Monday of Week 5 of Eastertide - John 14: 21-26 - Daily Gospel Exegesis

Episode Transcript
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(00:11):
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to our daily gospel
exegesis. I hope you're enjoying going
through the gospel texts. In this way, we were really dig
into the literal sense of the text today.
We're continuing in the farewelldiscourse Which starts at the
Last Supper. And we want to look today at
John chapter 14 verses 21 to 26.Jesus said to his disciples,

(00:36):
anybody who receives my Commandments and keeps them will
be one who loves me and anybody who loves me Will Be Loved by my
father, and I shall love him andshow myself to him.
Judas, this was not due to scary, it said to him, Lord,
what is this all about? Do you intend to show yourself

(00:56):
to us and not to the world? Jesus replied.
If anyone loves me, he will keepmy word and my father will love
him and we shall come to him andmake our home with him.
Those who do not love me, do notkeep my words.
And my word is not my own. It is the word of the one who
sent me. I have said these things to you

(01:19):
while still with you but the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom
the father will send in my name,will teach you everything and
remind you of all. I have said to you, So what's
the context? Well, we're here in the Last
Supper, which goes over quite a few chapters and Jesus has begun

(01:40):
the farewell discourse. The last thing that's happened
in the discourse is Jesus has promised the apostles that he
will give them the Holy Spirit after he leaves.
So that was introduced in aroundVerse 18.
Now that last section verse 15 to 20 of John chapter 14, which
comes just before what we hear today, you can't hear that

(02:00):
section on a weekday. There's only once in the
liturgical year. Oh that you'll hear that.
And that's on the sixth Sunday of Easter in year a so once
every three years, so you might like to go back and look through
the podcast, archives, to find that if you want to follow
through chronologically and thenwe get up to today at verse 21,
in John 14, Jesus said to his disciples, so that's really

(02:25):
important. Firstly, the audience here is
not all Christians, it's actually the apostles that are
there with him in the upper room.
Anybody who receives my Commandments and keeps them.
So, firstly, what are the Commandments that he's talking
about? Well, it's basically everything.
He's been teaching all throughout his ministry,
basically. Jesus Commandments are
instructions on how to live as God wants people to live and

(02:48):
that's what he's been giving them.
Notice what he says here, who receives my Commandments and
keeps them. So receiving them in himself.
As in accepting the Commandmentsis not enough.
One must willingly choose to accept them.
I think that's one of the important, take away things from
this particular gospel text. A lot of people today probably
know, Jesus teachings. And then maybe accept them, but

(03:10):
they don't actually keep them. And Jesus here says, that's not
enough. Anyone who receives my
Commandments, and keeps them will be one who loves me.
So notice that in order for someone to count as loving
Jesus, they must keep his Commandments.
It's not enough to just know them.
He then, says anybody who loves me Will Be Loved by my father,

(03:32):
So anyone who follows Jesus Commandments will have the
Father's Love and approval. Now this doesn't negate the
general idea that we all know which is the God loves everyone
because even in John earlier says God loved the world.
But what's being taught here is that God has a special favor and
a special love to those who follow Jesus Commandments.

(03:55):
He then says in, I shall love him.
So not only will faithful disciples be loved by the
father. They will be loved by Jesus the
son as well and I will show myself to him.
And that's a key verse that getsunpacked in the coming versus.
I will show myself to him if he follows my Commandments.
Verse 22. We then have Judas and that's

(04:17):
not Judas, Iscariot the tech specifically says, this is not
Judas Iscariot. So who is it then?
Well, one of the other Apostles has the name Judas but he only
goes by that name sometimes. So in Luke, we learned that this
is Judas. The son of James.
You can see that in Luke chapter6, verse 16.
He is listed among the apostles.Matthew's gospel doesn't call

(04:39):
him Judas. He's called Thaddius in the
other gospel. He says, Lord, what is this all
about? Do you intend to show yourself
to us and not to the world? So let's think about the
context. Why would he ask this?
Think about the common Messianic, expectations at the
time. What did the Jews believe about

(05:00):
the Messiah? They do believe Jesus is the
Messiah, but because of their cultural conditioning, the
apostles basically believe that the Messiah was going to be a
triumphal military figure, who is going to reveal himself to
the world in a really public glorious way.
And then re-establish, the nation of Israel.
That's what the Jews were expecting from the Messiah.

(05:21):
But here, Jesus, and they believe Jesus to be the Messiah.
Says, I'm not going to reveal myself publicly or rather the
words. Our users are, I will show
myself to him, who follows my Commandments, and Judas is taken
aback by that. This is news to them.
They expected Jesus as the Messiah to do some big public
showing showing of himself to the world.

