Listen

“I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. The Companion, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.”

John 14:25-26

Think

A quick Google search tells us that the word companion grows from its Latin roots com, meaning “together with,” and panis, meaning “bread.” Later, it grows into the Middle French word, compaignon, literally meaning “one who breaks bread with another.” A note on the word “Companion” in John 14:25-26 tells us that it can also be translated “Advocate” here; this word’s Latin roots mean “to call to one’s aid.”

This juxtaposition of meanings reminds me less of a lesson in etymology and more of The Parable of the Good Samaritan. Aren’t we all the poor soul abandoned in the ditch? Aren’t we all crying out for help, hungry for a word of peace or comfort in a dying world? But aren’t we given these gifts through the Holy Spirit? The answer is yes, thank God! May our hearts be thankful for and open to Christ’s word and to the lessons we need to be taught, no matter how simple or difficult, because Lord knows we could not have a better Companion, Advocate, or Teacher.

Sarah Boatwright

Pray

Help me to learn words of thankfulness, O Lord, and teach me how to speak them today and every day.

Amen.

Go

O teach my heart to know Your Word
And treasure all that I have heard
O raise this everlasting seed
To bear the fruit of Christ in me

Abe and Liza Philip in “O Teach My Heart to Love Your Word” (2009)