John 14:1-31
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus 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’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe 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 works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the 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. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 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. 24 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.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 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. 27 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.
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. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
I find that Jesus said some very peculiar things...He tells us to not be troubled, and to trust in Him, but trust also in God...He in this statement is telling us that there are some comparisons with Him and God...IS He going further than just a small comparison?...Is He telling us to give Him the same belief in Him as we do God (after all that is what the New International Version is seeming to say)?...And not only that He is telling us in this world we will have our troubles...So remember that we will be troubled and have troubles in this world, but we can look to both Him and God for comfort...Again, this is that comparison with God...And He almost guarantees there will be troubles in this world, as He speaks about the rooms of heaven...And these heavenly rooms have just came up, yet throughout His entire ministry we have heard Him speak and know that there is something special about Him, and that He comes from another place -the Kingdom of God...
Then He tells us that He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life...What a peculiar thing to say...How does One declare Himself Truth, and the Way, and Life itself?...But He does it quite naturally and like it is meant to be, and this is just the Way He is...Then Jesus tells us something no other religious leader I believe has ever said...No one comes to the Father except through me...No one can get to heaven or to God, except through Him...And as the Disciple Philip listens surely with deep thought, Jesus adds that if we really know Him, then we will know His Father as well...So from now on and after this, if we do know Jesus, then we have seen His Father -God...Philip, now a little confused asks, “LORD, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”...But Jesus answers: “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’?...Don’t you believe that I AM in the Father, and that the Father is in Me?...The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority...Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work...Believe Me when I say that I AM in the Father and the Father is in Me."...
Philip and we have just been told that no one gets to God except through Jesus...And now Jesus says if we have seen Him, we have seen God...Then He adds that (somehow) He is in the Father and that God is (somehow) in Him...Another odd thing to say...
Then more things that are peculiar are said, when Jesus tells us that He is going to send us a Holy Spirit...And although He does give us some detail on the Holy Spirit...I find it very difficult to understand how the Holy Spirit gets to us, and when it gets to us, what it actually is, where it dwells in us, and how God is sending the Holy Spirit...And did all the people before Jesus live without the Holy Spirit?...
And after all that has just been said He just unassumingly walks off, and tells His Disciples, “Come now; let us leave."...I do not know about the Twelve Disciples, but I have a lot more questions about what has just been said...And what is strange, at least for me, is that even though in all this part-and-parcel explanation information of these Divine things being said, I believe them...I believe that He is One with God, and will comfort us in our times of trouble, and He does send us the Holy Spirit for us to better communicate with Him and His Father...In His mystery and peculiarity there is this Great Hope...