progressive involvement

Day of Pentecost ::: John 20: 19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Translation:  Therefore, being evening of that day, the first of sabbath, the doors having been shut where the disciples were because of the fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood in the midst and he said to them, "Peace to you."  And when he said this, he showed to them the hands and the side.  Then, the disciples rejoiced, seeing the Lord.   Then, Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you.  Just as the Father has sent me, so I send you."  And when he had said this, he breathed and said to them, "Receive the holy spirit.  If you release the sins of any, they have been released to them, and if you might hold (the sins) of any, they have been held."

Background and situation:  It is the evening of Easter.  The doors "had been shut" by the disciples because of their fear of the Judeans (ioudaioi).  Fear of the Judeans would not be unreasonable, considering that Jesus had just been crushed by Judean forces. 

To recap from other posts on the fourth gospel, the fourth gospel is an argument between a Galilean and a Judean worldview.  The Judean worldview, in a nutshell, is the view from the top, i.e. the Temple leadership and their allies, the ruling families of Jerusalem, and, in turn, their allies, the Romans.  The Judean position is marked by division and barriers--rich vs. poor, Jew vs. Samaritan, insider vs. outsider.

The New Creation:  Our lection is Pentecost according to the Fourth Gospel.  The Lukan account in Acts has become so associated as the Pentecost story that the fourth gospel's view is often given short shrift.  The fourth gospel also speaks of the coming of the Spirit, though in a much different way than in Luke.  In the fourth gospel, there is no amorphous wind or forty day waiting period, and the Spirit comes directly from the breath of Jesus on the day of the New Creation.

The fourth gospel speaks of "signs" which are presented in order to encourage faith in Jesus (20: 30-31).  The various "signs," and their numbering, are open to interpretation, but N.T. Wright arranges them thus:

• 1.  Wedding at Cana (2: 1-11)
• 2.  The official's son (4: 46-54)
• 3.  The paralyzed man at the pool (5: 2-9)
• 4.  Multiplication of loaves (6: 1-14)
• 5.  The man born blind (9: 1-7)
• 6.  Raising of Lazarus (11: 1-44)
• 7.  Crucifixion (19: 1-37)
• 8.  Resurrection (20: 1-29)

In first century number symbolism, seven (7) was commonly thought to be the number of completion and wholeness--the "number of God," says Eugene Peterson.  The first seven "signs" therefore, taken together, give us a "complete" picture of Jesus.  He is the one who brings life in abundance, healing for outsiders, true sight, then raises the dead, and dies for the love of the world.  The resurrection is the 8th sign--the sign of the "new creation."

The fourth sign, incidentally, since it is equidistant from both the first and the last sign, is sometimes considered the "central point."  The fourth gospel's "central point" is the abundant life and power of Jesus, which is represented by the feeding of the 5000.

The Peace of Christ:  In spite of the locked doors, Jesus "came and stood in the midst" and said "peace to you."  Previously, Jesus had spoken of "peace" in 14: 27 and 16: 33--both times as an antidote to fear.  "My peace I leave with you," Jesus says in 14: 27.  Therefore, do not let your hearts be afraid.  In 16:33, Jesus says that he has said "these things" to the disciples so that they may have peace.  Therefore, "take courage;  I have conquered the world." 

Jesus displays his wounds, now healed and glorified.  This establishes continuity between the historical person Jesus, and the resurrected Jesus.  Though he is different in some ways, such as the ability to appear at will, he is also in continuity with the Jesus the disciples had known historically.  In fact, he is recognized not on the basis of his over-all appearance, but precisely on the basis of his wounds.

If Paul is correct that we will have a body like his glorified body (Ph 3: 21), then, even in our glorified body, we will also be our historical selves.  We will be the same people whose personality was formed in this world--we will be us--but now all of us, including our psychology, will be healed and transformed just as Jesus' wounds were healed and transformed.

The reference to Jesus' hands also reminds readers that God "had given all things into his hands" (3: 35).  The disciples are safe.  They are in good hands, you might say. 

The reference to his side refers to the spear of the Roman soldier after the death of Jesus, from which had flowed both blood and water.  The water reminds us of the "living water" spoken of in the dialog with the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter four.  Moreover, "blood and water" are reminiscent of birth.  The "blood and water" flowing from the side of Jesus gives birth to the New Community.

The disciples rejoice at "seeing the Lord."  This is reminiscent of the witness of Mary Magdalene who had said, "I have seen the Lord."  Jesus says again, "Peace to you."  The two statements of peace frame the action of Jesus in showing his hands and side.  It is on this basis, his wounds, that peace is won.

The Breath of Life:  Jesus shifts immediately to mission--"As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  Then, "he breathed on them."  The disciples are given power from the divine breath.  The Greek word translated as "breathed" is emphusao.  It is the same word the Septuagint uses in Genesis 2: 7:  "And the Lord God...breathed into (Adam's) nostrils the breath of life." 

The fourth gospel's use of emphusao is the only use of this word in the entire New Testament.  Clearly, the author of the fourth gospel is equating the breath of Jesus with the breath of God.  Where the Lord God breathed life into a human being, the Lord Jesus breathes life into his church.  This underlines the fourth gospel's view that Jesus is the "new creation," and is yet another of the fourth gospel's many references to the book of Genesis.

For the fourth gospel, the method of atonement is precisely through re-creation.  Jesus dies on the cross, which is, paradoxically, the hour of glory.  He is placed in a tomb, the place of death, and also the place of new creation coming forth from the earth.  His appearance as a gardener (20:15) reminds readers of the original garden of Genesis, now re-created through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

"If you release the sins of any, they are released," says Jesus, and "if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."  This is not a parallel for a similar saying in Matthew.  There is nothing here about eternal "binding and loosing." 

Rather, the New Community is to be characterized by the forgiveness, the "release," of sins.  Conversely, if sins are not forgiven, they are "retained" within the community, thereby threatening the community's life.

 

Image:  Resurrection, Ivan Filichev

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

Translation:  Therefore, being evening of that day, the first of sabbath, the doors having been shut where the disciples were because of the fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood in the midst and he said to them, "Peace to you."  And when he said this, he showed to them the hands and the side.  Then, the disciples rejoiced, seeing the Lord.   Then, Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you.  Just as the Father has sent me, so I send you."  And when he had said this, he breathed and said to them, "Receive the holy spirit.  If you release the sins of any, they have been released to them, and if you might hold (the sins) of any, they have been held."

Background and situation:  It is the evening of Easter.  The doors "had been shut" by the disciples because of their fear of the Judeans (ioudaioi).  Fear of the Judeans would not be unreasonable, considering that Jesus had just been crushed by Judean forces. 

To recap from other posts on the fourth gospel, the fourth gospel is an argument between a Galilean and a Judean worldview.  The Judean worldview, in a nutshell, is the view from the top, i.e. the Temple leadership and their allies, the ruling families of Jerusalem, and, in turn, their allies, the Romans.  The Judean position is marked by division and barriers--rich vs. poor, Jew vs. Samaritan, insider vs. outsider.

The New Creation:  Our lection is Pentecost according to the Fourth Gospel.  The Lukan account in Acts has become so associated as the Pentecost story that the fourth gospel's view is often given short shrift.  The fourth gospel also speaks of the coming of the Spirit, though in a much different way than in Luke.  In the fourth gospel, there is no amorphous wind or forty day waiting period, and the Spirit comes directly from the breath of Jesus on the day of the New Creation.

The fourth gospel speaks of "signs" which are presented in order to encourage faith in Jesus (20: 30-31).  The various "signs," and their numbering, are open to interpretation, but N.T. Wright arranges them thus:

• 1.  Wedding at Cana (2: 1-11)
• 2.  The official's son (4: 46-54)
• 3.  The paralyzed man at the pool (5: 2-9)
• 4.  Multiplication of loaves (6: 1-14)
• 5.  The man born blind (9: 1-7)
• 6.  Raising of Lazarus (11: 1-44)
• 7.  Crucifixion (19: 1-37)
• 8.  Resurrection (20: 1-29)

In first century number symbolism, seven (7) was commonly thought to be the number of completion and wholeness--the "number of God," says Eugene Peterson.  The first seven "signs" therefore, taken together, give us a "complete" picture of Jesus.  He is the one who brings life in abundance, healing for outsiders, true sight, then raises the dead, and dies for the love of the world.  The resurrection is the 8th sign--the sign of the "new creation."

The fourth sign, incidentally, since it is equidistant from both the first and the last sign, is sometimes considered the "central point."  The fourth gospel's "central point" is the abundant life and power of Jesus, which is represented by the feeding of the 5000.