(05:44):
Verse 23, Jesus says in response, if anyone loves me, he
will keep my word and my father will love him.
Now, that's a repeat of what Jesus has already said.
But probably in effect. What Jesus is saying?
In response to Judas, is something like this, you heard
me correctly. That is what I mean.
So he does intend to teach that.Only those who follow his

(06:06):
Commandments will get to experience, or he will reveal
himself, to only them in some particular way.
Now, Jesus is going to unpack this a bit.
What does it mean to reveal himself?
To someone? He says, and we shall come to
him and make our home with him. So the way he is, my Father and
Jesus himself. So the father and the son, this

(06:26):
is a deep, mystical teaching. We shall come to him and make
our home with him. Think about those words God
himself, making a home within people.
So the teaching here is that forthose who cooperate with Jesus
instructions and the Things haveGod's grace, they will allow
their hearts to be a place whereboth the father, and the son can

(06:47):
do well. So the Christian can participate
in the Divine communion. This is a very Catholic
teaching, isn't it? And many Christians who have
progressed in the spiritual lifein might know some people like
this. They will testify that something
like this has happened to them. They will say that they can feel
the presence of God in their hearts.
And it's a deep tangible realityto them.

(07:08):
That's what Jesus is talking about here.
If you love my Commandments, if you follow in my footsteps and
draw closer to me, I will make my home in your heart is
essentially the teaching here. Interestingly, the word here for
dwelling. So Jesus says, we will dwell
within that person. The word for dwelling is the
same word that's used a couple of chapters.

(07:29):
Earlier when Jesus says, there are many Dwelling Places In My
Father's House. And we know from later in the
New Testament, that each Christian is considered to be a
temple of the Holy Spirit a dwelling place for the Holy
Spirit. That's in 1 Corinthians 3 verse
16. So there is this interesting
background link here between thedwelling of God being the temple

(07:52):
and what that means in terms of the New Covenant.
So God dwells to come in a believer's heart before they
come to to dwell with him in heaven. and if you've read to re
survival, I you know, that she develops this very idea into the
famous interior castle where shetalks about an individual
Christians, heart being like a castle that has different rooms

(08:14):
that God wants to progress into another way of looking at this
passage where Jesus says, we shall come to him and make our
home with him. It's essentially a fulfillment
of one of the Old Testament, prophecies about what God is
going to do in the last days. Ezekiel 37 verse 27 says, my
dwelling she'll be with them, I will be their God and they will

(08:36):
be my people. So notice the word, their my
dwelling shall be with them. This is probably the Fulfillment
of that. So really quite meaningful words
that are well worth meditating on On verse 24, then Jesus says
what happens to the other group of people, those who do not.
Love me. Do not keep my words.
So Jesus, probably here wants tomake the point that no, he isn't

(08:58):
going to reveal himself to the world, only to those who love
him. He then says my word is not my
own. It is the word of the one who
sent me. And if you've been following
through our series on the Gospelof John, you'll know that this
is a pretty consistent theme. Jesus words do not.
Don't come from himself. They come from the father.

(09:21):
Other translations have this as the father who sent me.
So they actually put the words, the father in there.
Rather than the one who sent me in context, Jesus, he probably
intends to say that those who donot keep his words.
Not only do not love Jesus himself but because Jesus speaks
the words of the father. These people also do not love

(09:42):
the father. That's what Jesus is getting
across and we need to Grapple with that.
There's lots of people in society today who say that they
love God or their Rachel were not religious or and there's all
sorts of variations on this. But Jesus says, one who really
loves me and loves the father, is one who keeps my
Commandments, there is no other way.
Verse 25. I have said these things to you

(10:03):
while still with you. So Jesus, he says he's going to
leave them soon and he's given the apostles, all of the
instructions that he can basically.
So he's in the are going to talkabout how someone else is going
to take over that his teaching role after he is gone.
And remember he's talking to theapostles here.
He's giving the apostles confidence that he's not leaving

(10:24):
them alone. He's going to send someone who
will continue to guide them and here's who it is in verse 26.
The Advocate, the holy spirit will teach you everything.
So, let's unpack the word, The Advocate, the Greek word here is
parakletos and that means roughly counselor but not
counselor is in a psychologist. Counselor is an illegal

(10:47):
counselor in a courtroom. So that word parakletos had a
very specific meaning in this particular context and this is
one of these times I think when digging into the literal sense
and the context of that culture is going to really help us
understand what Jesus intends here.
So a paraclete toss in a Roman Courtroom was someone who could

