John 21 Chapter 14

[HKHaugan]

Next to the Cross and Resurrection, the Lord's Supper may just be the most significant event in Jesus' mission. You have to be willing to close your eyes and visualize the setting of twelve men reclining around a low table with the Passover elements lying before them. The single reference to them in John is that the meal was being served (13:2). In fact the only other mention of them is the bowl (probably the parsley in salt water signifying the bitter tears of slavery) into which Jesus dips the unleavened bread and gives it to Judas. It is the other three Gospels that mention the bread and wine taken for granted here.

But stay with me in the mood of the occasion. Thirteen men, one, the Lord of the universe, being the focus. This is His third and last Passover with them. The first, remember, was done in the context of the need to be reborn spiritually. The second, the Feeding of the 5000 just before the Passover and the third, after the raising of Lazarus.

Now, picture in your mind Jesus pouring out His life into twelve men like He was a bottle of wine being poured out into twelve cups. That's the feeling you get as you read the account in John. It shows Him pouring out a summary of His life's mission in an ongoing teaching ending with a dynamic prayer for Himself, the disciples and all believers yet to come. He is the bottle from which the wine of His words flow into each cup. Keep that idea of pouring in your mind because that is exactly what is happening here.

Wine was always seen as the richness of God's blessing on His faithful people (Amos 9:13-14). It was a sign of prosperity. For centuries He poured Himself into their lives, their wanderings, their conquests, their defeats, their sins, their hurts and pains. And now, taking the aged wine of His heritage, Jesus becomes the new wine (which will signify His shed blood) poured into 12 men (Judas to be replaced by Matthias and later Paul) who will be the new wineskins for the future of the rescue and recovery of all His fallen people, Jew and Gentile alike.

Jesus' teaching here is the ripe fruit of the Word from the Vine. It's like He's giving His disciples the whole Gospel in a nutshell. It is the key that opens the rest of Scripture from Genesis through Revelation into a reservoir from which a draft of the Spirit is never ending. Think of each word, event, story, parable and theme as a grape ready to be plucked, its juice extracted, tasted and savored. The vine never withers and its fruit nerve spoils. It is always fresh with new insights for the reader and hearer to digest. This is the significance of Jesus' teaching in the Last Supper.

Remember back in Chapter 2 when He changes six huge jars of water into wine at the marriage feast? Just as He poured Himself into those jars He was jar 'Seven' of Creation filled with the Spirit bringing the Spirit to bear at a ceremony of human unity God called marriage. Parallel? The bride is the Body of Christ, His faithful people (Rev.21) for whom He will return.

When you see Jesus you see the summation, the fulfillment, the completion of Jewish history. The whole of His Jewish heritage was summed up in Him. The best was saved for now (2:10), their now and our now. Just as He brings spiritual unity so He fills the jars of His disciples with the Spirit of mission, looking forward to the reconciliation of mankind with their Creator. As He takes the bread and calls it His body and the wine His blood, so, when they receive it from Him, they are filled with His Spirit. They are 'passing over' from self to Jesus. Not only will they remember this occasion they will pass it on to all those who will believe and repeat it in their homes and finally in places of worship.

Now jump back to the Footwashing moments. Why? They are spiritual moments when Jesus is saying unless we yield in complete openness to His Spirit (pure humility) we can have no part in Him. The washing of feet is the physical expression of intimacy with God, His to us and ours to Him. And...Jesus tells us that what He has done we need to do for one another, learn intimacy on a one to one level. Behind this imagery is the Cross. The vertical beam His intimacy with us and the horizontal beam, our intimacy with one another. Both are bonded by the Holy Spirit.

Three things we want to keep in mind as we continue with Jesus' final Passover celebration.

First, forget chapter and verse separation. Consider Chapters 13-17 as one continuing narrative starting in the context of the Passover meal and ending in the Garden of Gethsemane. The teaching and the meal are inseparable. The external holds the internal just as our bodies hold our persons.