The Peace of Christ:  In spite of the locked doors, Jesus "came and stood in the midst" and said "peace to you."  Previously, Jesus had spoken of "peace" in 14: 27 and 16: 33--both times as an antidote to fear.  "My peace I leave with you," Jesus says in 14: 27.  Therefore, do not let your hearts be afraid.  In 16:33, Jesus says that he has said "these things" to the disciples so that they may have peace.  Therefore, "take courage;  I have conquered the world." 

Jesus displays his wounds, now healed and glorified.  This establishes continuity between the historical person Jesus, and the resurrected Jesus.  Though he is different in some ways, such as the ability to appear at will, he is also in continuity with the Jesus the disciples had known historically.  In fact, he is recognized not on the basis of his over-all appearance, but precisely on the basis of his wounds.

If Paul is correct that we will have a body like his glorified body (Ph 3: 21), then, even in our glorified body, we will also be our historical selves.  We will be the same people whose personality was formed in this world--we will be us--but now all of us, including our psychology, will be healed and transformed just as Jesus' wounds were healed and transformed.

The reference to Jesus' hands also reminds readers that God "had given all things into his hands" (3: 35).  The disciples are safe.  They are in good hands, you might say. 

The reference to his side refers to the spear of the Roman soldier after the death of Jesus, from which had flowed both blood and water.  The water reminds us of the "living water" spoken of in the dialog with the Samaritan woman at the well in chapter four.  Moreover, "blood and water" are reminiscent of birth.  The "blood and water" flowing from the side of Jesus gives birth to the New Community.

The disciples rejoice at "seeing the Lord."  This is reminiscent of the witness of Mary Magdalene who had said, "I have seen the Lord."  Jesus says again, "Peace to you."  The two statements of peace frame the action of Jesus in showing his hands and side.  It is on this basis, his wounds, that peace is won.

The Breath of Life:  Jesus shifts immediately to mission--"As the Father has sent me, so I send you."  Then, "he breathed on them."  The disciples are given power from the divine breath.  The Greek word translated as "breathed" is emphusao.  It is the same word the Septuagint uses in Genesis 2: 7:  "And the Lord God...breathed into (Adam's) nostrils the breath of life." 

The fourth gospel's use of emphusao is the only use of this word in the entire New Testament.  Clearly, the author of the fourth gospel is equating the breath of Jesus with the breath of God.  Where the Lord God breathed life into a human being, the Lord Jesus breathes life into his church.  This underlines the fourth gospel's view that Jesus is the "new creation," and is yet another of the fourth gospel's many references to the book of Genesis.

For the fourth gospel, the method of atonement is precisely through re-creation.  Jesus dies on the cross, which is, paradoxically, the hour of glory.  He is placed in a tomb, the place of death, and also the place of new creation coming forth from the earth.  His appearance as a gardener (20:15) reminds readers of the original garden of Genesis, now re-created through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

"If you release the sins of any, they are released," says Jesus, and "if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."  This is not a parallel for a similar saying in Matthew.  There is nothing here about eternal "binding and loosing." 

Rather, the New Community is to be characterized by the forgiveness, the "release," of sins.  Conversely, if sins are not forgiven, they are "retained" within the community, thereby threatening the community's life.

 

Image:  Resurrection, Ivan Filichev

Easter 7 ::: John 17: 1-11

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 ‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Translation:  Jesus spoke these things, and lifted up his eyes into heaven (and) he said, "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify your son so that the son may glorify you.  As you have given to him power over all flesh, so anyone who has been given to him, he will give to them eternal life.  And this is eternal life:  that they might know you, the only true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ.  I glorified you upon the earth.  I brought to completion the work which you have given me to do.  And now, Father, glorify you me, alongside yourself the glory which I am having alongside you before the universe came to be.

I made known your name to the ones whom you gave me out of the world.  They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  Now they have known that all things, however many, you have given me are alongside of you, for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them, and they know truly that I came out alongside of you, and they have 'faithed' that you sent me.  I am asking concerning them--not concerning the universe am I asking--but concerning the ones you gave me because they are yours.  And all mine are yours and yours mine, and I am glorified in them.  And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I also am coming to you.  Holy Father, take care of them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one, just as we."

Background and situation:  The text begins the "high priestly prayer" section of the "farewell discourses" of Jesus in the fourth gospel.  He lifts up his eyes and speaks directly to God the Father.  He speaks of the fateful "hour," which, in the fourth gospel, refers to his crucifixion.  The fourth gospel has been pointing to Jesus' "hour" ever since chapter two when he said to his mother, "Woman...my hour has not yet come."

But now the "hour" is come--present tense.  The "hour" is not the resurrection--not yet--but the cross.  In the cross, the Son will be "glorified" and will "glorify" the Father.  The word is doxa, which means to make radiant and clothe with splendor.  The way of the cross, the downward descent into nothingness and annihilation, is proclaimed the path of true glory.

Eternal life:  It is through the cross that all will be drawn to Jesus--^"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (12:32)--which is why Jesus can now say that he has "power over all flesh." (17:2)  

Power for what?  To give anyone who has been given to Jesus "eternal life."  "Eternal life" is here defined in an interesting and unusual way:  Eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus.

Greek has two words for "life", bios and zoe.  Bios refers to living organisms.  The word here is zoe, which means true life, life at its core.  The word for "know" is ginosko, which means intimate, even mystical, knowledge.  

This intimate knowledge which brings "life eternal" comes by revelation, not reason--it is gift, not acquisition.  It is being "born from above" (3:7) and is, you might say, a tap into the Life Source itself. 

Telos:  Jesus has "brought to completion the work."  The word translated as ""brought to completion" is a form of telos, a very rich word in the New Testament.  It has the sense not only of finishing, but also "bringing to the goal." 

Jesus' last word in the fourth gospel, proclaimed from the cross, is a form of telos, tetelestai, which means, "it has been accomplished," or "it has been completed," or "it has been brought to the goal."  In the second century, Iraneus would speak of the anakephalaiososthai ta panta--the "summing up of all things into the head."  In the mid-20th century, Teilhard de Chardin spoke of the "omega point" toward which the cosmos was heading.

Making known the name of God:  Jesus has "made known" the name of God throughout the fourth gospel.  God's name, revealed to Moses, is YHWH.  It was probably pronounced "YAH-weh," though pronunciation is uncertain since the early Hebrews didn't actually speak the word out loud.   

I'm told that YHWH contains within it every conjugation of the verb "to be."  "I am who I am," or "I will be who I will be"--and every other variation as well.  When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek--the version known as the Septuagint--the YHWH of the Old Testament was rendered into Greek as ego eimi, an emphatic form of "I am."

Jesus says "ego eimi" all over the fourth gospel--45 times, in fact.  "I am the door," Jesus says.  "I am the good shepherd."  "I am the bread of life."  "I am the resurrection and the life."  "I am the light of the world."  "I am the true vine."  "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 

In the ancient world, accessibility to a "name" meant accessibility to the power behind that name.  In so openly expressing himself as "I am," the fourth gospel is saying that the power of God is made accessible to the people through Jesus himself.  (Moreover, in calling God "Father," Jesus is saying that our relationship with God is like the intimacy of a parent.  God is rarely spoken of as "Father" in the Old Testament.)

Rare and high praise for the disciples:  Somewhat surprisingly, the disciples are said to have "kept" God's Word" (logos).  They "know"--ginosko again--and, what's more, they "have received," "truly knew," and "faithed." 

This is high praise indeed since "knowing" in an intimate and mystical way, receiving Christ, and "faithing" in Christ are three of the major themes and exhortations in the fourth gospel.  Jesus is even "glorifed in them." 

The fourth gospel understands "them" as both the Johannine community, and, more broadly, the children of God.  The community of the children of God "knows" Jesus in an interior and mystical way.  They live out the teachings of Jesus through "faithing"--following in radical trust--which is made manifest in an open community that reaches across all worldly barriers.  Through them, Jesus himself is glorified--indeed, "made radiant."

"That they may be one":  Today's lection contains the phrase off-cited in the ecumenical movement--"that they may be one."  In recent years, some say the ecumenical movement has flagged, and its energy has dissipated.  If so, it's because the ecumenical movement has been so wildly successful. 

Fifty years ago, it was not difficult to find a Lutheran or a Catholic or a Baptist who thought that everyone but them was going to hell.  Today, that sort of thing is still around, but has been abandoned by the vast majority.  People today regularly visit, participate in, and join up with various traditions in the course of their lifetime.

The recent Pew Forum study on religion in America found that, more and more, people were willing to change from one tradition to another.  The study described the American religious landscape as "fluid and diverse."  “People will be surprised by the amount of movement by Americans from one religious group to another – or to no religion at all,” said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum.

