Judas has a question. (Not the bad Judas…this is the other Judas.) He’s been listening to Jesus talk about leaving them, about sending the Holy Spirit to be with them. Jesus has just said that he will show himself to his disciples, but not to the world. Judas is confused. He asks Jesus in John 14, verse 22, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Good question, especially when we think about the mission of God to bless the whole world. But maybe Judas has misunderstood Jesus. So Jesus clears things up. Look at verses 23-26,
“Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.’”
These verses are a near repetition of verses 15-21, which we studied in the first post in this week’s series. It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “Thank you for your question, Judas. Let me summarize.” Then he repeats himself: “Show God your love by following my words and ways of Jesus.”
Jesus came, in part, to show us how to be the kinds of humans God wants us to be. When we live that way, Jesus says, God the Father loves us, and together with Jesus, God wants to make his home with us. This homemaking will happen through the work of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete (a word we learned about here in the previous post), who is our advocate, counselor, helper, comforter, and encourager. The Spirit till teach the disciples all things and remind them of all Jesus taught.
Though Jesus is leaving them, they will not be alone. In fact, they will be closer to God than ever, as the Spirit with be with them. But there’s more. Look at verses 27-29:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.”
The disciples need not be afraid because he is giving them his peace. His Spirit will be with them. Though he, Jesus, is leaving them, he will leave the Spirit with them. Though Jesus is not with us, we can experience his peace because his Spirit is with us. Sometimes when a loved one dies, we say that we still feel their spirit with us. That’s not what Jesus is getting at here. Jesus is saying that one person of our Trinitarian God actually lives with us and in us, actively, relationally.
That’s why Jesus says that the disciples should be glad that he is going to the Father. When he leaves, the Spirit comes to live with them and in them! What a powerful teaching for us too.
Then in verses 30-31, we see him reflect on this coming change.
“I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. Come now; let us leave.”
Jesus knows that the end is near. The prince of the world is Satan, who is on the move. Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion are momentous events that send shockwaves through both the physical and spiritual realm. But Jesus assures the disciples that Satan has nothing on him. Instead, Jesus wants the disciples to know that what Jesus is doing is a willful choice, an act of loving obedience to the Father.
In other words, Jesus lovingly obeys his Father, and he calls his disciples to lovingly obey him. Jesus doesn’t ask us to do what he himself is not willing to do. He is our example of loving obedience, which should hopefully help us better understand and accept when he says “If you love me, obey my commands.” How amazing that Jesus is our example of this. He showed us what it means to love God and obey his commands.
At the end of verse 31, Jesus invites them to get up and start walking toward the Garden of Gethsemane outside the city walls on the Mount of Olives. But Jesus is still talking as they walk.
Most of what he says as they walk we’ll learn in future weeks, but for the final two posts this week, we’re going to peek ahead to a few verses in chapter 15 and a few more in chapter 16, because they tell us more about the Holy Spirit, which he introduced in chapter 14. More on that in the next post.
Photo by Gemma Evans on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 