Second, Jesus is embracing Israel's entire history of deliverance in Himself. He is preparing the disciples to see Him as the One destined to lead mankind from the power of sin, the devil and evil.

Third, that dynamic confrontation between Jesus and all the invisible forces that cause the world's chaotic condition are about to take place on the Cross.

What makes this teaching so dynamic is the fact He is doing it knowing full well He is about to die. His concern is the disciples, what they believe about Him and what He is calling them to do. His total concentration and focus is on them. What would it be like for us in our last hours? Would we focus on those around us? He and the Father are One as this teaching progresses.

Chapter 14 is where Jesus really kicks into high gear. The flow of the Spirit is on. They're still in the upper room. We'll look at the themes and words in vs. 1-14.

In Chapter 13 we centered the discussion on events---the meal, the footwashing, the betrayal and the Peter prediction. In this chapter we want to look at specific words Jesus uses to convey the personal depth of this new experience of His eternal purpose for all people everywhere. The premise is vital. Jesus is speaking to disciples who in Him have been introduced to an entirely new understanding of what it means to be spiritual, personal and relational---to being a child of God---to having significance and purpose.

The primary verse in this stream of teaching is vs.6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The bedrock of the entire narrative rests on this declaration. The importance of this verse lies in its contrast between the life that Peter says he would lay down for Jesus (13:38) and the one Jesus will lay down the next day. This is why it's important to keep the dialogue connected. The one is based on fear and the other, faith. Also it must have been unsettling to the disciples for Jesus to have exposed Peter's impetuous nature. Is theirs any different from ours? So He turns to them and says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.....trust in God; trust also in me.” He goes on to tell them that His Father's house has many rooms and He is going there to prepare a place for them because He wants them to be with Him.

Then He says, “You know the way to the place I am going.” Thomas is honest when he asks Jesus about the place and the way because he knows neither. This is when Jesus says that He is the way, the truth and the life. These are three very important words because they point to the three parts of what it means to be an image of God---heart, mind and spirit. Way is for the heart. Truth is for the mind. Life is for the spirit. Jesus is all three thus telling us that He is the complete, normal, exemplary human being and the exact image of God all in One. This is why this statement is foundational to all His teaching, His life and His mission. He's here to recover and restore fallen humanity, mind by mind, heart by heart and spirit by spirit starting with the disciples.

Then Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. “Don't you know me even after I've been with such a long time?” This is exactly the question Jesus asks not only Philip but one which is carried on until He returns. When you see Jesus you see the embodiment of God. The longer we live the more we need to embrace that thought. It makes every next moment more secure in the Spirit and our calling more outgoing.

Now we can open up three more words that give personal substance to the way, the truth and the life. Back in vs.1 was trust, a relational word. “Trust in me,” Jesus said. It was connected to the heart. Now we come to belief. It is connected to the words and actions of Jesus (vs.10,11). Finally we come to the word faith (vs.12). It is connected to doing, acting out, what we believe and trust. Now follow me here. Belief, the ideas we have about God from His Word, is the truth for our mind. Trust, is the way for the heart to build our relationship with Jesus. Faith, is what powers our spirit into action to put our boots on the ground and experience the Spirit led life. Belief builds the mind. Trust strengthens the heart. Faith energizes the spirit. Jesus blends them perfectly in Himself. He is the “I Am” in perfect unity. When you see Jesus you see the fulfillment of what a human being is designed to think, feel and act like. So what we believe we trust and what we trust we have faith to act out.

If we were to use these words in our own setting we could say that we are believing in Jesus for our identity (our mind). We are trusting Jesus and making that relationship our lifestyle (our heart). We have faith in Jesus as we open up to letting Him direct our every next moment in His Spirit (our spirit). So when Jesus says He is the way, the truth and the life we are talking more about being a lively disciple rather than merely having some denominational identity. This is not about being a good or bad person or having a good reputation or checking off the boxes in a resume but about living with a Jesus conscious attitude in our every next moment.