The people are speaking.  They obviously no longer see various doctrinal issues as "church dividing."  In fact, as the various Christians traditions engage in dialog, they are, in effect, trying to catch up with where the people already are.

Image:  Sanctuary ceiling, Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Denver.

 

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 ‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Translation:  Jesus spoke these things, and lifted up his eyes into heaven (and) he said, "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify your son so that the son may glorify you.  As you have given to him power over all flesh, so anyone who has been given to him, he will give to them eternal life.  And this is eternal life:  that they might know you, the only true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ.  I glorified you upon the earth.  I brought to completion the work which you have given me to do.  And now, Father, glorify you me, alongside yourself the glory which I am having alongside you before the universe came to be.

I made known your name to the ones whom you gave me out of the world.  They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  Now they have known that all things, however many, you have given me are alongside of you, for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them, and they know truly that I came out alongside of you, and they have 'faithed' that you sent me.  I am asking concerning them--not concerning the universe am I asking--but concerning the ones you gave me because they are yours.  And all mine are yours and yours mine, and I am glorified in them.  And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I also am coming to you.  Holy Father, take care of them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one, just as we."

Background and situation:  The text begins the "high priestly prayer" section of the "farewell discourses" of Jesus in the fourth gospel.  He lifts up his eyes and speaks directly to God the Father.  He speaks of the fateful "hour," which, in the fourth gospel, refers to his crucifixion.  The fourth gospel has been pointing to Jesus' "hour" ever since chapter two when he said to his mother, "Woman...my hour has not yet come."

But now the "hour" is come--present tense.  The "hour" is not the resurrection--not yet--but the cross.  In the cross, the Son will be "glorified" and will "glorify" the Father.  The word is doxa, which means to make radiant and clothe with splendor.  The way of the cross, the downward descent into nothingness and annihilation, is proclaimed the path of true glory.

Eternal life:  It is through the cross that all will be drawn to Jesus--^"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (12:32)--which is why Jesus can now say that he has "power over all flesh." (17:2)  

Power for what?  To give anyone who has been given to Jesus "eternal life."  "Eternal life" is here defined in an interesting and unusual way:  Eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus.

Greek has two words for "life", bios and zoe.  Bios refers to living organisms.  The word here is zoe, which means true life, life at its core.  The word for "know" is ginosko, which means intimate, even mystical, knowledge.  

This intimate knowledge which brings "life eternal" comes by revelation, not reason--it is gift, not acquisition.  It is being "born from above" (3:7) and is, you might say, a tap into the Life Source itself. 

Telos:  Jesus has "brought to completion the work."  The word translated as ""brought to completion" is a form of telos, a very rich word in the New Testament.  It has the sense not only of finishing, but also "bringing to the goal." 

Jesus' last word in the fourth gospel, proclaimed from the cross, is a form of telos, tetelestai, which means, "it has been accomplished," or "it has been completed," or "it has been brought to the goal."  In the second century, Iraneus would speak of the anakephalaiososthai ta panta--the "summing up of all things into the head."  In the mid-20th century, Teilhard de Chardin spoke of the "omega point" toward which the cosmos was heading.

Making known the name of God:  Jesus has "made known" the name of God throughout the fourth gospel.  God's name, revealed to Moses, is YHWH.  It was probably pronounced "YAH-weh," though pronunciation is uncertain since the early Hebrews didn't actually speak the word out loud.   

I'm told that YHWH contains within it every conjugation of the verb "to be."  "I am who I am," or "I will be who I will be"--and every other variation as well.  When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek--the version known as the Septuagint--the YHWH of the Old Testament was rendered into Greek as ego eimi, an emphatic form of "I am."

Jesus says "ego eimi" all over the fourth gospel--45 times, in fact.  "I am the door," Jesus says.  "I am the good shepherd."  "I am the bread of life."  "I am the resurrection and the life."  "I am the light of the world."  "I am the true vine."  "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 

In the ancient world, accessibility to a "name" meant accessibility to the power behind that name.  In so openly expressing himself as "I am," the fourth gospel is saying that the power of God is made accessible to the people through Jesus himself.  (Moreover, in calling God "Father," Jesus is saying that our relationship with God is like the intimacy of a parent.  God is rarely spoken of as "Father" in the Old Testament.)

Rare and high praise for the disciples:  Somewhat surprisingly, the disciples are said to have "kept" God's Word" (logos).  They "know"--ginosko again--and, what's more, they "have received," "truly knew," and "faithed." 

This is high praise indeed since "knowing" in an intimate and mystical way, receiving Christ, and "faithing" in Christ are three of the major themes and exhortations in the fourth gospel.  Jesus is even "glorifed in them." 

The fourth gospel understands "them" as both the Johannine community, and, more broadly, the children of God.  The community of the children of God "knows" Jesus in an interior and mystical way.  They live out the teachings of Jesus through "faithing"--following in radical trust--which is made manifest in an open community that reaches across all worldly barriers.  Through them, Jesus himself is glorified--indeed, "made radiant."

"That they may be one":  Today's lection contains the phrase off-cited in the ecumenical movement--"that they may be one."  In recent years, some say the ecumenical movement has flagged, and its energy has dissipated.  If so, it's because the ecumenical movement has been so wildly successful. 

Fifty years ago, it was not difficult to find a Lutheran or a Catholic or a Baptist who thought that everyone but them was going to hell.  Today, that sort of thing is still around, but has been abandoned by the vast majority.  People today regularly visit, participate in, and join up with various traditions in the course of their lifetime.

The recent Pew Forum study on religion in America found that, more and more, people were willing to change from one tradition to another.  The study described the American religious landscape as "fluid and diverse."  “People will be surprised by the amount of movement by Americans from one religious group to another – or to no religion at all,” said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum.

The people are speaking.  They obviously no longer see various doctrinal issues as "church dividing."  In fact, as the various Christians traditions engage in dialog, they are, in effect, trying to catch up with where the people already are.

Image:  Sanctuary ceiling, Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Denver.

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

6 ‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours.¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

Translation:  Jesus spoke these things, and lifted up his eyes into heaven (and) he said, "Father, the hour has come.  Glorify your son so that the son may glorify you.  As you have given to him power over all flesh, so anyone who has been given to him, he will give to them eternal life.  And this is eternal life:  that they might know you, the only true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ.  I glorified you upon the earth.  I brought to completion the work which you have given me to do.  And now, Father, glorify you me, alongside yourself the glory which I am having alongside you before the universe came to be.

I made known your name to the ones whom you gave me out of the world.  They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.  Now they have known that all things, however many, you have given me are alongside of you, for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them, and they know truly that I came out alongside of you, and they have 'faithed' that you sent me.  I am asking concerning them--not concerning the universe am I asking--but concerning the ones you gave me because they are yours.  And all mine are yours and yours mine, and I am glorified in them.  And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I also am coming to you.  Holy Father, take care of them in your name that you have given me so that they may be one, just as we."

Background and situation:  The text begins the "high priestly prayer" section of the "farewell discourses" of Jesus in the fourth gospel.  He lifts up his eyes and speaks directly to God the Father.  He speaks of the fateful "hour," which, in the fourth gospel, refers to his crucifixion.  The fourth gospel has been pointing to Jesus' "hour" ever since chapter two when he said to his mother, "Woman...my hour has not yet come."

But now the "hour" is come--present tense.  The "hour" is not the resurrection--not yet--but the cross.  In the cross, the Son will be "glorified" and will "glorify" the Father.  The word is doxa, which means to make radiant and clothe with splendor.  The way of the cross, the downward descent into nothingness and annihilation, is proclaimed the path of true glory.

Eternal life:  It is through the cross that all will be drawn to Jesus--^"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (12:32)--which is why Jesus can now say that he has "power over all flesh." (17:2)  

Power for what?  To give anyone who has been given to Jesus "eternal life."  "Eternal life" is here defined in an interesting and unusual way:  Eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus.

Greek has two words for "life", bios and zoe.  Bios refers to living organisms.  The word here is zoe, which means true life, life at its core.  The word for "know" is ginosko, which means intimate, even mystical, knowledge.  

This intimate knowledge which brings "life eternal" comes by revelation, not reason--it is gift, not acquisition.  It is being "born from above" (3:7) and is, you might say, a tap into the Life Source itself. 

Telos:  Jesus has "brought to completion the work."  The word translated as ""brought to completion" is a form of telos, a very rich word in the New Testament.  It has the sense not only of finishing, but also "bringing to the goal." 

