Scripture Reading: John 14:23-29 (click to go to scripture)
Anybody ever tied a string around their finger to remind them of something? How about put a note by the front door? The old rubber band around the wrist, maybe? We need reminding of things and Jesus knew that well. And so, in this passage, one of several in John where Jesus is teaching his disciples in direct words of His coming death and his eventual leaving, Jesus gives them and us the promise of the Holy Spirit. The verse that precedes our passage is a question by one of the disciples: Judas, the other one, not Iscariot, asked Jesus, “Why will You reveal Yourself to us, but not the world?”
Jesus responds, "Anyone who loves me will observe my teaching. God will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” Now, while most translations use the word obey, some of those who do the work of looking for the precise meanings of the Greek words for those of us who don’t speak Greek, disagree. They question whether or not “obey” is the correct translation for tereo, which is the word used by John here. Brian P. Stoffregen, for example says that there are several words that can be used here: “keep watch over, guard, keep, hold, reserve, preserve someone or something, keep = not lose, keep = protect, keep, observe, fulfill, pay attention to”. He instead uses the phrase “hold dear” because he argues that if we merely translate the word as obey we miss the interconnectedness between the first and second halves of the sentence—that is, loving Jesus and keeping His commandments are so inter-related that we cannot do one without doing the other.
David Ewart tells us that “This response needs to be understood as John trying to describe [living in] unity - the interconnected relatedness - of Jesus and his followers. To be a follower is to have and keep Jesus' commandments / teachings; to keep Jesus' commandments is to love him; to love Jesus is to also be loved by Jesus; to be loved by Jesus is to also be loved by the one who loves Jesus - his [Abba God]; to be loved by Jesus and [Abba God] is to abide in them; to abide in them is to keep Jesus' commandments. (And remember that here "love" means fully devoted compassion.)”
Now, before we throw up our hands and say, “this is way too complicated”, let’s break it down and see how it fits. If-then statements help those of us who want logical steps even if those logical steps land us in a circle as they do here.
If we follow Jesus, we not only know Jesus’ teachings, we keep or follow them.
If we keep or follow Jesus’ commandments, we love Him.
If we love Jesus, then we are also loved by Jesus.
If we are loved by Jesus, then we are loved by the one who loves Jesus, Abba God.
If we are loved by Jesus and God, then we abide in them.
If we abide in them, then we keep Jesus’ teachings.
And so we are back to where we started, but somehow breaking it down like that helps me understand the steps. What John is insistent upon our understanding is that it is all a part of the whole. For John, you cannot take even one of these sentences out of the context and have the same reality. John, the most complex of the Gospel writers is seeing things in a spiral, not a straight line and this challenges most of our contemporary, technological, cut to the point kind of thinking. Even so, we seek to follow Jesus’ teachings. Nevertheless, in spite of our good intentions, Jesus knows that we may need some help remembering to keep or hold dear his teachings. On top of this, Jesus has been speaking to the disciples for awhile and He knows that they are confused about what is going to happen. And so, the promise of the gift is given: the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Advocate who will come upon them once Jesus is gone.
Jesus’ words about the Holy Spirit or God’s Spirit are not only interesting, they challenge us to think outside the box about living or abiding in God. Jesus says that the Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter will do two things: the Holy Spirit will teach us all things and will remind us of all that Jesus taught us. The challenge here is in recognizing that Jesus is not saying that this is the end of the road for learning about God, that all that one ever learns stops when one leaves the recorded teachings of Jesus. Jesus, himself, says to us: “there is more coming and the Spirit will teach you of those things.” God will continue to be revealed through the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. In the midst of new teachings, the Holy Spirit will continue to remind us of what we already know from Jesus. And this is all part of the inter-connectedness of which Jesus speaks.
Then the passage continues into even more difficult territory—Jesus knows this and starts this portion of the emotional and mental journey by assuring the disciples that He is giving them peace—and not just any peace, but His peace—not from the world, but peace that comes from fully abiding in everything we have learned thus far. “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Jesus prepares us for His next statement and asks us to trust Him and not be afraid.” He tells them He is going away—going to be with God, but going away, nevertheless.
I have spoken to you before of sacred contradictions—of holding two truths that appear to be at odds at once and accepting the reality of them both. We are headed directly into one such sacred contradiction and Jesus is inviting the disciples and us to embrace what seems to us contradictory, but for Jesus, is all a part of the larger whole—a larger whole which most of us struggle to see. Simply put, He is going away, and He wants them to be happy—happy not just for Him, although He is returning to God, but also happy for themselves and ourselves, because with Jesus gone from this earth, both the disciples and we have the opportunity to do the real work of loving Jesus—of keeping His commandments—of taking the gospel to the rest of the world. When He says, “if you loved me”, I believe that He is actually saying, “if you understood what it means to love me, if you had the concept of living and abiding in me and in God, you would be happy that we are moving into the next phase of what is supposed to happen.”
Rev. Suzanne Guthrie, an Episcopal priest who I once had the privilege of knowing, now lives as a spiritual guide to a convent of nuns in New York, has these reflections on our journey with Jesus today so far. “Could the extraordinary circumstances of resurrected encounter have lasted forever? Could these men and women have remained in that first union of intimate and personal friendship with the risen Lord?... Winding through those last discourses in John is this message: You must go on. There’s more. You are not finished with your journey, you are not yet mature apostles. This is merely a resting place. … Easter is not the end after all. Easter is not the final destination for the disciples… Nor is Easter the final destination of the church. Easter begins the transition between one reality and another. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit cannot take place in that outer garden where Jesus has not yet ascended to [God], where he has presence and voice, wounds open to the touch, where he is the risen Lord of a hot breakfast and a marvelous catch of fish.”
No, in fact, those resurrection experiences could not go on, for if they had, the story of the Church and the legacy of Jesus’ life and teachings would have come to a screeching halt right then and there. So we are challenged to let go of Jesus’ earthly resurrected presence and prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit, this holy reminder of all that has been and guide into all that is still to come. And finally, Jesus wants us to know(before it even happens) that everything that is about to happen is part of God’s plan—that God is in control. The fact, let me repeat, the fact, that God is in control and that earthly events are moving to fulfill God’s plan is the source of the peace that Jesus promises. And so, we move boldly, fearlessly, steadfastly into the next scene of God’s great story revealed to us in Jesus Christ—ever confident that this holy reminder will tell us all we need to know. Amen and amen.
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