I Give You My Peace

I Give You MY Peace

John 14:23-29

It was a confusing time. Jesus with the disciples had come to Jerusalem. They had seen the joyous crowds a few days earlier on Palm Sunday, Their expectations of the disciples that Jesus would immediately take charge and set up the Messianic Kingdom and take the throne. They had seen many miracles and signs. They had seen Him escape the wrath of the Jewish leaders time and again. They had seen the 5,000 fed. They saw Him clean house in the Temple. Their expectations were high. All that was left was to jockey for the cabinet positions.

But Jesus seemed to be on another page. He did not affirm their expectations. In fact, He kept talking about His suffering and the disciples carrying crosses behind Him. Nothing could have been more contrary to their expectations. They were disturbed when Jesus wept bitterly over Jerusalem and prophesied the city’s destruction. There would be no Messianic king ruling in that Jerusalem.

At the Last Supper, Jesus told Peter that He would deny Him three times that very night. He told the disciples that one would betray Him to the authorities. The rest would scatter in fear. these are hardly the words they wanted to hear, so they tried to ignore them and concentrate on the business of who would be the greatest in the Kingdom. Jesus had to rebuke them as well as shocking them by washing their feet. Jesus Himself seemed to be disturbed as to what awaited Him. He knew. they didn’t.

When we come to the beginning of Chapter 14 in John, we come to what is called Jesus’ Farewell Discourse” which serves as a sort of last will and testament. Jesus tries again to explain what was about to happen to Him and what it truly meant, ending in chapter 17 with a beautiful prayer for them, John 14:1 shows that the disciples were troubled, and Jesus answers this by telling them to stop being afraid but rather trust in both the Father and in Himself. This is followed by the promise of a better Kingdom than the one they were expecting. He was returning to the Father to prepare a dwelling place for them. At the end of time, He would return at receive them unto Himself as the groom who comes for his bride when all was prepared. He came from the Father’s house, and He was the only one who knew the way back. He had come to earth to call a people to be His bride and sealed the promise of engagement with His blood which would ratify this new covenant as well as purify the sins of His beloved.

In this morning’s text, Jesus shows that there are conditions. He says that if anyone he will keep His words. He adds that then the Father will also love Him and that the Father as well as the Son will make their dwelling place with Him. The one who does not keep Jesus’ saying does not love Him. He also tells the disciples that what He just said was not His words alone, but the Father’s.

This brings up a question. Does not John 3:16 affirm that “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son?” Does not the Scripture also say in 1 John 4:19 that our love for Him is based upon the fact that He first loved us? But here it seems that God’s love is conditioned upon our loving Him and keeping His words. How do we resolve this?

First of all, it is clear that God acted out of love by sending Jesus. This love can be seen in the Scripture all the way back to the Book of Genesis. God in cursing man for his disobedience also gave a promise of redemption. He could have destroyed Adam and Eve in His wrath, but did not. HE is the one who came to seek them out. Man hid, and did not seek as they knew and feared what God might do to them. They were greatly troubled and his themselves. They tried to cover their own nakedness which was futile, It was God who concealed the shame of their nakedness by providing animal skins from a slain beast, a type of what He would do in sending His Son. Even though Israel constantly strayed after other gods, Yahweh pleaded with them to return as One who was deeply hurt by their rejection. They did not keep His commands but went a whoring after other gods. God punished them severely by sending them into exile. But He did not destroy them. This is indeed love, and it is offered unconditionally by the grace of God.

But the love of God abides alone until it is returned by the beloved. We all have heard stories and songs of someone who deeply loved another person, whose offer of love was spurned. We hear these tomes with sadness. Love is only ultimately fulfilled when the unconditional love is returned. Then there is joy for both the love and beloved. The promise of the Kingdom and dwelling is only for those who return this love. And the demonstration of this love is shown by obeying His commandments, the first of which is to love God with all one’s heart, mind and strength and the second to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. This theme of the command to love occurs throughout the Farewell Discourse. God loves all, but they must come to Him. And they must come to Him through His Son.