(11:07):
provide help and assistance to aperson in a trial.
So it's kind of, I guess what wemight think of like a barrister
today, someone who defends the defendant So the paraclete else
would give counsel plead the person's cause and intercede
with the judge. So you might start to see some

(11:28):
parallels here with the Christian Life.
The basic idea here by Jesus calling the Holy Spirit, the
paraclete office, or The Advocate or counselor is that
the Holy Spirit fights on behalfof the Apostles to help them
succeed against the devil. Jesus knows that after he's
gone, they're going to battle the world in the And the power

(11:50):
Cletus is going to be like theirlegal helper, the one who's
going to give them counsel and defend them.
He then says the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my
name. So the father is going to be the
one to send the Holy Spirit to the church.
Although, in other places, Jesussays that he will send the Holy
Spirit himself. So, clearly, both the father and

(12:11):
the son are involved in this ending.
Yeah. And the sending, and that's
actually an interesting goes into an interesting theological
discussion about the Trinity, because as you might know,
historically, the Orthodox Church did not, Agree with this
expression of in the Creed, which says the Holy Spirit

(12:31):
proceeds, from the father and the son, the Orthodox Christians
would have preferred to just sayfrom the father, but there are
verses in the New Testament, which talked about this, the sun
sending the Holy Spirit as well.So, that's just an interesting
aside, if you're interested in getting into the complexities of
trinitarian theology, So the father here, as in other places,

(12:55):
the it appears that the Holy Spirit cannot be sent and till
the sun's work is accomplished and has returned to Heaven.
There's other places where Jesussays, it is good for me to go so
that the Holy Spirit can come. So, there's this idea that the
Holy Spirit can't come until Jesus goes back to Heaven, which
is interesting. He says, I'm the father will
send in my name. He will teach you everything or

(13:18):
more literally will teach you all things.
Now all doesn't mean the same asit does in English today.
When it says all things basically, that's a Jewish
phrase, which roughly, it will, it doesn't mean everything about
everything. It's not.
I'm going to tell you 100% of all knowledge there is but
rather it means something like this.

(13:39):
He will teach you everything youneed to know.
So that all kind of means something a bit different.
Rent. Notice that he will teach you
everything as in everything thatyou need to know.
Who's he talking to? He's talking to the apostles.
This is a promise that Jesus gives the apostles about what
the holy spirit will do for them, not for all Christians.

(14:00):
And that makes sense, Jesus is saying that in the early years
of the church, when the Holy when the apostles are around,
the holy spirit will be there toguide the apostles and to
communicate God's truth to them.If you read the book of Acts,
you'll see that coming through pretty strongly.
Particularly, if you look at theJerusalem Council where the Holy
Spirit actually guides them in their decision, What this means

(14:22):
is that the early church is workin the book of Acts and in the
Years following its really God'swork.
God is with them through the Holy Spirit.
Now, notice this matches. Well, this idea that the holy
spirit will be with the apostlesmatches, the Catholic teaching
about the Canon. If you know much about the
Bible, the Catholic teaching is that the Canon of public

(14:43):
revelation of scripture writing was closed after the death of
the last Apostle. So the holy spirit is promised
to the apostles here in this verse and we know it's the holy
spirit that allows the scriptures to be inspired so it
makes logical sense to say that after the last Apostle died,
Sighs. The holy spirit is not going to
be as active in the same way. So from that, we can reasonably

(15:07):
infer that the scriptures the inspired word of God was
finished writing after the well,at the death of the last Apostle
and there was no more movement of the spirit in that same way
that Jesus promises it to the apostles here.
So I do think that that's a legitimate thing that we can
take from this verse. He then says this, the holy

(15:28):
spirit will remind you of all I have said, Now, that's an
interesting promised. The holy spirit is going to help
the apostles memory. Now, that's a lot of things
because Jesus has said a lot of things to them during his
ministry. And Jesus here says, in order to
help them. Remember all the things that
he's said, he's going to send the Holy Spirit.

(15:50):
We see this actually happened. Several times in the gospels,
the gospels themselves after Jesus resurrects.
It talks about how the apostles remember things that happened
earlier in the ministry. So if you look at John 2:17 and
then John 12:16 John, their talks about, he talks about the
event in the life of Jesus and then he adds a little editorial.