Jesus' last word in the fourth gospel, proclaimed from the cross, is a form of telos, tetelestai, which means, "it has been accomplished," or "it has been completed," or "it has been brought to the goal."  In the second century, Iraneus would speak of the anakephalaiososthai ta panta--the "summing up of all things into the head."  In the mid-20th century, Teilhard de Chardin spoke of the "omega point" toward which the cosmos was heading.

Making known the name of God:  Jesus has "made known" the name of God throughout the fourth gospel.  God's name, revealed to Moses, is YHWH.  It was probably pronounced "YAH-weh," though pronunciation is uncertain since the early Hebrews didn't actually speak the word out loud.   

I'm told that YHWH contains within it every conjugation of the verb "to be."  "I am who I am," or "I will be who I will be"--and every other variation as well.  When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek--the version known as the Septuagint--the YHWH of the Old Testament was rendered into Greek as ego eimi, an emphatic form of "I am."

Jesus says "ego eimi" all over the fourth gospel--45 times, in fact.  "I am the door," Jesus says.  "I am the good shepherd."  "I am the bread of life."  "I am the resurrection and the life."  "I am the light of the world."  "I am the true vine."  "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 

In the ancient world, accessibility to a "name" meant accessibility to the power behind that name.  In so openly expressing himself as "I am," the fourth gospel is saying that the power of God is made accessible to the people through Jesus himself.  (Moreover, in calling God "Father," Jesus is saying that our relationship with God is like the intimacy of a parent.  God is rarely spoken of as "Father" in the Old Testament.)

Rare and high praise for the disciples:  Somewhat surprisingly, the disciples are said to have "kept" God's Word" (logos).  They "know"--ginosko again--and, what's more, they "have received," "truly knew," and "faithed." 

This is high praise indeed since "knowing" in an intimate and mystical way, receiving Christ, and "faithing" in Christ are three of the major themes and exhortations in the fourth gospel.  Jesus is even "glorifed in them." 

The fourth gospel understands "them" as both the Johannine community, and, more broadly, the children of God.  The community of the children of God "knows" Jesus in an interior and mystical way.  They live out the teachings of Jesus through "faithing"--following in radical trust--which is made manifest in an open community that reaches across all worldly barriers.  Through them, Jesus himself is glorified--indeed, "made radiant."

"That they may be one":  Today's lection contains the phrase off-cited in the ecumenical movement--"that they may be one."  In recent years, some say the ecumenical movement has flagged, and its energy has dissipated.  If so, it's because the ecumenical movement has been so wildly successful. 

Fifty years ago, it was not difficult to find a Lutheran or a Catholic or a Baptist who thought that everyone but them was going to hell.  Today, that sort of thing is still around, but has been abandoned by the vast majority.  People today regularly visit, participate in, and join up with various traditions in the course of their lifetime.

The recent Pew Forum study on religion in America found that, more and more, people were willing to change from one tradition to another.  The study described the American religious landscape as "fluid and diverse."  “People will be surprised by the amount of movement by Americans from one religious group to another – or to no religion at all,” said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum.

The people are speaking.  They obviously no longer see various doctrinal issues as "church dividing."  In fact, as the various Christians traditions engage in dialog, they are, in effect, trying to catch up with where the people already are.

Image:  Sanctuary ceiling, Assumption of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Denver.

Easter 6 ::: John 14: 15-21

¹⁵”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This 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.

¹⁸”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They 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.”

Translation:  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another, a One-called-alongside, so that he might be with you into the eternal, the spirit of the truth, whom the world has not been able to receive because it can neither see nor know him.  You know him, because he abides alongside you and is in you.  I will not leave you orphans.  I come to you.  A little while and the world will see me no longer, but you see me.  Because I live, you will live also.  On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, I in you.  The one having my commandments, and keeping them, that one is loving me, and the one loving me will be loved by my Father.  And I will love them, and I will show forth myself to them."

Background and situation:  Last week's reading, John 14: 1-14, is the beginning of the farewell discourses in the fourth gospel.  This week's reading is the following six verses.  Last week, the emphasis was on trust in Jesus.  This week, the emphasis is on love for Jesus.  

Not surprisingly, the farewell discourses open with appeals to trust and love, both major themes of the fourth gospel.  In fact, what is rather surprising, when you think about it, is that love for Jesus is a minor theme in the New Testament, almost non-existent outside of the fourth gospel.  In the fourth gospel, however, love for Jesus is a major theme, strongly emphasized.

Love counters fear.  The text seems designed to provide comfort for the community in the absence of Jesus, as if to say, "Don't worry.  Everything will be all right.  You will have help."  What's more, Jesus says, "I come to you."  The verb is present tense, meaning that Jesus is always a present reality.

The problem of love in the very early church:  I read the fourth gospel as a bit of a polemic against Peter.  Whenever Peter and the Beloved Disciple appear in the same scene, it seems that Peter always comes off as secondary. 

Peter needs to get the Beloved Disciple to ask Jesus a question, for example.  The Beloved Disciple can walk right into the palace, but Peter has to stay outside.  They both run to the tomb, but the Beloved Disciple gets there first.  Then, in chapter 21, Jesus almost seems to chew Peter out for not having enough love.  (Jesus speaks of agape love to Peter, unconditional love, but Peter keeps responding with philia love, affectionate friendship.)

Is that the fourth gospel's criticism of Peter?  Not enough love?  One of the major themes of the fourth gospel is love.  The word appears 57 times in fourth gospel.  In it, the two great commandments are to love God and "love one another." 

This is the sacred text of the Johannine community, a community distinct from, yet in fellowship with, the Jerusalem church.  Do they find a lack of love in the Jerusalem church?

The community is to demonstrate their love for Jesus by keeping his commandments, although he has only really given one actual commandment, which is to "love one another" (13: 34-35).  The use of the word "commandments"--plural--invites a comparison with other "commandments," such as those given to Moses.  For the fourth gospel, Jesus one commandment--"love one another"--is placed on the level of the Torah itself.

The "paraklete":  The word parakletos means "one called alongside."  It is generally translated as "advocate" or "comforter."  The word is closely related to the Hebrew hacham, which appears in Psalm 23, for example:  "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort--hacham--me."  The word parakletos itself, however, comes originally from the Greek law courts where it meant "advocate" or "lawyer."

Jesus promises "another advocate," himself apparently being the first.  The "advocate" will be "the spirit of the truth."  This is reminiscent of the worship of those who do so "in spirit and in truth" (4: 23-24).  The way the fourth gospel uses it, parakletos combines the concepts of comforter, encourager, advocate, defender. 

The "advocate" will be "remaining" with them--menei, a key, even ubiquitous, word in the fourth gospel.  Everyone--Jesus, the community, the advocate, the Father--seems to abide, dwell, and remain in, with, and under each other.  (Think sacramental theology.)

To see and know:  Jesus will not leave them bereft, like orphans.  They "will see" him, even though no one else will.  ("...the world can neither see nor know him...") 

The formula "on that day" is used throughout the Old Testament, and the fourth gospel uses it here to underline Jesus' relationship and identification with the Father.  What's more, the community's relationship with Jesus is the same as Jesus' relationship with the Father, the first such statement in the fourth gospel.

The community "knows" the advocate, and, "on that day," the community "will know" that Jesus is in the Father.  The word is ginosko. Ginosko, as previously mentioned, is knowledge through intimate experience--"mystical knowledge," you might say.  It is not so much a reasoned-based "knowing," but more revelation-based "knowing."

The fourth gospel anticipates some of the trinitarian debate that would come two or three hundred years later.  The Son is in intimate relationship with the Father, yet is distinct from the Father.  Jesus has a direct relationship with the Father, and a direct relationship with the community, though the community itself is in relationship with the Father indirectly, through Jesus.

The Father is utterly transcendent, known only through the Son.  John Sanford notes that "in Christian mystical thought...the Father is God as the uncreated One, pure Being or Existence itself who cannot be known or described in any human categories." 

The Father is beyond space and time, and, therefore, beyond description.  The eastern tradition calls this "apophatic" theology, which means that God can only be described in negatives, i.e. without name, without origin, without end.  Gregory of Nyssa: 

"There is no way of comprehending the indefinable as by a scheme of words.  For the Divine is too noble and lofty to be indicated by a name, and we have learned to honor by silence that which transcends reason and thought." (Against Eunomius, 10)

The question is:  If the Father is unknown, how can be the Father be known?  The fourth gospel asserts:  The Father can be known through the Son.  The Father cannot be known, but the Son can be known, and to know the Son is to know the Father.

There is a shift in verse 21.  Until then, Jesus had been speaking to the community--the "you's" were all plural.  In verse 21, Jesus speaks to the individual.  The NRSV continues to use "they" here, but the verse should actually be translated:  "The one having my commandments and keeping them is the one loving me.  The one loving me will be loved by my Father, and I will love that one and will manifest myself to that one."

