Year C Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 20th, 2001 John 14: 23-29
Title: “Do not let your hearts be troubled”
Jesus is in the midst of his farewell address to his disciples. The overriding theme at this point is his departure from them and his sending the Paraclete to take his place.
The Synoptics tell us that Jesus spoke to his disciples at their final meal together, but John has the discourse spanning five chapters. He presents Jesus as delivering one final packaged message that, in fact, contains material the Synoptics have scattered throughout his public ministry. Put in the form of a “farewell message” the material has a timeless value, so it speaks to all Christians of all ages and conditions. The urgency of the imminent coming of the kingdom preached in the Synoptics is replaced by the urgency of Jesus’ imminent death and the “coming of the kingdom” is replaced by the coming of the Spirit. The Spirit or Paraclete does not become incarnate, as Christ did, but dwells in all who keep Jesus’ commandments. His stay with them is not temporary but permanent. The Spirit will be Jesus himself in a different form. He will teach them, counsel them, console them and will be recognized by them in the peace they experience. This peace is Jesus’ gift to them. So is his Spirit. They are one and the same reality.
John has put together in this chapter; once independent sayings of Jesus about divine presence and divine indwelling. Jesus speaks of the indwelling of the Spirit (14: 15-17), Jesus himself (14: 18-22), and the Father (14: 23-24). This is the same divine reality or presence, experienced by the Christian in different forms.
In verse twenty-three, “Those who love me will keep my word,” “Love” (agape) is synonymous with “keeping my word.” It is not a feeling but an attitude that exists in an atmosphere, the atmosphere created by awareness of the divine indwelling. “Word” is synonymous with “commandment.” It includes, but is broader than, specific directives. “Keeping the word” is enfleshing the presence, the divine indwelling, by relating to others with the same attitude as God does.
“My Father will love them,” that is, will treat them as they treat others.
“We will come to them,” Jesus’ focus, at this point, is on the Father and Son as a unit, but it will shortly include and involve the Spirit as well. In verse twenty-one, Jesus said, “I will love him and reveal myself to him.” Now, the Father is included. “Coming to him,” “loving him,” “revealing to him,” and “dwelling in him” are all different ways of saying the same thing. This indwelling is neither available to the world nor confined only to a few. It is open to all who meet the above stipulations. It is not a mystical experience of the esoteric kind, for that would not be accessible to all. It is like what Paul means by being “in Christ,” only the focus is reversed to being “Christ in us.” The Greek word translated as “dwelling” is mone, not a geographical place but a condition. It is the same word used in John 14:2, “rooms,” to indicate the inner beings, the souls, of Christians.
In verse twenty-four, this repeats the ideas in verse twenty-three, in the negative. The absence of love is caused by the absence of hearing and keeping the word of Jesus which, in turn, comes from the Father. In John 3: 16 the Father’s love caused him to send his Son into the world. Now this love causes the Father and Son to send themselves into the Christian.
In verse twenty-six the Advocate, the Holy Spirit: “Advocate” translates the Greek, paracletos, literally “the one called alongside.” It is a term for a lawyer, really a defense attorney, although in John more of a prosecutor. It also means an intercessor, helper, consoler, and counselor. In verse sixteen, Jesus referred to him as “another Counselor,” meaning that the Holy Spirit will take the place of the absent Jesus. He will perform the same functions that Jesus did while in the flesh.
“Whom the Father will send in my name,” that is, as Jesus’ representative. The same Father who sent Jesus will now send Jesus again in the form of the Holy Spirit. Jesus bore God’s name because he was the revelation of God to humans. Now the Spirit is sent in Jesus’ name because he is the revelation of Jesus, unfolding the meaning of his words across time.
“He will teach you everything,” the sentence continues with “and remind you of all that I have said to you,” which means the same thing. “Teach” and “remind” are equivalents. It is not that there will be new teaching or more teaching, but that the presence of the Spirit will prompt the memory to remember what Jesus taught and the mind to interpret his teaching in new situations, learning the full or fuller meaning of Jesus’ words. “He” means that this spirit is more than a tendency or influence, a neutral or neuter force. “He” is the means and substance of a continuing personal relationship with the Divine. “Of all that I told you” hearkens back to verse twenty-five, “I have told you this while I am still with you,” and interprets it to mean all that Jesus taught either by word or example. Now, the Spirit will ensure and empower the correct interpretation for new and unforeseen situations. Jesus’ teaching is not locked into a particular time or framework. It is for all time and times. The Spirit will see to it that its relevance and power are unlocked.
