Orphans

6 Easter A 2008 RCL
(Acts 17: 22-31; Ps 66: 7-18; 1 Peter 3: 13-2; John 14: 15-21)


“Oh, you’re an orphan.”

I had never heard those words addressed to me before that day. My youngest Helen was about 4 years old. As our one native-born Oregonian, she had never seen other members of my side of the family “way out here” in the Northwest.

That summer evening at dinner she asked me, “Is your mommy dead?” Yes. “Is your daddy dead?” Yes. “Both your mommy AND your daddy are dead?” Yes, Helen.

Her little face filled with concern. “Oh, you’re an orphan!” she cried. She leapt to her feet and came around the table to wrap her arms around my neck.

I was surprised to feel something melt inside me, and tears sprang to my eyes. For a moment I felt like an orphan, alone in the world. And yet, with my preschooler’s arms around my neck, I felt understood and, strangely enough, I felt safe.

Something in us understands orphans. Think of all the characters in movies and books who are orphans. Harry Potter, the Beaudelaire children in “A Series Of Unfortunate Events.” Huck Finn. Frodo Baggins. Luke Skywalker. Oliver Twist. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys. The list goes on and on. Why do we need the stories of orphans? Why do we want to hear their stories over and over again?

Perhaps we understand what it is to be alone. Perhaps we understand what it is to be vulnerable. Perhaps we understand what it is to have no roots and no permanent home. Perhaps there is an orphan within each of us, and orphans who are always in our midst.

Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphaned.”

These words are spoken right before Jesus does leave his children, right before his friends and followers are orphaned. Jesus does abandon them, not by walking away like many children are abandoned today, but by disappearing into the horror of his trial and execution. I wonder if the Gospel preserves the word because the disciples of Jesus used it among themselves after Good Friday’s horrors. “Now we’re orphans. He’s left us alone.”

But he promises that we will never be alone. He will come again, he will come home to his children. And he will ask God for someone else to be with us.

Our translation calls this one who will stay with us the “Advocate.” The Advocate’s the one who will go with us to trial and will argue our case for us before anyone who judge us. The Greek word can also be translated “Comforter”, “comfort” in the old sense of “giving strength”. The Old Testament word is very strong—“blood-avenger”, the one who’s got our back in the alley when everyone else runs away. One translation simply says, “Friend.”

If we follow the Way of Jesus, then there is One who will always stand up for us in court. There is One who will always have our back. There is One will always give us strength. There is One will always be there as our Friend.

The mystery of God-in-the-world is a mystery of presence and absence, comfort even when we feel most abandoned. We as individuals, we as a church community, we as a people understand what it is to be orphans. But today we also understand that we are never alone, we never face our troubles alone. One is always with us, to comfort and guard, to challenge and to transform, to heal and to save.