Jesus as Defense Attorney

I've long been struck by an image of Jesus that doesn't seem to be talked about very often (no, not Jesus as mother hen) -- Jesus as defense attorney. Jesus is depicted as having ascended to heaven to plead our case before God, and is often described as our advocate. And Satan, of course, is often portrayed as our prosecuting attorney. Now, as my friend S pointed out, we could also view the Holy Spirit as our attorney, since he's described as our counselor. But I think it's a better analogy to think of the Holy Spirit as the victim's advocate. He's the one that helps us through the trial, let's us know how it's going, that sort of thing. Of course, this points to something interesting, though scarcely unknown -- we are both victim and defendant.

I doubt this idea will strike many as especially new or original, though hopefully it's interesting. It's not exactly a new picture of Christ. But it might be interesting to use this image to think of defense and prosecuting attorneys in a different way. Prosecutors like to think of themselves as knights on white horses, upholding justice and the law. But it might be a useful dose of humility to remember that, in the heavens, it is the devil who is the prosecutor.