The primary sense of the sentence is to enjoin both community and individual in loving one another and Jesus.  Secondly however, it would be a mistake to view this in an exclusive way.  Jesus is not saying that God will not love others who don't love.  The fourth gospel is underscoring, however, the reciprocity of relationship.  Those in mutual relationship with each other--those who menei together and with Jesus--will want to live out the very basis of that relationship, which is love. 

Image:  Passion, Chidi Okoye

 

¹⁵”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This 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.

¹⁸”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They 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.”

Translation:  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another, a One-called-alongside, so that he might be with you into the eternal, the spirit of the truth, whom the world has not been able to receive because it can neither see nor know him.  You know him, because he abides alongside you and is in you.  I will not leave you orphans.  I come to you.  A little while and the world will see me no longer, but you see me.  Because I live, you will live also.  On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, I in you.  The one having my commandments, and keeping them, that one is loving me, and the one loving me will be loved by my Father.  And I will love them, and I will show forth myself to them."

Background and situation:  Last week's reading, John 14: 1-14, is the beginning of the farewell discourses in the fourth gospel.  This week's reading is the following six verses.  Last week, the emphasis was on trust in Jesus.  This week, the emphasis is on love for Jesus.  

Not surprisingly, the farewell discourses open with appeals to trust and love, both major themes of the fourth gospel.  In fact, what is rather surprising, when you think about it, is that love for Jesus is a minor theme in the New Testament, almost non-existent outside of the fourth gospel.  In the fourth gospel, however, love for Jesus is a major theme, strongly emphasized.

Love counters fear.  The text seems designed to provide comfort for the community in the absence of Jesus, as if to say, "Don't worry.  Everything will be all right.  You will have help."  What's more, Jesus says, "I come to you."  The verb is present tense, meaning that Jesus is always a present reality.

The problem of love in the very early church:  I read the fourth gospel as a bit of a polemic against Peter.  Whenever Peter and the Beloved Disciple appear in the same scene, it seems that Peter always comes off as secondary. 

Peter needs to get the Beloved Disciple to ask Jesus a question, for example.  The Beloved Disciple can walk right into the palace, but Peter has to stay outside.  They both run to the tomb, but the Beloved Disciple gets there first.  Then, in chapter 21, Jesus almost seems to chew Peter out for not having enough love.  (Jesus speaks of agape love to Peter, unconditional love, but Peter keeps responding with philia love, affectionate friendship.)

Is that the fourth gospel's criticism of Peter?  Not enough love?  One of the major themes of the fourth gospel is love.  The word appears 57 times in fourth gospel.  In it, the two great commandments are to love God and "love one another." 

This is the sacred text of the Johannine community, a community distinct from, yet in fellowship with, the Jerusalem church.  Do they find a lack of love in the Jerusalem church?

The community is to demonstrate their love for Jesus by keeping his commandments, although he has only really given one actual commandment, which is to "love one another" (13: 34-35).  The use of the word "commandments"--plural--invites a comparison with other "commandments," such as those given to Moses.  For the fourth gospel, Jesus one commandment--"love one another"--is placed on the level of the Torah itself.

The "paraklete":  The word parakletos means "one called alongside."  It is generally translated as "advocate" or "comforter."  The word is closely related to the Hebrew hacham, which appears in Psalm 23, for example:  "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort--hacham--me."  The word parakletos itself, however, comes originally from the Greek law courts where it meant "advocate" or "lawyer."

Jesus promises "another advocate," himself apparently being the first.  The "advocate" will be "the spirit of the truth."  This is reminiscent of the worship of those who do so "in spirit and in truth" (4: 23-24).  The way the fourth gospel uses it, parakletos combines the concepts of comforter, encourager, advocate, defender. 

The "advocate" will be "remaining" with them--menei, a key, even ubiquitous, word in the fourth gospel.  Everyone--Jesus, the community, the advocate, the Father--seems to abide, dwell, and remain in, with, and under each other.  (Think sacramental theology.)

To see and know:  Jesus will not leave them bereft, like orphans.  They "will see" him, even though no one else will.  ("...the world can neither see nor know him...") 

The formula "on that day" is used throughout the Old Testament, and the fourth gospel uses it here to underline Jesus' relationship and identification with the Father.  What's more, the community's relationship with Jesus is the same as Jesus' relationship with the Father, the first such statement in the fourth gospel.

The community "knows" the advocate, and, "on that day," the community "will know" that Jesus is in the Father.  The word is ginosko. Ginosko, as previously mentioned, is knowledge through intimate experience--"mystical knowledge," you might say.  It is not so much a reasoned-based "knowing," but more revelation-based "knowing."

The fourth gospel anticipates some of the trinitarian debate that would come two or three hundred years later.  The Son is in intimate relationship with the Father, yet is distinct from the Father.  Jesus has a direct relationship with the Father, and a direct relationship with the community, though the community itself is in relationship with the Father indirectly, through Jesus.

The Father is utterly transcendent, known only through the Son.  John Sanford notes that "in Christian mystical thought...the Father is God as the uncreated One, pure Being or Existence itself who cannot be known or described in any human categories." 

The Father is beyond space and time, and, therefore, beyond description.  The eastern tradition calls this "apophatic" theology, which means that God can only be described in negatives, i.e. without name, without origin, without end.  Gregory of Nyssa: 

"There is no way of comprehending the indefinable as by a scheme of words.  For the Divine is too noble and lofty to be indicated by a name, and we have learned to honor by silence that which transcends reason and thought." (Against Eunomius, 10)

The question is:  If the Father is unknown, how can be the Father be known?  The fourth gospel asserts:  The Father can be known through the Son.  The Father cannot be known, but the Son can be known, and to know the Son is to know the Father.

There is a shift in verse 21.  Until then, Jesus had been speaking to the community--the "you's" were all plural.  In verse 21, Jesus speaks to the individual.  The NRSV continues to use "they" here, but the verse should actually be translated:  "The one having my commandments and keeping them is the one loving me.  The one loving me will be loved by my Father, and I will love that one and will manifest myself to that one."

The primary sense of the sentence is to enjoin both community and individual in loving one another and Jesus.  Secondly however, it would be a mistake to view this in an exclusive way.  Jesus is not saying that God will not love others who don't love.  The fourth gospel is underscoring, however, the reciprocity of relationship.  Those in mutual relationship with each other--those who menei together and with Jesus--will want to live out the very basis of that relationship, which is love. 

Image:  Passion, Chidi Okoye

¹⁵”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This 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.

¹⁸”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They 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.”

Translation:  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another, a One-called-alongside, so that he might be with you into the eternal, the spirit of the truth, whom the world has not been able to receive because it can neither see nor know him.  You know him, because he abides alongside you and is in you.  I will not leave you orphans.  I come to you.  A little while and the world will see me no longer, but you see me.  Because I live, you will live also.  On that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, I in you.  The one having my commandments, and keeping them, that one is loving me, and the one loving me will be loved by my Father.  And I will love them, and I will show forth myself to them."

Background and situation:  Last week's reading, John 14: 1-14, is the beginning of the farewell discourses in the fourth gospel.  This week's reading is the following six verses.  Last week, the emphasis was on trust in Jesus.  This week, the emphasis is on love for Jesus.  

Not surprisingly, the farewell discourses open with appeals to trust and love, both major themes of the fourth gospel.  In fact, what is rather surprising, when you think about it, is that love for Jesus is a minor theme in the New Testament, almost non-existent outside of the fourth gospel.  In the fourth gospel, however, love for Jesus is a major theme, strongly emphasized.

Love counters fear.  The text seems designed to provide comfort for the community in the absence of Jesus, as if to say, "Don't worry.  Everything will be all right.  You will have help."  What's more, Jesus says, "I come to you."  The verb is present tense, meaning that Jesus is always a present reality.

The problem of love in the very early church:  I read the fourth gospel as a bit of a polemic against Peter.  Whenever Peter and the Beloved Disciple appear in the same scene, it seems that Peter always comes off as secondary. 

Peter needs to get the Beloved Disciple to ask Jesus a question, for example.  The Beloved Disciple can walk right into the palace, but Peter has to stay outside.  They both run to the tomb, but the Beloved Disciple gets there first.  Then, in chapter 21, Jesus almost seems to chew Peter out for not having enough love.  (Jesus speaks of agape love to Peter, unconditional love, but Peter keeps responding with philia love, affectionate friendship.)

Is that the fourth gospel's criticism of Peter?  Not enough love?  One of the major themes of the fourth gospel is love.  The word appears 57 times in fourth gospel.  In it, the two great commandments are to love God and "love one another." 

