John 14 - Preacher's Commentary

14:1-11

Preparing a Place: Departure and Return

When we arrived at the lovely, cozy home of Doug and Jackie Lowman they were a bit nervous. Entertaining a Baptist pastor and his wife for dinner was a novel experience for them. But when we sat down to eat, Doug’s spontaneous, fresh prayer set us all at ease. As he said afterwards, “You know, this is all new to me.” And we all kidded Jackie good-naturedly when she brought in her surprise dish, a new recipe she had picked up from a TV program, and it was delicious.

The whole evening turned out to be a celebration! We had a friendly laugh about Jackie’s delightful southern hillbilly drawl. As Doug said, “You ought to hear the family when they get together. You can hardly understand them!” But they also trusted us enough to share some of their pain. They had both been married before and had children scattered throughout the South, mainly in Tennessee and Kentucky.

But they were most eager to talk about the new things the Lord had been doing in their lives. They had been baptized together seven weeks before and none of us will ever forget how Doug had whispered “I love you” to Jackie in the baptistry just before they were immersed. They had come to Christ—she a “fallen away” Baptist and he a drifting, indifferent Roman Catholic—through the tender, patient influence of Peter and Barbara Fleming, who had recently given themselves anew to Christ.

Now the Lowmans were getting a great kick out of being in a Bible study group. And they were “soaking up” everything they could learn at the church. They were amazed how specifically God had answered their prayers, and were grateful that God had given them such concern for some of their unreached family, as well as the neighbors across the street. Doug spoke of a couple of his fellow employees at the V.A. Hospital, where he is a dentist, who seemed to be floundering. He wondered if the Lord wasn’t nudging him to reach out to them. It was so refreshing to hear their honest, direct questions about the Bible and the Christian life.

All we could do as we were leaving was embrace one another and give thanks and praise to the One who had made it all possible! Ruth and I drove home rejoicing! The Lowmans had entered that “place” that Jesus had gone to prepare. For all His disciples—not only in the next world, but in this world right here in Wichita, Kansas. All that Jesus had promised His disciples in their last tender visit a few hours before His death was being fulfilled in the lives of these two.

Yes, Jesus’ disciples were troubled. They needed to be reassured by this One whom they loved, but often could not understand. He had spoken of one among them being His betrayer and that He would be leaving them, going where they could not come. These disciples were gripped by that same fearful emotion that Jesus had experienced when He faced death at the tomb of Lazarus and when He spoke of Judas betraying Him (John 11:30, 13:21).

The only remedy for this dread of death and separation, which is the stronghold of Satan, is faith in God, who is firm and cannot be shaken. If they have this faith in God they will have faith in Jesus. And in being united with Him in faith they will conquer the world through the victory of Jesus (John 16:33).

This is far more than a “pep talk” by Jesus. He is on His way to being reunited with His Father in glory. Through His death and Resurrection, His leaving them, He will open the way for these men to live in union with Him and His Father. This will become their “place” of dwelling, their mone¯.His Father’s house is great and spacious, an eternal place of dwelling with many rooms. The Son’s work will prepare a place for each of them in that home. But He will return and make His home with His followers here. The dwelling place Jesus speaks of here, “I will come again and receive you to Myself,” is the “mone¯” in this present life. For the disciple who is united with Jesus, home, his place, is wherever Jesus is—here or in the Father’s house.

When Thomas still insists that they do not know where Jesus is going and asks how they can know the way, Jesus declares His great conclusive “I am.” For all of the “I am’s” of the Gospel—”water,” “bread,” “light,” “resurrection and life”—are caught up in Jesus’ saying, “I am the way” (v. 6). There is no other door to life with the Father. Jesus is the one gate by which men may enter His Father’s fold. He is the Way because in Him the truth of the Father is revealed, not in concepts or ideals, but through coming to know Him. To know Jesus is to know His Father. So life comes through this truth.

But Philip is not satisfied. He asks for some further sign, some mystical appearance that will finally prove they have really seen the Father. We can almost sense a pained disappointment in Jesus’ answer. After all this time and in all the experiences they have shared, does Philip still not know? Everything Jesus has said and done has been shared out of His life in the Father. Why doesn’t Philip carefully investigate the works He has done and let that lead him to knowing who He is? He will then see the Father through the Son.

14:12-14

Glory in Works and Prayer

The Father will continue the work of His Son through His disciples. After His return in resurrection power the Son will manifest Himself through these who are united with Him in faith. Their works will glorify the Father in a continuing harvest.

It is only as these disciples pray in the name of Jesus, in union with Him, that glory will come to the Father. And the mighty work begun in Jesus will continue and expand. The test of all Christian prayer is whether it is in the name of Jesus, offered out of our life in Him, and gives glory to the Father. Can we be trusted with the name of Jesus as He was with the Father’s name? So much of what we do in the church is temporary and frenzied. It may win compliments and approval from other church people, but it does not give glory to God, nor does it last.

