Tuesday,
November 10 –
It is
Tuesday and we are continuing to read through the Upper Room Discourse in John
13 – 16. Today’s reading is in one of
the most well-known, but often misunderstood passages – John 14:1 – 31. Please read the passage first and then return
to reflect on the reading with me, and thanks.
Over the 48 years of Pastoral ministry, I probably have used the beginning of
John 14 more than any other passage – all because of funerals. The context is that Jesus is celebrating the
Passover – his “last supper” – with the disciples in the “upper room”. After Judas Iscariot leaves, Jesus told the
disciples two things: 1) He gives to
them “a new commandment”- to “love one another”. The impact of genuine love between Christians
is no small thing. Jesus reminds us – “By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another” (13:35). 2) He tells them
that he is soon to leave them – “Where I am going you cannot follow me now,
but you will follow afterward” (13:36).
The disciples are clearly confused by his leaving, and Peter’s bravado
of being willing to follow Jesus is probably something that others feel
also. John’s narrative didn’t take a
break at the end of chapter 13, and so we read Jesus in the context of his
continuing teaching:
“Let
not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house
are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a
place for you? And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to
myself, that where I am you may be also. And
you know the way to where I am going” (14:1–4).
The
disciples are probably stunned as they realize Jesus is talking about dying and
going to heaven. He had just said he was
leaving, but they probably thought in terms of something earthly. As we read Jesus’ words, we realize he’s
saying, “don’t let your hearts be troubled about my leaving”. He explains something they had never heard
before – that he is going to prepare heaven for their arrival also. As a child, I remember hearing of “many
mansions”. Growing up in a poorer middle-class
household, I imagined the idea of living in a mansion – and all of my
fantasizing was very American in scope.
The words “many rooms” is a singular Greek word, “monē” (mo nay), and it means “a place to live, abide, a
residence”. The word is rooted in Old
Testament Jewish culture. A bride lived
with her parents even though she was “betrothed” to be married. When her future husband has finished
preparing the home they would live in – a home on, or near, his Father’s estate
– the husband would return to receive his bride. The wedding feast might go on for a week or
more, but they now have a new “monē” to live together in. Jesus’ promise is that his leaving will only
be temporary, and one day he will come again to receive them to himself.
Jesus’
promise of returning doesn’t mean they understood, and Thomas speaks up for all
of them expressing that he neither knows the way Jesus is going nor the
destination. “Thomas said to him,
“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (14:5). It is in response to Thomas that Jesus states
the next of his “I AM” (ego-eimi) statements: “Jesus said to him, “I
am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me” (14:6). While it is
often quoted, it is also often misunderstood.
Jesus’ response to Thomas, and the others, is to stress the “way” is
through Him. He is “truth” and
“life”. The way to heaven is through
Jesus and no one can come to the Father except through Him. This is both the message of the Gospel, but
also the difference between religion and relationship. Jesus isn’t “a” way, or “one of many ways” to
heaven. He is “the way, the truth, the
life”. The exclusivity of Jesus is that
he is not merely an optional religious “way” among many religious “ways” –
e.g., “there are many roads to heaven” – is a false belief system. The appeal in our culture to “many ways” –
pluralism – leads to the belief in salvation through many means –
universalism. Both have wide appeal, and
Jesus’ exclusivity is both rejected and ignored – much to the harm of those who
do so. Bruce Milne explains it clearly: “At
a time when religious pluralism and syncretism are widespread, such claims are
never going to be popular. Nothing less, however, is the implication of Jesus’
incarnation. If, in Jesus, God has come among us in person to reconcile his
rebellious lost world, it follows necessarily that through him, and him alone,
is the way to God. The exclusiveness of Christ’s salvation is simply the
uniqueness of his divine person.[1]
What
follows from Jesus is a bit of a rebuke – “If you had known me, you would
have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (14:7).
Jesus’ words of reproof lead into the main issue of his leaving, and his
promise to receive them someday – he is God-incarnate, and to have been with
him, and to see him, is to see the Father also.
“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for
us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do
not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say,
‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the
Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own
authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of
the works themselves” (14:8-11). As
Jesus prepares them for his leaving, and tells them that he is preparing a
heavenly abode for them, he reminds them that he has come from the Father and
is now returning to the Father.
Now,
he adds to the transition ahead, by introducing them to the way in which he
will continue to remain with them, and continue to do the works of God in and
through them – by the coming gift of the Holy Spirit. First, he tells them that their faith in him
is the means by which the Father will continue to do the works he had done
through Jesus.
“Truly,
truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do;
and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (14:12-14).
The
promise to them is extended down through the church age to us today. While Jesus was one person, limited as a
person to one place at one time, the works that God will do will be extended
out over all of his children – the same works Jesus had done will be possible
in and through them, because we ask, and when we ask for the glory of God, he
will do it! It all seems phenomenal and
quite impossible to conceive possible, and it would be impossible, humanly
speaking. Jesus is not done, and he adds that the reason why it is possible to
conceive of his mission continuing to go on through his believers is by the
gift of the Holy Spirit at work in each one –
“If
you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows
him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you” (14:15-17).
The
word Jesus uses is very specific. The
Father will give “another” Helper. We
use the word “another” in two different ways.
Sometimes “another” means to have something similar, but different.
Sometimes “another” means the exact same thing.
The word Jesus uses means the “another Helper” will be one exactly like
Him. The word “helper” comes from the
Greek word, “parakletos”, which means “one called alongside of” – think
of a lawyer, or coach, or close friend, even spouse. The helper is the Holy Spirit – the third
person of the Trinity, and he will “dwell with you and will be in you.” The gift of the Holy Spirit – like Jesus as
the Way, truth, life – is exclusive. He
is “the Spirit of truth, the world cannot receive…it cannot see, it does not
know Him.” All of this predicated on
the first part: “if you love me, you will keep my commandments”. The Spirit indwells us as believers that we
might live out the truth and life of Christ in our life, and in a world that
does not know Him.
Jesus
amplifies the promise of his coming back to them through the Holy Spirit and
the life of Christ in our own lives, in the verses that follow (14:18- 24). When Judas (not Iscariot) asks how Jesus will
make himself known to the World, Jesus tells him, and us, that it is through
His Word, and our response to the Word of God.
One can sense that it is still all overwhelming to them. Yet, as Jesus continues to talk, the promise
of the continuing work of God is only possible through the Holy Spirit (14:25 –
28). It is the Spirit that will “teach
and remind us” of Jesus’ words (14:26).
We end
this narration with Jesus’ promise of lasting peace. “Peace I leave with
you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you” (14:27).
The world loves to talk about peace
yet it fails to bring it about. At best, it is temporal and does not take long for
the peace to turn towards malice and strife. The peace Christ brings to us is
internal, for it rests in His presence through the Holy Spirit. [2]
Circumstances will always challenge us to believe, trust in faith that no
matter what is happening, our God is at work.
It can sometimes be sobering to keep our faith in God strong when
everything seems to be against us.
The
passage ends reminding us that Jesus knew what was about to happen – “I will
no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no
claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may
know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here” (14:30-31). Satan
entered into Judas and Judas left. The
upper room is over, and even though the teaching is not finished, they arise
from the Passover (Seder) meal and leave.
Where did they go? We’ll see that
tomorrow. Jesus knows that his time with
them is short, and he is following His Father’s lead.
Peace
[2] Edward Pollasch, from his “Devotions on John’s Gospel”, Ibid
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