(16:13):
Comment the apostles did not understand this until after
Jesus resurrection. So clearly the Holy Spirit was
helping the apostles, understandeverything that Jesus said to
them. Even very soon after this after
Jesus, resurrection. Ian.
So the idea here is that the Holy Spirit helps the apostles
make links to earlier teachings of Jesus but this could also be

(16:36):
extended as well. Many scholars believe that this
promise that the holy spirit will remind the Apostles of
Everything Jesus has said, maybethat could extend to the writing
of the gospels. We know that the four gospel
writers, two of them who are Apostles, Matthew and John, when
they wrote their gospels, they were inspired.
So Even though there's some things in there, gospels, that

(17:01):
it seems like it would be hard for them to know that these
things happen. For example, Jesus, in The
Garden of Gethsemane. One of the things that's often
pointed out is he was too far away for the apostles to hear
what his prayer was. Although, somehow in the
gospels, there are able to record what his words were
saying with the woman at the well in John's gospel, it's a

(17:22):
private conversation between Jesus and the woman.
So how did the gospel writers know what Jesus said in these
conversations? Well, according to some
Scholars, this particular passage in John 14 says it gives
us an explanation of how the gospel writers knew what Jesus
said in those private conversations, the Holy Spirit
told them when they were writingtheir gospels.

(17:43):
And I think that that's quite possible.
So that's the end of what we have today.
And there's a lot in that a lot to think about the farewell
discourse continues in the lectionary, in the coming, week
days. So, if you keep listening,
you'll get to hear more of the farewell discourse, which keeps
going into John 15. There's a few really
interesting. Catechism, paragraphs that we

(18:04):
want to take a look at which mayclear links to what we've seen
here. So I'll just read out a few of
them. Paragraph 647 is about the
resurrection and it talks about how this idea that Jesus is only
going to reveal himself to Believers.
Could actually be applied to theresurrection appearances of

(18:25):
Jesus. It says, although the
resurrection was a historical event that could be verified by
the sign of the empty tomb. And by the reality of the
Apostles encounters with the Risen Christ, still it remains
at the very heart of the mysteryof Faith.
It's something that truly transcends and surpasses
history. This is why the Risen Christ
does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples to

(18:49):
those who came up with him, FromGalilee to Jerusalem, who are
now his witnesses to the people.There's also a reference to it
in paragraph, 2615 about prayer.It says, even more what the
father gives us when our prayer is united with, that of Jesus is
another counselor to be with youforever.
Even the spirit of Truth, this new dimension of prayer and of

(19:13):
its circumstances is displayed throughout the farewell
discourse in the Holy Spirit, Christian prayer is a communion
of love with the father not onlythrough Christ but also in him
here, the two you have asked nothing in my name.
Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full.
Paragraph to 60 is a discussion about the Trinity.

(19:35):
It says, the ultimate end of thewhole Divine economy is the
entry of God's creatures into the perfect, Unity of the
Blessed Trinity. How incredible is that?
That's what we as Christians getto have access to entry into the
perfect Unity of the Blessed Trinity.
So it goes on, but even now, we are called to be a dwelling for
the Most Holy Trinity. If a man loves me, says the

(19:58):
Lord, he will keep my word, and my father will love him.
Him and we will come to him and make our home with him.
So that entire paragraph paragraph, 260 about how we
should understand the Trinity and its relationship to us, is
informed largely by John chapter14 here.
Paragraph 2. 4 3 is says a little bit about how Jesus sends

(20:21):
the spirit, so I'll include thatin the show notes and then
paragraph, 263 summarizes. The trinity in this way, the
mission of the Holy Spirit sent by the father, in the name of
the Sun and by the son, from thefather reveals that with them.
The spirit is one and the same God with the father and the son

(20:42):
who is worshiped and glorified, Paragraph 69 to about the titles
of the holy spirit says when he proclaims an advisors the coming
of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him, the paraclete literally one
who is called to one side. Advocaat has paraclete is
commonly translated by consoler,and Jesus is the first consoler.

(21:07):
Paragraph seven to nine talks. A bit about how Jesus relates to
the Holy Spirit and so I'll include that show note that in
the show notes to and then, lastly, this is a nice thing to
finish on paragraph. 1099 says, primarily in the Eucharist and
by analogy in the other sacraments, the Liturgy is the

(21:28):
memorial of the mystery of Salvation.
The holy spirit is the church's living memory.
So that's a really interesting application, not only do the
Holy Spirit bring to memory of the Apostles, the things that
Jesus said and did we have access to that same kind of
memory function for the Holy Spirit as well?
The holy spirit is the church ofliving memory.

(21:51):
So all of that will be in the show notes for you to look at.
Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying this and you
believe the ministry is worth supporting.
It's a new podcast every single day, helping you understand the
scriptures, please consider becoming a Porter, I know you've
been thinking about it for a while, if you've been listening
for a while and there's more information about how you can do
that in the show notes. Thanks, please tune in again

(22:13):
tomorrow as we continue the farewell discourse.

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Monday of Week 5 of Eastertide - John 14: 21-26

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Monday of Week 5 of Eastertide - John 14: 21-26