Vs.12-13 are a bit jarring because Jesus says that anyone who has faith in Him will do what He has been doing and not only that, he will do even greater than these because He is going to the Father. If that isn't enough He boggles the mind saying He will do whatever we ask in His name so that He can give glory to the Father. And ask anything in His name and He'll do it. All of this is dependent on three things, Jesus glorifying the Father, that they be done through faith in Jesus and the 'anything' we ask being consistent with His name. This is not about obtaining material things but accomplishing the spiritual recovery and reconciliation of broken humanity with God.

If we really want to trace our human nature's condition we need only to look near to its beginning to see the reaction of Adam in the Garden of Eden when his disobedience was confronted by the Lord God (Gen.3:10), “I heard you in the garden (the mind), and I was afraid (the heart) because I was naked so I hid (the spirit).” This is where sin with its pride, fear and self-centeredness filled the void in Adam and Eve after they decided they could live without God.

To show the ongoing human plight from David's perspective check out Ps.139:23-24 (ca.1000BC), “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Here is a good idea of the quandary faced by David when he knew his errant nature needed outside help. It's a good example of historic man's internal reflection in every generation; the desire to be good, worthy and feel right in one's own skin. In detail, “Search me, God, and know my heart (I'm open to You); test me and know my anxious thoughts (Your truth for my mind). See if there is any offensive way in me (Your trust for my heart), and lead me in the way everlasting (faith brings Your life for my spirit to act).”

To get today's perspective, look in the mirror.

We're not through yet. The shift into high gear forges its way from vs.15-31. Jesus zeroes in on two words and a Person; love, obey and the Holy Spirit. Now we will see the new teaching that started back in 13:34 and called for loving one another the same way He loved. Man's idea of love apart from God is usually destructive. It revolves around affection, emotional attachment and momentary feeling. These shift with the moods and desires of pride, fear, perceived needs and instant gratification. But the new love was the way Jesus loved. That's the point. Jesus loves us through obedience to Him.

So the first new thing is that Jesus does is to become the locus and focus for all the definitions of the qualities of God.

Now here is the second new thing that Jesus does. He gives the Holy Spirit to be our internal companion, the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit is to become our internal guidance system. The world, secular society, can't see Him but you will know Him because He lives in you which means Jesus isn't going to leave the disciples but bring the risen Jesus to live in them and us. That's why He says He won't leave them as orphans.

The third new thing is that they will have the internal ability to see Jesus. We call it insight. It's those moments when we say “I see.” It's also the ability to sense the presence of Jesus in others, in the beauty and wonder of Creation, in the way Jesus affects you as you recall His words, in the experiences of Him that you have logged in your memory, in the consciousness of Him when decisions have to be made and in the confidence that faith in Him builds in you.

The fourth new thing is realization. The Holy Spirit gets us to realize that He is in His Father, our Father, and that we are in Him and He in us. The Lord God, the only God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit resides in our hearts. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who keeps us Father and Jesus conscious and makes the Word of God alive in us.

The fifth new thing is obedience. When we obey the commands, the words, the teachings of Jesus, extend ourselves to be like Him wherever we are, Jesus reveals Himself to us. In other words, when we are faithful He makes Himself known.

It is at this point that Jesus centers His teaching on the Holy Spirit. He wants to assure the disciples that their future is secure. Their real need to be transformed to His new way and that is looking forward. Vs.25-31 especially emphasize three things that will happen when the Holy Spirit comes. First, He will be a personal Counselor. Second, He will teach all things. Third, He will remind them of everything Jesus said to them. Because of the Holy Spirit Jesus will leave them with His peace so their hearts need not be troubled or afraid. If they love Him His going and His return should make them glad. He is going to the Father. The prince of this world (the devil) is coming but has no ability to hold Jesus. However, Jesus will soon be his victim and will overcome everything the devil throws at Him through spirits of fear, pride, conspiracy, anger, mob rule, institutional protection, betrayal, denial, apathy and death as well as the minions of evil unseen. He will bear it all for His Father and for us.

This is when Jesus gets the disciples to leave and start their trek to Gethsemane. The teaching continues as they go.