John 14

I've been leading a Bible Study this semester on the Gospel of St. John, and as a little writing exercise, I'd like to go through this kinda chapter by chapter, with my thoughts. Who knows? If I keep this blog for five years, I could do the whole new testament. Or at least the Gospels.

As we've been going through this week by week, I've come to remember why I like reading John more than any other book of the Bible: it reads as narrative and theological lesson. These are stories with characters, irony, purpose, as well as actual flesh and blood historical people. John does an excellent job of always showing Jesus as both Man and God, and the story as both History and Theological Study. Take Jesus weeping in John 11: a simple act that plays as history (it isn't hard to imagine a real flesh and blood guy named Jesus crying at his friend's funeral) and teaching (Jesus is true man that he should cry, Jesus must love us if he cries when his friend dies, Jesus never intended for us to die).

A little exposition for John 14: this is during Holy Week. Jesus has just come into Jerusalem, he's instituted the Lord's Supper, he's sent his betrayer packing, and he's predicted Peter's disowning him. This after Peter says, "Lord, I will lay down my life for you!" Exactly the opposite proves true. So this takes place in the upper room, still.

John 14

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

A very comforting section. Christ often says, "Don't be afraid!" Sometimes everyone questions whether they are Christian enough- how could God save me, I try to be a Christian and I suck at it! Let there be no doubt as to the power of God's grace.

Jesus the Way to the Father

5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

In this section, John again hammers home a lesson found throughout his Gospel: the Disciples were pretty dumb. They didn't get this stuff. They didn't understand it. Even after Jesus tells them to not be afraid, they'll scatter latter in the evening and hide behind locked doors.

Before it was called Christianity, some people called the new religion The Way. In contrast to an empty ceremonial ritual (spin in a circle three times, hop on one foot, and your sins are forgiven), men weren't given a method; they were given a man. Jesus is the conduit through which we see God, and through which we are put at peace with God. Nothing we do (not even very very nice things we do) can do the same. This is a statement of the exclusivity of Jesus Christ.

It reminds me of just a few chapters ago, John 10, where Jesus describes himself as both Good Shepard and gate: "I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." Not only is he the one we need to be reconciled to, he is also the mechanism of that reconciliation. It's a hard metaphor to explain, and perhaps Jesus is mixing metaphors here.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He 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.

25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, 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. 27Peace 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.

28"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. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31but 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 sometimes does this in John: someone will ask him something, and it's like he doesn't really answer the question. I read the question as, "What do you mean we'll be able to see you but others won't? Why not have everyone see you? That way, no one can deny that you don't exist, Richard Dawkins will be out of a job, and everything will be grand."

Jesus seems to say that he's not talking about "that kind of seeing". We will "see" Christ in the actions and faith of people around us; it won't be like Jesus doing a concert at Shea Stadium so we can go or watch it on TV. It's a bit like how we see bits of other people in ourselves- I grimace and kind of stick my tongue out just like my dad does when we try to open pickle jars. I spell out my last name the same way my mother does, even though it's a really common one. I even say "dogs will be dogs" because my friends do.

If you have never met my father, and you have never seen him battle pickle jars, you wouldn't see him in me. If you don't know who Jesus is, you won't see him in others. So that's how I read that. I know it's kinda cheating when Jesus says stuff about swords and kingdoms and temples and rocks and it's all metaphorical. It's not the answer we want, but it's the answer we'll get.

This other bit about the Holy Spirit is important, too. The Holy Spirit isn't just some relic of the past that taught St. Peter and St. Paul all they knew. The Holy Spirit was present at my baptism, at my confirmation. The Holy Spirit is with us whenever we study God's Word. Whenever Jesus promises the Holy Spirit, he doesn't give an expiration date. Jesus doesn't say, "I'm sending the Holy Spirit to you guys on Pentecost, you'll speak in lots of different languages and it'll be cool, but THAT'S IT. ONE TIME DEAL."

This chapter also contains the central message of Christianity and Easter: Because I live, you also will live.