In verse twenty-seven, “peace…not as the world gives,” Jesus is saying “good-bye” to his friends and so “peace” would be appropriate in any event. It was used as both a greeting and a farewell. But this is no ordinary good-bye. And “peace” means more than ordinary well being. It is another word for “salvation” or “wholeness.” It can also be stretched in this context to be another word for the Spirit and even for Jesus himself. “Leave” means here “bequeath.” Thus, it is not a mere farewell, given “as the world gives,” but an abiding and enduring legacy, a living legacy. “Peace” summarizes everything Jesus taught and gives, namely, “eternal life.”
In verse twenty-eight, “if you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father,” Real love for and of Jesus is generous, not possessive. Since it is good for Jesus to return, and in the best interests of all, then the disciples should be glad for him and glad for the effects on them of his departure. There is no advantage in being crippled by emotional reactions of grief or loss. That is simply not the real picture. Jesus is completing his mission by departing, not defeating his purpose in coming.
“Because the Father is greater than I,” the theological controversies of the later 3rd and 4th centuries should not cause us to read more into this verse than is there. Necessarily the Father and Son relationship implies subordination to some extent. It does not mean that Jesus is a lesser kind of being, not really divine, but that, in so far as his mission is concerned, it is the Father who is the sender, and therefore the “greater.” In 10:30 Jesus also said, “The Father and I are one.” Likewise in 14:9 he said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” While doing his mission and modeling obedience Jesus was in a somewhat lesser role. Now that it is finished he enjoys equal glory with the Father. This should be cause for rejoicing, neither grieving, as the apostles would want to do, nor fighting, as later Christians, unhappily, did.
In verse twenty-nine, “I have told you this before it occurs,” Jesus has been describing the conditions of the future, not his future but theirs and ours. First, he must undergo the Passion. As the prophets of old, he saw the present in much broader perspective and so could seem to predict a pre-written future when, in fact, all he was doing was describing what he saw. Like the faithful missioner he was, he continued right up until the end to enlighten his disciples as to what was really there for the seeing, if only they used their eyes of faith, a faith later confirmed by the outcome.
Sermon
What about this “peace,” this special peace, an unworldly peace, which Jesus gives? It turns out to be Jesus himself! He gives us his Spirit, which is to say, himself in “Spirit” and he describes this gift in as many ways as his can. One of those ways is to use the term “peace.”
He certainly did not mean by it an absence of warfare. God knows we’ve had plenty of that. Nor did he mean an absence of psychological tension, although he really gets upset at his disciples about that. In fact, here and elsewhere he constantly says things like “Do not be afraid” or “Do not let your hearts be troubled” or “Have courage” etc. He clearly was not advocating a sentimental feeling of well being, desirable though that may be. No, he was talking about giving himself, being within us at all times. That means that peace, salvation, truth, light, life and joy are all figurative ways of describing or getting at different facets of the one gift, the gift of himself, the gift of eternal life. Typically a reading at funerals, “peace is described as one of the blessings of the “souls of the just,” who are in the hand of God, that is, dead, physically dead. But, now, in Jesus, this peace is to be enjoyed by living Christians during this life, by those who are “dead to the world.”
This is “attitude” peace, not “feeling” peace. The world cannot give it, nor get it on its own power. It is a gift from Jesus, the gift of Jesus himself. And if Jesus, then the Trinity. All of God lives in each Christian and God, if we let him, insinuates himself into every relationship we have. He accompanies us into our experience of the world, strengthening us with his strength and enabling us to perceive the world as he does. Therefore, Jesus says, “rejoice,” which is to say “Have fun.” Christians have a special kind of fun as they experience themselves playing not only in God’s presence, but with God’s Son. Even painful experiences lose their sharpness in this awareness. Everything has the potential of being experienced as “fun.” That is why in a situation that ordinarily would call for gloom, Jesus says, “Cheer up” and look at things the way I do, the way they really are.
He bequeaths to us his own Spirit. The Spirit, like peace, is Jesus, now present within us, no longer incarnate in his own earthly body, he takes His residence in our bodies and becomes incarnate again and again. He is spreading himself throughout the world through Christians and their bodies. The Spirit is now the ‘form” Jesus takes in order to remain in the world. God did not become human and reveal himself in a human body-being-spirit-person just for folks who lived in first century Palestine. The mystery of the Incarnation, the human “enfleshing” or “enfleshment” of God, did not stop with Jesus. Jesus was the high point and the uniquely unrepeatable point in this mysterious process. In that sense we can say that he is the “end point.” However, we do not mean by that term that he “ended” being in us and among us at some point in human history. He continues to live in us today and therefore live in the world today via his Spirit.