This is the sacred text of the Johannine community, a community distinct from, yet in fellowship with, the Jerusalem church.  Do they find a lack of love in the Jerusalem church?

The community is to demonstrate their love for Jesus by keeping his commandments, although he has only really given one actual commandment, which is to "love one another" (13: 34-35).  The use of the word "commandments"--plural--invites a comparison with other "commandments," such as those given to Moses.  For the fourth gospel, Jesus one commandment--"love one another"--is placed on the level of the Torah itself.

The "paraklete":  The word parakletos means "one called alongside."  It is generally translated as "advocate" or "comforter."  The word is closely related to the Hebrew hacham, which appears in Psalm 23, for example:  "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort--hacham--me."  The word parakletos itself, however, comes originally from the Greek law courts where it meant "advocate" or "lawyer."

Jesus promises "another advocate," himself apparently being the first.  The "advocate" will be "the spirit of the truth."  This is reminiscent of the worship of those who do so "in spirit and in truth" (4: 23-24).  The way the fourth gospel uses it, parakletos combines the concepts of comforter, encourager, advocate, defender. 

The "advocate" will be "remaining" with them--menei, a key, even ubiquitous, word in the fourth gospel.  Everyone--Jesus, the community, the advocate, the Father--seems to abide, dwell, and remain in, with, and under each other.  (Think sacramental theology.)

To see and know:  Jesus will not leave them bereft, like orphans.  They "will see" him, even though no one else will.  ("...the world can neither see nor know him...") 

The formula "on that day" is used throughout the Old Testament, and the fourth gospel uses it here to underline Jesus' relationship and identification with the Father.  What's more, the community's relationship with Jesus is the same as Jesus' relationship with the Father, the first such statement in the fourth gospel.

The community "knows" the advocate, and, "on that day," the community "will know" that Jesus is in the Father.  The word is ginosko. Ginosko, as previously mentioned, is knowledge through intimate experience--"mystical knowledge," you might say.  It is not so much a reasoned-based "knowing," but more revelation-based "knowing."

The fourth gospel anticipates some of the trinitarian debate that would come two or three hundred years later.  The Son is in intimate relationship with the Father, yet is distinct from the Father.  Jesus has a direct relationship with the Father, and a direct relationship with the community, though the community itself is in relationship with the Father indirectly, through Jesus.

The Father is utterly transcendent, known only through the Son.  John Sanford notes that "in Christian mystical thought...the Father is God as the uncreated One, pure Being or Existence itself who cannot be known or described in any human categories." 

The Father is beyond space and time, and, therefore, beyond description.  The eastern tradition calls this "apophatic" theology, which means that God can only be described in negatives, i.e. without name, without origin, without end.  Gregory of Nyssa: 

"There is no way of comprehending the indefinable as by a scheme of words.  For the Divine is too noble and lofty to be indicated by a name, and we have learned to honor by silence that which transcends reason and thought." (Against Eunomius, 10)

The question is:  If the Father is unknown, how can be the Father be known?  The fourth gospel asserts:  The Father can be known through the Son.  The Father cannot be known, but the Son can be known, and to know the Son is to know the Father.

There is a shift in verse 21.  Until then, Jesus had been speaking to the community--the "you's" were all plural.  In verse 21, Jesus speaks to the individual.  The NRSV continues to use "they" here, but the verse should actually be translated:  "The one having my commandments and keeping them is the one loving me.  The one loving me will be loved by my Father, and I will love that one and will manifest myself to that one."

The primary sense of the sentence is to enjoin both community and individual in loving one another and Jesus.  Secondly however, it would be a mistake to view this in an exclusive way.  Jesus is not saying that God will not love others who don't love.  The fourth gospel is underscoring, however, the reciprocity of relationship.  Those in mutual relationship with each other--those who menei together and with Jesus--will want to live out the very basis of that relationship, which is love. 

Image:  Passion, Chidi Okoye

Easter 5 ::: John 14: 1-14

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going.’^*5Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ ⁶Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

Translation:  "Let not your heart be troubled.  Trust into God, and trust into me.  In the house of my Father, there are many habitations, and, if not, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go, and prepare a place for you, I come again and I will take you to myself so that, where I am, I and you might be, and you have known the way where I go."  Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you go.  How have we known the way?"  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now, you know him, and you have seen."

Background and situation:  The lection is part of the Last Supper discourse in the fourth gospel.  These "farewell discourses" take up chapters 13-17, or about 20% of the book.  In this section, Jesus is addressing his disciples on the night before his crucifixion.  The section culminates in what is called the High Priestly Prayer (17:1-26).

Bad advice from Jesus:  Sports Illustrated reports that, back in 2008, the Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the locker room of the defeated Memphis Tigers basketball team after their loss to Kansas in the NCAA basketball finals.  Memphis' star player, Derrick Rose, was said to be "inconsolable."  Jackson told him, "Don't look like a freshman crying.  It looks pitiful.  Smile through your tears and speak above your pain."

In our therapy-infused culture, this is considered horrible advice.  Feelings should not be "held in," but expressed openly.  Jesus must have missed that lecture.  He gives his disciples a message not unlike the one that Jesse Jackson gave to Derrick Rose.

"Do not let your heart be troubled."  Jesus urges his disciples to move beyond their anxiety and to "trust into God and trust into me."  (The word is pisteuein, more properly translated as "trust" or "faith" than as "believe."  Also, the preposition is eis, which means "into," not "in.") 

He asks his disciples to put their "troubles" in the proper perspective and to see them in light of God's power.  This is not a lot different from "smile through your tears and speak above your pain."  See your pain, or your troubles, through the light of Christ.

Troubled heart:  In the English language, as is well-known, the word "you" serves as both the second person singular and the second person plural.  Most other languages, however, have a distinct word for the second person plural. 

Most people don't realize that the vast majority of all uses of the word "you" in the Greek New Testament are plural.  To put it another way, if we read these texts as being individually addressed to us, we are mistaken.  They were not addressed to individuals, but rather to a community.

Jesus says, "Do not let your (pl.) heart be troubled."  The disciples, collectively, have a "troubled heart."  In fourth gospel, Jesus himself had also been "troubled" on three occasions.  He was "troubled" at the reaction to his raising of Lazarus (11:33), the approach of the cross (12:26), and Judas' betrayal (13:21).  Now, this emotion is ascribed also to the community itself.

"In the house of my Father, they are many habitations."  The word translated as "habitations" is monai.  In the popular imagination, this is often taken to mean that the Methodists will have a room--indeed, a mansion--and so will the Catholics and the Baptists. 

Monai actually means a temporary resting place for a traveler.  It was associated with caravans.  In those days, there would be a contingent of folks who would go ahead of the caravan to "prepare a place" so that when the caravan arrived there, the camp ground had been prepared, the water supply located, and food prepared.  The travelers in the caravan would have a place of comfort to spend the night.

Monai is less about getting some fancy digs in the hereafter, in a house separate from the people you can't stand, and more about welcome, hospitality, and community for people traveling on a journey.  

"For I go to prepare a place for you."  This sentence is reminiscent of Moses' speech in Deuteronomy 1:33 where he says that the Lord "goes before you in the way to choose a place." 

Just as Moses led the people into the Promised Land, so Jesus will lead his people to the place where he himself is going.  ("I come again and I will take you to myself so that, where I am, I and you might be.")

The way:  "And you know the way--hodon--to the place where I am going."  The concept of "the way" had been around awhile.  Moses had used the phrase "in the way" in the Deuteronomy passage.  Likewise, the Psalms refer to the Torah as "the way" (Ps 119: 29-34). 

Moreover, according to the book of Acts, the Christian faith was first known as "the way."  The word hodos, or "way," is used over 100 times in the New Testament.  Its use here, however, is the only time it appears in the fourth gospel. 

Thomas is taken aback.  "We do not know the way," he says.  When Jesus had announced, in chapter 11, that he was returning to the Jerusalem area, a place of danger, Thomas fatalistically declares that they might as well go with Jesus and "die with him" (11:16).  Thomas knew "the way" that led to death well enough, but not "the way" that leads to life.

Jesus spells it out.  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."  Earlier in the fourth gospel, we were told that Jesus is truth (1:14), and "the resurrection and the life" (11:25).  Now, he is also "the way" itself. 

This is another ego eimi saying, which means that the most important words in this important sentence are the first two--"I am."  Ego eimi is an emphatic way of saying YHWH, God's own name, in Greek.  Lest anyone miss the point, the fourth gospel has Jesus also say, "If you know me, you will know my Father also."

