Comforter

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Isaiah 40:1-11

“So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.” Eccles. 4:1-8

“ If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. ” John 14:16

Comfort: what state of being is that? And what will we do when we are uncomfortable in order to regain the comfort we have lost? What is a comforter and how shall we be comforted by it, or by Him?

It was time to take the great pillowy thing off of our bed a few weeks ago, and then the returning cold and unsettled weather made me bring it back again. Layers of fluffy down feathers are stitched into the inner quilt and a crème colored broadcloth covers over all. A comforter for cold nights. It's now folded and put away. The hot nights and stifling heat make me sweat now, the comforter that kept me from shivering just a few weeks ago.

It's a relief to see certain police officers assigned to sensitive jobs—like that of making notification of a loved one's death. As a police chaplain I have gone several times with officers to make an unwelcome visit to the next of kin, telling them their son or mother or brother was just reported deceased in another county or state. Car accident, suicide, death by unknown means, drugs, alcohol, violence: when the teletype comes into the dispatch office in Chico, it's an officer's job to inform the family. The cops are glad to bring a chaplain along, and sometimes we do the whole thing. The very fact of two uniformed men on one's front doorstep creates a panic in anyone's mind. It's a science to know how to arrange the scene that follows in order to minimize the damage you do to the party upon which you've dropped out of a peaceful sky to bring bad news. We chaplains are specially trained in this. Officers are not. They hate to do it, or else, as I heard from a fellow chaplain, they don't mind a bit because they do it so heartlessly and badly it never phases them. You don't want such an officer on a death notification. “Ding, dong, your mom is dead!” is a bad use of the office. When done properly, both the officer and chaplain give comfort during this terrifying moment; bring comfort out of duress. We rearrange someone's life in an instant, end a relationship, cut off expectations, shock some beyond consolation. It's hardest when a child has died. I've notified parents of their son's death, and a five-year-old boy that his mom died in his apartment last night.

It's during such stressful times, in times of great pain and fear that we need a comforter. I am pleased to do it for others when called upon—a hospital visit, a prayer over the phone, a listening ear, a house blessing, a deliverance prayer: in my clerical shirt and collar or my grey chaplain's uniform shirt & badge: I am a type of comforter. But that is because of the great Comforter.

What is translated “ comfort ” or “ comforter ” or “ comfortable ” in the King James Bible are many different words in Hebrew and in Greek. It can mean many things. In the Hebrew it can be to sigh, to be sorry, to pity, to console; to avenge, to ease oneself, to repent; to desist from grief, to recover strength; to give solace; to spread out a bed, to support, to establish, to hold up, to refresh, and to strengthen. It's an odd mix of meanings where the softness of pity and making a bed are contrasted with strengthening and avenging oneself. The various meanings in Greek add meanings to call near, to invite or invoke, beseech, call for, desire, entreat, pray; as well as to have courage, to be of good cheer. The Paraklete, the familiar Comforter promised by Jesus, is an intercessor, consoler, an advocate. In our tongue, to comfort originally meant to give strength, as in to build a fort or strong tower to assure safety from attack. In any case, comfort is a relief from darkness, distress and fear.

The darkness, distress and fear from which God promised relief to His people, the Jews of Isaiah's time, was the uncertainty of their safety against pagan armies, the fear of displeasing and alienating God again, and distress of knowing they were still sinful, still given to idolatry even after centuries of lessons in serving only the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Comfort ye my people. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem that her warfare is accomplished, her iniquity is pardoned: The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, every mountain and hill made low. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together… O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; lift up thy voice with strength; be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:1-11 A more encouraging word cannot be imagined. But of what was the Lord speaking? A voice crying in the wilderness : that was what John the Baptist called himself. He proclaimed the Messiah and dubbed Jesus “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” What did Jesus say of the Comforter?

At His Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples of His pending departure. He told them it was inevitable, imperative. “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” John 16:7 What was this Comforter? “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” John 15:26 The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, was withheld in some way from us until Jesus return to heaven. He said “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26 It was clear that God's restoration of mankind was not fully done with Christ's sacrifice. A transformation of our own souls was needed, and mere external laws and rituals could not perform this on our inner selves. Tablets of stone on which were inscribed the Decalogue could not make men holy. Laws did not make men obedient. They made them guilty. Seeing this, God showed Jeremiah, 600 years before that Pentecost:

“Behold, the days come that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, But this shall be the covenant that I will make with Israel; I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

As Jesus promised, the Comforter came. With the sound of wind, light like flame in their astonished faces, the disciples were indwelt with the Spirit of truth, and they rushed out into the streets of Jerusalem with the Good News in every language known to man. This Holy Spirit comes within every baptized member of Christ's Body, the Spirit of God who speaks inwardly to us of God's will for us, His good will toward us, His desire to have us live more closely with Him. How great a relief from darkness, distress and fear it is to know that God wants to live inside your spirit and show you Who He is and what He means to you.

“The Spirit of truth; ye know… for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you… Because I live, ye shall live also… If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him… Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” St. John 14

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