May 17, 2020 Scripture with Notes

May 17, 2020                      John 14: 15-21                   Scripture Notes                     Rev. Peter Hofstra

14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

This is a hard place to start this passage as it disconnects from what came before.  Before, Jesus has promised to do whatever the disciples ask in his name, for the glory of God.  But it is not an unlimited load of Jesus power.  Freedom without limits is anarchy and Jesus’ power without boundaries is the playground of the gods of chaos.  And, of course, Jesus pulls out the ‘l’ word.  To love Jesus is to obey Jesus because Jesus is the personification of love.

14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

So this is the deal.  Jesus leaves but the Father sends another.  It is like Stars Wars.  Luke goes running off to save his friends and Obi Wan is saddened, saying “That boy was their last hope.”  But Yoda the Wise knows better….”There is another…”  Not to get off topic but Obi Wan knew about Leia and her placement on Aldaran.  Maybe he did not know, like Yoda did, that she was full of the force too….

The Father will give another Advocate.   Another, means there was one with them already.  Jesus is their advocate.  He stands in their place.  So another Jesus is coming, but this one will be with them forever.

14:17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

The Spirit of truth…this is not a new concept.  The spirit of God coming down upon chosen people is known throughout the Old Testament.  What is new here is the universality of it among the believers.  It is the Spirit of truth.  But there is a dichotomy here.  Some will know the spirit and some will not.  The world CANNOT receive it or even know him.  But the disciples will know him because of the flow of power from the divine to the human.  Father to Son to Disciple….Spirit in place of Son, so flow through to the disciples in a new way…

14:18 "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.

He touches their greatest fear, that they will be left alone, that they cannot do this without him.  And at this time, they cannot.  They have not received that which will make them able.  At the present, it is a promise.  Jesus will not leave them orphaned.  Jesus is coming to them and will reside with them.  This points to Pentecost, the place where we see this played out in Acts.

It is also the flip of Ascsension Day.  It is the Final Judgement come already.  I am coming to you, the Son and the Spirit are here equivocated, they are the same.  Both proceed from the Father.  Thus the Trinity thing we spend so much time talking about, explaining how God is always with us in words that simple humans can understand. 

14:19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.

Another pointer to Ascension Day.  Jesus is Risen from the dead, Jesus is risen from the Earth.  And the world will make fun of that.  There is a story, probably not true, heavily paraphrased, that when the first cosmonaut made it into space, he looked around and said, “God is not here, proves there is no God.”

The world will no longer see me, but you will see me.  And now an Easter promise, because I live, you also will live.  He died and came back, we may die and come back as well.  It is the work of the Messiah, making the creation square with the Creator once again. 

I think the hinge of this passage is ‘the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.’  Jesus said it so it must be so.  But do we really?  Is our life lived as if we did? 

14:20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

Again, it is the Johannine waterfall of divinity, Father to Son to Sinner.  Even if the Son is not present, the waterfall of divinity continues, Father to Spirit to Sinner (that’s us).  But it happens on that day, what day is that?  Is it the day of Jesus’ resurrection?  That is interesting because as we read the accounts after Jesus rose from the dead, he appears only to his believers.  He does not take the show back on the road.  Or is it the day when they receive the Spirit?  Or do the days between Easter and Pentecost meld into one transitional time for the disciples?  Does Jesus make them ready in that time for the moment they will receive Jesus truly in their hearts?

14:21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

So it’s a two for one deal.  Those who love Jesus know the commandments and keep them.  This is what distinguishes us from Satan.  The king of the demons also knows the commands, but he does not keep them.  He is not one who loves Jesus.  This is that makes us different from the angels remaining in heaven.  They have the commandments and they they keep them and they love God.  No longer is there a connection running from one to the other.  Free will no longer governs what they do.  This is what makes it truly love.  The choice to obey God’s commandments.  A computer can be programmed to display loving behavior, but it cannot love (yet). 

It is the waterfall of divinity in reverse.  Those who love Jesus will be loved by the Father, and then back down, and I will love them and reveal myself to them….which will be in this Spirit of truth, this Advocate that Jesus has been talking about.