Thomas had asked, "How can we know the way?"  Here, the fourth gospel uses the word oida for "know."  Oida is the kind of knowledge that you get from first-hand, physical experience.  It is the kind of knowledge that is objective and demonstrable. 

Jesus responds, "If you know me, you will know my Father also."  In this sentence, Jesus uses ginosko, which is the kind of knowledge one gets through intimate experience.  This is a kind of "mystical knowing." 

Thomas's "knowing" is of the everyday variety.  Jesus' "knowing" is the kind that comes "from above" (3:3).  This is consistent with an over-all theme of the fourth gospel, which is intimate relationship and mutual indwelling between Jesus and his followers.  

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ ⁹Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Translation:  Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."  Jesus said to him, "I am with you a lengthy time and you do not know me, Philip?"  The one who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak from myself, but the Father abiding in me does his works.  Trust me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  But if not, trust the works themselves.

"Truly, Truly, I say to you, the one trusting into me, the works which I am doing, that one will do also, and that one will do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.  And whatever you might ask in my name, that I will do so that the Father might be glorified in the Son.  Whatever you might ask in my name, I will do. 

Community building:  Philip says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough--arkei--for us."  Philip had earlier worried that they would not have "enough" (arkousin) food to feed the large crowd (6:7).  In his only two utterances in the fourth gospel, Philip is portrayed as fussing that what they have is not enough.  The food had not been enough, and now Jesus is not quite enough either.

Jesus responds, "I am with you through a lengthy time--chronos--and you do not know--ginosko--me, Philip?"  The word chronos refers to earthly, chronological time.  It is distinct from kairos, which is "special time"--the in-breaking of God.  In ordinary experience, in ordinary "time," one cannot "know" Jesus in an intimate, mystical way.

Jesus tells them that his words are the same as the "Father's works."  Then, he tells them that if they cannot believe his words, they should turn to his works.  What's more, they will do even greater works than Jesus! 

What could they possibly do that would be "greater" than what Jesus has already done in the fourth gospel?  Jesus has healed the sick and raised the dead.  What can they do to top that? 

One thing remains:  They have not yet established an on-going community centered in Jesus, which follows him, and does his works.

Jesus assures the disciples that, even though "the way" may be difficult, they can call on him and he will do "whatever you ask in my name."  This is not, of course, a flinging about of Jesus' name as some kind of magic talisman in order to get what a person wants.  That is mere egocentrity.  It asks in our name, but not that of Jesus. 

To ask in Jesus' name, as Ray Brown has said, means to be in union with Jesus.  To ask in Jesus name is, as Paul put it, having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2).  What would Jesus ask?  What would Jesus think?  Indeed, WWJD?

 Image:  Mary Padgelek

 

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going.’^*5Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ ⁶Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

Translation:  "Let not your heart be troubled.  Trust into God, and trust into me.  In the house of my Father, there are many habitations, and, if not, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go, and prepare a place for you, I come again and I will take you to myself so that, where I am, I and you might be, and you have known the way where I go."  Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you go.  How have we known the way?"  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now, you know him, and you have seen."

Background and situation:  The lection is part of the Last Supper discourse in the fourth gospel.  These "farewell discourses" take up chapters 13-17, or about 20% of the book.  In this section, Jesus is addressing his disciples on the night before his crucifixion.  The section culminates in what is called the High Priestly Prayer (17:1-26).

Bad advice from Jesus:  Sports Illustrated reports that, back in 2008, the Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the locker room of the defeated Memphis Tigers basketball team after their loss to Kansas in the NCAA basketball finals.  Memphis' star player, Derrick Rose, was said to be "inconsolable."  Jackson told him, "Don't look like a freshman crying.  It looks pitiful.  Smile through your tears and speak above your pain."

In our therapy-infused culture, this is considered horrible advice.  Feelings should not be "held in," but expressed openly.  Jesus must have missed that lecture.  He gives his disciples a message not unlike the one that Jesse Jackson gave to Derrick Rose.

"Do not let your heart be troubled."  Jesus urges his disciples to move beyond their anxiety and to "trust into God and trust into me."  (The word is pisteuein, more properly translated as "trust" or "faith" than as "believe."  Also, the preposition is eis, which means "into," not "in.") 

He asks his disciples to put their "troubles" in the proper perspective and to see them in light of God's power.  This is not a lot different from "smile through your tears and speak above your pain."  See your pain, or your troubles, through the light of Christ.

Troubled heart:  In the English language, as is well-known, the word "you" serves as both the second person singular and the second person plural.  Most other languages, however, have a distinct word for the second person plural. 

Most people don't realize that the vast majority of all uses of the word "you" in the Greek New Testament are plural.  To put it another way, if we read these texts as being individually addressed to us, we are mistaken.  They were not addressed to individuals, but rather to a community.

Jesus says, "Do not let your (pl.) heart be troubled."  The disciples, collectively, have a "troubled heart."  In fourth gospel, Jesus himself had also been "troubled" on three occasions.  He was "troubled" at the reaction to his raising of Lazarus (11:33), the approach of the cross (12:26), and Judas' betrayal (13:21).  Now, this emotion is ascribed also to the community itself.

"In the house of my Father, they are many habitations."  The word translated as "habitations" is monai.  In the popular imagination, this is often taken to mean that the Methodists will have a room--indeed, a mansion--and so will the Catholics and the Baptists. 

Monai actually means a temporary resting place for a traveler.  It was associated with caravans.  In those days, there would be a contingent of folks who would go ahead of the caravan to "prepare a place" so that when the caravan arrived there, the camp ground had been prepared, the water supply located, and food prepared.  The travelers in the caravan would have a place of comfort to spend the night.

Monai is less about getting some fancy digs in the hereafter, in a house separate from the people you can't stand, and more about welcome, hospitality, and community for people traveling on a journey.  

"For I go to prepare a place for you."  This sentence is reminiscent of Moses' speech in Deuteronomy 1:33 where he says that the Lord "goes before you in the way to choose a place." 

Just as Moses led the people into the Promised Land, so Jesus will lead his people to the place where he himself is going.  ("I come again and I will take you to myself so that, where I am, I and you might be.")

The way:  "And you know the way--hodon--to the place where I am going."  The concept of "the way" had been around awhile.  Moses had used the phrase "in the way" in the Deuteronomy passage.  Likewise, the Psalms refer to the Torah as "the way" (Ps 119: 29-34). 

Moreover, according to the book of Acts, the Christian faith was first known as "the way."  The word hodos, or "way," is used over 100 times in the New Testament.  Its use here, however, is the only time it appears in the fourth gospel. 

Thomas is taken aback.  "We do not know the way," he says.  When Jesus had announced, in chapter 11, that he was returning to the Jerusalem area, a place of danger, Thomas fatalistically declares that they might as well go with Jesus and "die with him" (11:16).  Thomas knew "the way" that led to death well enough, but not "the way" that leads to life.

Jesus spells it out.  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."  Earlier in the fourth gospel, we were told that Jesus is truth (1:14), and "the resurrection and the life" (11:25).  Now, he is also "the way" itself. 

This is another ego eimi saying, which means that the most important words in this important sentence are the first two--"I am."  Ego eimi is an emphatic way of saying YHWH, God's own name, in Greek.  Lest anyone miss the point, the fourth gospel has Jesus also say, "If you know me, you will know my Father also."

Thomas had asked, "How can we know the way?"  Here, the fourth gospel uses the word oida for "know."  Oida is the kind of knowledge that you get from first-hand, physical experience.  It is the kind of knowledge that is objective and demonstrable. 

Jesus responds, "If you know me, you will know my Father also."  In this sentence, Jesus uses ginosko, which is the kind of knowledge one gets through intimate experience.  This is a kind of "mystical knowing." 

Thomas's "knowing" is of the everyday variety.  Jesus' "knowing" is the kind that comes "from above" (3:3).  This is consistent with an over-all theme of the fourth gospel, which is intimate relationship and mutual indwelling between Jesus and his followers.  

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ ⁹Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Translation:  Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."  Jesus said to him, "I am with you a lengthy time and you do not know me, Philip?"  The one who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak from myself, but the Father abiding in me does his works.  Trust me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  But if not, trust the works themselves.

"Truly, Truly, I say to you, the one trusting into me, the works which I am doing, that one will do also, and that one will do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.  And whatever you might ask in my name, that I will do so that the Father might be glorified in the Son.  Whatever you might ask in my name, I will do. 

Community building:  Philip says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough--arkei--for us."  Philip had earlier worried that they would not have "enough" (arkousin) food to feed the large crowd (6:7).  In his only two utterances in the fourth gospel, Philip is portrayed as fussing that what they have is not enough.  The food had not been enough, and now Jesus is not quite enough either.

