The Helper, The One Called Alongside to Help!

Emotionally, I’m done. Mentally, I’m drained. Spiritually, I feel dead. Physically, I smile! Ever been there? Yeah, me too. So what drives us to wait till it’s almost too late to ask for help? Pride? Fear?

Probably both, and then some other realities like not knowing ourselves well enough to realize when we’re getting into the danger zone of our lives.

Of course, part of the problem could be we have unexamined expectations and goals. To be sure, it’s important to set high goals so we don’t tumble down into the pit of low expectations. But it is just as harmful to have unrealistic expectations and allow them to crush us into despair. So, how do we navigate this reality? We look outside ourselves for our true purpose and then we embrace the awesome truth that the Lord has sent us “One called alongside to help!”

Personally, I was raised as a Pentecostal and heard about the Holy Spirit all my life. But it was only when I entered the Orthodox Church that I really got to know just how important the Holy Spirit is to my everyday life!

Here’s the lesson today in John 15:17-27; 16:1-2:

The Lord said to his disciples: “This I command you, to love one another. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all this they will do to you on my account, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. It is to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”

First, Jesus sets the goal! Love one another! By the way, you have to understand that commandment defines and sets the standard for “love” by how God loves us. Until you reach that standard, you have work to do and repentance to embrace. Then Jesus tells His followers and us what kind of world He is commanding them to love one another in. It is a world that will hate them because that world hated Jesus. And this hatred will end up having many think you are the bad guy for following Jesus. And not only that, but they will mistreat you and punish you all the while thinking they are doing a good thing because you follow Jesus! Oh, and don’t forget to abandon hating them back or feeling like life is unfair because you are mistreated. Yep, all that has got to go as well.

Ouch, how am I supposed to ever hope from even getting close to following my Lord’s command to “love one another?”

Glad you asked!

Jesus has sent us the Help we need to obey His command! He has sent us He Who eternally Proceeds from the Father – The Holy Spirit – The Paraclete – The One Called Alongside to Help! And how will the Holy Spirit help us? He will always remind you to forever focus on Jesus so that you will be His witness in the world. He will empower you like He empowered the disciples on the Day of Pentecost (see Acts 2). He will give you the ability to pay attention in a world that is filled with distractions!

You see, Jesus DOES love us more than we, ourselves, know how to love. So, if I have any hope of growing and maturing and getting strong and becoming consistent in my love of you and Him, I have to have the power of attentiveness to keep my life focused on Him. Here comes the Holy Spirit to remind me of Jesus’ life, His words, His wisdom, His love, His actions, and His strength. And that strength that took a corpse and resurrected that corpse from the dead on Easter morning is the very strength available to me to accomplish everything the Lord has commanded! That makes following Jesus in a chaotic world that hates Him and me possible. No room for despair or giving up. He is here to help, at every moment, in every situation, all the time! And the Holy Spirit is as close to you right now as the breath in your body!

If anyone exemplified a person filled with the Holy Spirit, it was St. Demetrios, whom we remember today. This pious man was raised by pious parents and continued their legacy of faith and devotion to Christ in the city of Thessaloniki. The Roman Emperor Maximilian, upon hearing how noble and wise Demetrios was, named him the Duke of Thessaly in 290 AD, even though Demetrios was just a young adult. When Maximilian arrived in Thessaloniki for the games, he was told that Demetrios was a Christian and Christianity was illegal at that time in the Empire. Maximilian had St. Demetrios arrested and held in the bathhouse as a prisoner until after the games when he would be punished. During the games, a certain arrogant athlete named Lyaeus, a favorite of the Emperor, boasted he would fight anybody and win, and he ridiculed the Christians for good measure. He defeated all that fought him! A young man named Nestor who knew St. Demetrios, came to the saint to ask his advice and prayers. St. Demetrios gave his blessing to fight the haughty Lyaeus, and Nestor stepped into the arena and cried out “O God of Demetrius, help me!” Nestor defeated the pagan with a blow to the heart. The Emperor’s champion lay dead in the arena and this so infuriated Maximilian that he had St. Demetrios killed in the bathhouse and had St. Nestor killed with his own sword.

Today, are you feeling weak? Believe it or not, that’s a good place to be IF you turn your life to Christ and ask for His help to endure with joy, knowing you are not alone. You are not abandoned. There is the Comforter holding all the wisdom and love of Christ, ready to pour that strength into your weakness as much as you can bear and as much as you need to keep you Orthodox on Purpose!

P.S. The world has found in you a great champion in time of peril, as you emerged the victor in routing the barbarians. For as you brought to naught the boasts of Lyaeus, imparting courage to Nestor in the stadium, in like manner, holy one, great Martyr Demetrios, invoke Christ God for us, that He may grant us His great mercy.

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