His Spirit, however, is no ghost. His Spirit takes on human flesh when he acts in and through us. Now none of us will ever become God in anything like the way God became human. However, as 1John3: 2 says, “…we shall be like him.” That happens when we allow the Spirit of God to insinuate himself into our spirit to such a degree that he takes over. Then, through our bodies-flesh-persons-activity, the Spirit of God becomes incarnate again and again in every act we perform under his guidance-inspiration-power. Thus, in one sense, the Incarnation was a once and for all time event; in another sense, it continues through time until Christ “comes again.” That also means “becomes again.” Christ becomes again when a Christian lets his Spirit rule his or her life. Jesus tells us here that “keeping his word” and “loving” him amount to the same thing. For, when we keep his word, that is, show that we do love him, his word become part and parcel of our flesh, meaning every aspect of our being, including the material. In one sense, Jesus left the earth; in another, he never left because he left us his Spirit.
The claim to love Jesus can only be verified if his words are kept, that is, lived.
Keeping his words incarnate Jesus in the person keeping them and reveal Jesus to the world today.
Jesus’ words can only be kept, lived, if his Spirit is present and active. Otherwise his words become dead letters.
Jesus uses different words- like “Spirit” and “peace”- to refer to the same reality.
Different words used to point to the same reality let us see that reality in its various facets, enriching our understanding and experience and empowering us to recognize God in the different ways he reveals himself.
Different words: Just as Jesus uses different parables, different comparisons, different analogies to get at the same reality, especially as we read them in the Synoptics, so he uses different words or concepts and even images in John to get at the same reality. In the Synoptics the overriding analogy or image or concept is the Kingdom of God or heaven. In John the Kingdom is replaced by the analogy or concept or image of the King, Jesus himself. Indeed, what is said about the Kingdom of God in the Synoptics is said about Jesus, the King, in John. Jesus is always pointing to the reality of God. In the Synoptics he points away from himself, thereby emphasizing his humility as a human being. In John he is pointing to himself, thereby emphasizing his union with divinity, his Father, God. Fundamentally, everything is about God and the human response to God, that is, relationship. In Scripture “relationship” is called “covenant.” Different words, but the same reality. The same reality looked at from different angles, aspects, facet, modes. “Father” and “Son” are relationship words but they refer to the same reality, God. “Father,” “Son” and “Spirit” all refer to the one God, though they are different words. They refer to God as we experience him in various ways, aspects, modes, facets, phases even. The same is true of “Peace” and “Paraclete.” If Jesus physical death prompts the Father and Son to send the Spirit and if Jesus leaves us his “peace” then Spirit and peace refer to the same reality. Then again, so does joy and all the other ‘fruits” of the Spirit and “gifts” of the Spirit. They are all experiences of the same reality with slight differences or nuances. We should not be put off by all these different ways of referring to the same reality or same relationship with God. Jesus is THE teacher as well as THE King. He approaches his task of teaching humans about more-than-human realities like any good teacher, that is, by saying the same thing in other words over and over again. Each repetition of the same idea in a different key allows more understanding and more and more people to understand what he is saying. If one image or analogy or comparison or word does not get you, perhaps another will. At some point we “see the light” and see by that light into dimensions of reality otherwise closed to us. So, we sit with these various texts and ponder them. We let their truth sink into our minds, hearts, spirits, and beings. We deepen and broaden in our understanding of the words only to enter into union with the Word behind the words. That is why all of Scripture, originally spoken, was written down. It is for us, the later generations. It is so that we also can be in as close contact with the original words of Jesus and his apostles as possible and so that we can receive the same enlightenment and the same power to live or keeps those words. When Jesus says that loving him amounts to keeping his word he helps us to avoid assigning meaning to “love” that he does not intend. When he says “word” instead of “words” he means for us to equate his teaching with himself, not with mere grammatical correctness or exact repetition of words. In the Synoptics that same idea comes out as keeping the spirit of the Law rather than the letter, an idea Paul especially hammered home.
Ongoing Incarnation: Just as a thought is devoid of any materiality until it is formulated, incarnated, into a word, a word that need not even be spoken aloud, so also the Spirit remains “immaterial” or irrelevant to the world until the Spirit is embodied by the actions of the body in which it is present. Amen.
