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.
If ever there was a Divine Person on earth, it was and is Jesus...I say is, because He is still alive...He did die on the cross but God resurrected Him, and then forty days later He ascended to heaven...And you get this feel for Him to be Divine, or at least I do, as one read through the four gospels...As I read through chapter fourteen of the Gospel According to John, Jesus just seems to me to be a Divine Being...I want to say that He is a Divine Human Being, but there is almost a contradiction for me in the words human being, and a Divine Human Being...Yet, that is what Jesus was when He walked and dwelt on the earth with us, a Divine Human Being...
Jesus said things mostly about God, but also about mankind's morals, our society and cultures, but most amazingly about Himself...And He does it in such a humble way...As I read the above verses, I have never gotten the feeling that Jesus was anything but humble, but others might argue that His statements are arrogant...In fact, it is really not His teachings or His stories that holds the controversy about Him...What makes Him controversial is in His claims...He leads one to believe He is either God or the True Son of God, or has such a special and unique relationship with God that He is Divine...He is Divine because of one or more of these things...Or all of these things...And His claims about himself are at the very heart in believing or not believing in Him AND THAT HE IS OUR LORD, because He is not just cannot be an ordinary Rabbi of His day, with what He claims...
So kind and gently, He comforts His Disciples here before His death, and He is the One getting ready to be arrested and soon to die...Yet, it is He who is doing the comforting, and telling His Twelve about heaven and that He will be preparing a place in heaven for them also...Then He makes one of the most controversial remarks in the history of mankind...He says, that “I AM the way and the truth and the life...No one comes to the Father except through Me...If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well...From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”...And the part that is the most controversial is the sentence that says "No one comes to the Father except through Me."...Many people do not accept this sentence or like this specific sentence...It is, in fact, quite a controversial and radical statement to make, that you are the One and Only Way to God and to heaven...Some people and religions have great respect for Jesus, but take exception to this sentence...How can He be the Only Way to God and to heaven...After all some religions do not even include Him in their beliefs...Yet, Jesus does not stop here He just keeps on speaking Divinely and tells Philip and us that He is in God and God is in Him...He adds that God is in Him doing His work...He doesn't speak on His authority, but only on God's authority...And then He promises to send His Disciples the Holy Spirit to dwell in them, so that they may be closer to Him, and so that the Holy Spirit will them be guided toward the Truth, His Truths and to God's Truths...For the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, is a Helper...And God would send the Holy Spirit and this Helper in His name...And the Holy Spirit would teach the Disciples all things and would remind them of everything that He had ever said to them...Jesus would ascend to heaven into peace and He would also leave them in peace; His peace He that He would give to them, through the Holy Spirit is Spiritual...And they would feel this peace on the day of the upcoming Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit would arrive in them...Jesus does not give to us a peace that we are familiar with in this world, but a different type of peace, this Spiritual Peace...And when we believe in Him our hearts are not troubled and or afraid...
I do not find these words arrogant at all, I find them mostly comforting and serious...After all He is about to die, and He is the One comforting and telling His friends about Truth, the Life we can find in Him, and the Way to heaven and to His Father...I take very seriously what He ways about Himself...I see His claims and Him as both being Divine...If one cannot see Him as this Divine Human on earth, then I see how they would have this different point of view about Him...These Jesus Claims will not be taken back...They are written...The Claims are out there, the Claims about Him have been made and by Him...And as C. S. Lewis writes, He has made these Claims about Himself, and you either believe in Him or you don't believe in Him based on His Claims...(Or you can believe that He is just a lunatic rambling on -but He is not rambling to His Disciples...He is telling them these things of heaven, comforting them about the upcoming events about to happen...And most feel and believe He is no lunatic)...So you either believe His stories and teachings and these Claims about Himself and God or you do not...You don't have this choice of saying He is a Great Moral Human Teacher, but is not Divine...He is not giving us that option...He said He is the Only Way to God, so you either believe what He said or believe that He lied...If He believes He is the Only Way to God, them you have to believe He is both a Great Teacher and is Divine...You cannot just choose one...He is much, much more than "just a Prophet."...
If God became Man, this is what we must suspect He would do and be and Claim about Himself and in this way, His Way...We would expect Him to be Divine and Claim the Greatest Words Ever Spoken...Between He and all other men and women ever to walk the earth, who do you compare Him to?...Who do you compare the Claims about Himself too?...