All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.-John 14:25-27
Jesus in today’s passage is actively preparing his disciples for his death in the next few hours. Jesus promises his disciples that even though he will soon no longer be with them in body that God is going to send a helper/advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will teach them and remind them of everything that they had heard and been taught by Jesus. This was the peace that Jesus left his disciples. But he didn’t just leave it for his disciples. He left for you and for me, also. The promise of the Holy Spirit was not just for Jesus followers then, but it is also for anyone who will follow him now. The day you accept Jesus as your Lord and savior the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of you. And he immediately begins to work on changing you and teaching you. The more you grow as a follower of Christ the Holy Spirit will also begin to remind of things and to act as your advocate and your helper. The same peace Jesus gave his disciples, that of continued access to him and God through the Holy Spirit, you and I have through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That is why we are told to not be troubled and to not be afraid. As followers of Jesus we have access to something that the world cannot access nor can they take it away. We have access to someone who will guide us and direct us, who when we don’t know what to ask for intercedes on our behalf, and who is there to stand with us and for us as our advocate and our helper. Until we, as followers of Jesus, come to realize that through the indwelling of Holy Spirit Jesus lives inside of us, we will never have the peace that Jesus promised to leave us with.