14:15-26

The Gift of the Helper

Jesus has great concern for these “little children.” He will not leave them “orphans” with no one to care for them (v. 18). So He assures these fearful disciples that he will ask the Father to give them a “Helper,” the Paraclete (v. 16). Jesus speaks of this gift immediately after He has encouraged His disciples to ask for anything in His name and He will give it that glory may be given the Father.

We have no single word in our language that can express the rich, powerful meaning of “Paraclete,” the English translation of the unique title John uses for this Holy Companion. Para in the Greek means “alongside,” and the root of kletos is “to call.” So this “Helper” whom Jesus will send will be alongside the disciples as Jesus has been, “calling out” as an “encourager,” a “counselor,” an “advocate,” a “witness,” and as a “judge.” “Paraclete” means all this and even more. And He is given to His disciples. The Paraclete comes into the world as Jesus was sent into the world. He is the promised gift of the Father, sent at the Son’s request. But He is given only to those who have received the Son, loved Him, and kept His commandments. These are the conditions which determine His being given. The Paraclete is not given to the world which neither sees nor knows Him. As it has been blind and deaf to Jesus, so the world does not know the Paraclete has come.

This Paraclete will come after a “little while,” after Jesus has passed through the anguish and darkness of the Cross and after the disciples have fled in fear, bereft and orphaned (v. 19). Then in the glory of His resurrected, ascended power Jesus will send this Paraclete. In fact, it is necessary that Jesus depart before the Father can send this One. His coming rests on Jesus’ completed work of salvation.

The Paraclete will remain forever with the disciples. He will “abide” with them continuously as He makes His home with them. They will be His place, His mone¯. The words used here are intensely personal and relational.

And while He dwells in each disciple personally, He also abides with them corporately. He is the One who gathers them and makes them one. These friends of Jesus, His “little children,” will become the body in whom He dwells through the Paraclete. And as Jesus had a ministry in the flesh in the midst of the world, so His disciples, and all who will come to believe because of their witness, will continue to expand that ministry in the power of the Spirit.

There is a rich meaning in the coming of the Paraclete. The Father will give “another Helper” who will abide with these disciples forever (v. 16). This means that in His earthly ministry, Jesus has been the Paraclete. But Jesus also says “I will come to you” (v. 18). His resurrected life will be shared through the Paraclete with those disciples. And the Father will also come, for Jesus says later, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (v. 23). The Persons of the Godhead come in the Paraclete to abide, encourage, empower, and witness through the disciples. No wonder the disciples will never be orphans.

Jesus repeatedly emphasizes that the Paraclete is the “Spirit of truth” (v. 17). He will enlighten and open up the words and works of Jesus. There are many things Jesus has said and taught during His earthly ministry which the disciples have not grasped. All this will be made plain to them when this “Teacher” comes. He will also bring to mind things Jesus has said which would otherwise be forgotten (v. 26).

But the Paraclete is always under the authority of Jesus, clarifying, making clear His teaching and ministry. He comes in Jesus’ name to unfold Jesus’ meaning for all men. This is crucial, for there are always those who insist the Spirit is taking us beyond Jesus to “newer and deeper truth.” If it is not modern-day Gnostics, then it may be the Unification Church or some guru who claims to have a new revelation of the truth. Here is the danger of centering on experience which is not under the authority of the Word. The Paraclete is subject to Jesus! Hence, Spirit-guided Bible study within the believing community under the Lordship of Jesus is important.

14:27-31

Peace and the Evil One

For the Greeks, peace was the absence of war, but for the Hebrews it was a positive blessing growing out of a right relationship with God. So when Jesus leaves peace with these men He is giving them one of the fruits of the great gift of salvation. This positive word of farewell is greater than all their troubles and fears.

I shall always remember the beautiful greeting that Sheldon Louthan would inevitably speak when he came in or went from our midst. He would say, “Shalom” softly, with a glowing smile on his face. This compassionate Quaker had come to encourage and help troubled families and individuals as a part-time pastoral associate on our staff. In the months he was with us we all came to love him deeply.

When he was killed with four others in a tragic small plane accident last Thanksgiving, all of us on the church staff spoke of the meaning of that greeting. Sheldon had shared Christ’s peace with us. And now he had heard the Father greet him, “Shalom,” as he came to the place that had been prepared for him.

Jesus now urges the disciples to rejoice at His going, not to cling to Him possessively (v. 28). Real love always releases those we care about! It is a perversion, love turned into selfishness, when we attempt to hold on to those we claim to love. Jesus is returning to His Father who sent Him. Even though Father and Son are one, Jesus has submitted Himself to the Father as His Messenger. In this sense, the Father is greater than the Son.

The moment is drawing nearer when the betrayer and the soldiers, who are servants of the evil one, will come to get Jesus. He will go with them only because He is obeying His Father, not because the ruler of this world has any power over Him.

When Jesus says, “Arise, let us go from here,” He is ending this part of the discourse (v. 31), but He is also moving with these men to the place where the betrayer will come.