture that love on our own.
For as Jesus promised, we have our Advocate… the Holy Spirit… the one who intercedes for us… the presence of God who comes alongside us to give us strength, instruction, and courage to follow the Way of love… the Way of Christ.
This is the Spirit of truth who continuously reveals to us God and God’s ways… and holds fast to us in that mutual abiding… of Christ in us and us in Christ, and together we are in and with God and the Spirit.
Mutual abiding… held together with love.
And so, we are called to show our love for Jesus by loving others in active ways… by following Jesus’ commandments… with the help of our Advocate.
We show that love by finding ways to show hospitality to all, but especially the marginalized, just as Jesus did… and loving others by speaking up for those who are being mistreated… those who are being harmed, just as Jesus did.
Because even though we are called to love those who act in ways that are adversarial to God’s Way… causing harm to others… truly loving someone often means that we do what we can to interrupt that which drives them to cause harm…
Truly loving another can look like interrupting patterns that drive them away from God’s desire for abundant life for all… and showing them that there is another way to live… a way of life that transforms the whole world, and brings us just a little closer to the kingdom of God.
Only love can that.
And with each interaction, if we succeed, then not only does the harm cease, but the one who was causing that harm is moved closer to the Way of Christ… the Way of love.
Both oppressor and oppressed can be returned to the center of community, and closer to the wholeness that God desires for us all.
And so when we stand with those who are cast out… and also when we disrupt sinful ways that cause harm and restore people to life… that is the holy work of the Spirit who lives in us…
The Spirit who calls us to travel alongside others… image bearers for God… disciples, who are following the Way of Jesus… which is always the Way of love.
These actions of love, though… they don’t always have to be grand gestures.
The Holy Spirit, our intercessor, is also very present in the daily, simple ways that we show up for others… small ways that reinforce that we all belong to each other… and that life is better when we look out for each other.
As I mentioned in the beginning… even the pope needed an Advocate. After hearing about his customer service troubles with the bank, a priest on the South Side of Chicago, who had the bank’s president as a member of his parish, called him up …and vouched for Pope Leo. Problem solved!
A small, simple gesture that reinforced our shared need for each other… a mutuality that is reflected in the Divine that is both in us, and all around us.
So may we all lean into our call to follow the Way of Christ… to recognize the presence of our Advocate, God’s Holy Spirit, guiding us always… down paths of love for all people… for in all people… is the presence of God. Amen.