Jesus responds, "I am with you through a lengthy time--chronos--and you do not know--ginosko--me, Philip?"  The word chronos refers to earthly, chronological time.  It is distinct from kairos, which is "special time"--the in-breaking of God.  In ordinary experience, in ordinary "time," one cannot "know" Jesus in an intimate, mystical way.

Jesus tells them that his words are the same as the "Father's works."  Then, he tells them that if they cannot believe his words, they should turn to his works.  What's more, they will do even greater works than Jesus! 

What could they possibly do that would be "greater" than what Jesus has already done in the fourth gospel?  Jesus has healed the sick and raised the dead.  What can they do to top that? 

One thing remains:  They have not yet established an on-going community centered in Jesus, which follows him, and does his works.

Jesus assures the disciples that, even though "the way" may be difficult, they can call on him and he will do "whatever you ask in my name."  This is not, of course, a flinging about of Jesus' name as some kind of magic talisman in order to get what a person wants.  That is mere egocentrity.  It asks in our name, but not that of Jesus. 

To ask in Jesus' name, as Ray Brown has said, means to be in union with Jesus.  To ask in Jesus name is, as Paul put it, having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2).  What would Jesus ask?  What would Jesus think?  Indeed, WWJD?

 Image:  Mary Padgelek

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going.’^*5Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ ⁶Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

Translation:  "Let not your heart be troubled.  Trust into God, and trust into me.  In the house of my Father, there are many habitations, and, if not, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go, and prepare a place for you, I come again and I will take you to myself so that, where I am, I and you might be, and you have known the way where I go."  Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you go.  How have we known the way?"  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now, you know him, and you have seen."

Background and situation:  The lection is part of the Last Supper discourse in the fourth gospel.  These "farewell discourses" take up chapters 13-17, or about 20% of the book.  In this section, Jesus is addressing his disciples on the night before his crucifixion.  The section culminates in what is called the High Priestly Prayer (17:1-26).

Bad advice from Jesus:  Sports Illustrated reports that, back in 2008, the Rev. Jesse Jackson visited the locker room of the defeated Memphis Tigers basketball team after their loss to Kansas in the NCAA basketball finals.  Memphis' star player, Derrick Rose, was said to be "inconsolable."  Jackson told him, "Don't look like a freshman crying.  It looks pitiful.  Smile through your tears and speak above your pain."

In our therapy-infused culture, this is considered horrible advice.  Feelings should not be "held in," but expressed openly.  Jesus must have missed that lecture.  He gives his disciples a message not unlike the one that Jesse Jackson gave to Derrick Rose.

"Do not let your heart be troubled."  Jesus urges his disciples to move beyond their anxiety and to "trust into God and trust into me."  (The word is pisteuein, more properly translated as "trust" or "faith" than as "believe."  Also, the preposition is eis, which means "into," not "in.") 

He asks his disciples to put their "troubles" in the proper perspective and to see them in light of God's power.  This is not a lot different from "smile through your tears and speak above your pain."  See your pain, or your troubles, through the light of Christ.

Troubled heart:  In the English language, as is well-known, the word "you" serves as both the second person singular and the second person plural.  Most other languages, however, have a distinct word for the second person plural. 

Most people don't realize that the vast majority of all uses of the word "you" in the Greek New Testament are plural.  To put it another way, if we read these texts as being individually addressed to us, we are mistaken.  They were not addressed to individuals, but rather to a community.

Jesus says, "Do not let your (pl.) heart be troubled."  The disciples, collectively, have a "troubled heart."  In fourth gospel, Jesus himself had also been "troubled" on three occasions.  He was "troubled" at the reaction to his raising of Lazarus (11:33), the approach of the cross (12:26), and Judas' betrayal (13:21).  Now, this emotion is ascribed also to the community itself.

"In the house of my Father, they are many habitations."  The word translated as "habitations" is monai.  In the popular imagination, this is often taken to mean that the Methodists will have a room--indeed, a mansion--and so will the Catholics and the Baptists. 

Monai actually means a temporary resting place for a traveler.  It was associated with caravans.  In those days, there would be a contingent of folks who would go ahead of the caravan to "prepare a place" so that when the caravan arrived there, the camp ground had been prepared, the water supply located, and food prepared.  The travelers in the caravan would have a place of comfort to spend the night.

Monai is less about getting some fancy digs in the hereafter, in a house separate from the people you can't stand, and more about welcome, hospitality, and community for people traveling on a journey.  

"For I go to prepare a place for you."  This sentence is reminiscent of Moses' speech in Deuteronomy 1:33 where he says that the Lord "goes before you in the way to choose a place." 

Just as Moses led the people into the Promised Land, so Jesus will lead his people to the place where he himself is going.  ("I come again and I will take you to myself so that, where I am, I and you might be.")

The way:  "And you know the way--hodon--to the place where I am going."  The concept of "the way" had been around awhile.  Moses had used the phrase "in the way" in the Deuteronomy passage.  Likewise, the Psalms refer to the Torah as "the way" (Ps 119: 29-34). 

Moreover, according to the book of Acts, the Christian faith was first known as "the way."  The word hodos, or "way," is used over 100 times in the New Testament.  Its use here, however, is the only time it appears in the fourth gospel. 

Thomas is taken aback.  "We do not know the way," he says.  When Jesus had announced, in chapter 11, that he was returning to the Jerusalem area, a place of danger, Thomas fatalistically declares that they might as well go with Jesus and "die with him" (11:16).  Thomas knew "the way" that led to death well enough, but not "the way" that leads to life.

Jesus spells it out.  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."  Earlier in the fourth gospel, we were told that Jesus is truth (1:14), and "the resurrection and the life" (11:25).  Now, he is also "the way" itself. 

This is another ego eimi saying, which means that the most important words in this important sentence are the first two--"I am."  Ego eimi is an emphatic way of saying YHWH, God's own name, in Greek.  Lest anyone miss the point, the fourth gospel has Jesus also say, "If you know me, you will know my Father also."

Thomas had asked, "How can we know the way?"  Here, the fourth gospel uses the word oida for "know."  Oida is the kind of knowledge that you get from first-hand, physical experience.  It is the kind of knowledge that is objective and demonstrable. 

Jesus responds, "If you know me, you will know my Father also."  In this sentence, Jesus uses ginosko, which is the kind of knowledge one gets through intimate experience.  This is a kind of "mystical knowing." 

Thomas's "knowing" is of the everyday variety.  Jesus' "knowing" is the kind that comes "from above" (3:3).  This is consistent with an over-all theme of the fourth gospel, which is intimate relationship and mutual indwelling between Jesus and his followers.  

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ ⁹Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Translation:  Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."  Jesus said to him, "I am with you a lengthy time and you do not know me, Philip?"  The one who has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not trust that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak from myself, but the Father abiding in me does his works.  Trust me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  But if not, trust the works themselves.

"Truly, Truly, I say to you, the one trusting into me, the works which I am doing, that one will do also, and that one will do greater than these, for I am going to the Father.  And whatever you might ask in my name, that I will do so that the Father might be glorified in the Son.  Whatever you might ask in my name, I will do. 

Community building:  Philip says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough--arkei--for us."  Philip had earlier worried that they would not have "enough" (arkousin) food to feed the large crowd (6:7).  In his only two utterances in the fourth gospel, Philip is portrayed as fussing that what they have is not enough.  The food had not been enough, and now Jesus is not quite enough either.

Jesus responds, "I am with you through a lengthy time--chronos--and you do not know--ginosko--me, Philip?"  The word chronos refers to earthly, chronological time.  It is distinct from kairos, which is "special time"--the in-breaking of God.  In ordinary experience, in ordinary "time," one cannot "know" Jesus in an intimate, mystical way.

Jesus tells them that his words are the same as the "Father's works."  Then, he tells them that if they cannot believe his words, they should turn to his works.  What's more, they will do even greater works than Jesus! 

What could they possibly do that would be "greater" than what Jesus has already done in the fourth gospel?  Jesus has healed the sick and raised the dead.  What can they do to top that? 

One thing remains:  They have not yet established an on-going community centered in Jesus, which follows him, and does his works.

Jesus assures the disciples that, even though "the way" may be difficult, they can call on him and he will do "whatever you ask in my name."  This is not, of course, a flinging about of Jesus' name as some kind of magic talisman in order to get what a person wants.  That is mere egocentrity.  It asks in our name, but not that of Jesus. 

To ask in Jesus' name, as Ray Brown has said, means to be in union with Jesus.  To ask in Jesus name is, as Paul put it, having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2).  What would Jesus ask?  What would Jesus think?  Indeed, WWJD?

 Image:  Mary Padgelek