As 2023 comes to an end today’s Bible reading ended up feeling more like a blog post and something we could all take with us into the new year, so I’ve included it here as well. If you haven’t been reading the book of John with us, this is a great introductory chapter and if you have, I hope as we move through these next few chapters it will be easy for you to see why this is one of my favourite books of the Bible.
John 14
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
I think at this point, the disciples genuinely believe that he is going to some other land. Even the ones closest to him, who had witnessed all of his miracles couldn’t conceptualize the truth of who and what Jesus really was.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
I love verse 7. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. We have so much of Jesus’ teachings to look through and the one word I think even non-Christians would use to describe Jesus is love. So if we really know Jesus is love, then our heavenly Father is love divine; not judgement, not condemnation, but love. Yes, absolutely we should try to be our best selves, to try to live aware of our sinful natures – envy, pride, gluttony, covetousness, asking God always to give us the fruits of the spirit and not of the flesh. (See Galatians 5:22-26) but in the end, in everything you do remember that GOD IS LOVE.
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
I have a fullness in my heart when I read verses 13 and 14. Jesus promises to be there for us, to answer our prayers – there is only one catch – so that the Father may be glorified. I wrote a blog post last month about God answering prayer – that I believe that he does with every fibre of my being, and that he has faithfully answered my prayers. Sometimes our prayers aren’t always answered in the way in which we want, (we prayed for our lost kitty to come home – ultimately we did find him and he is home, buried under one of our trees. Maybe not the answer we hoped for, but we were able to have the closure of giving him a burial, one last pet and the peace of not having to always wonder, to know he wasn’t suffering.) Jesus promises to answer our prayers, but we must trust him to give us the answer we need, not the one we want.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[c] in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
READ THAT AGAIN!!!! Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid – bring all things to God, to Jesus and trust that he will care for you. “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:27.
I was listening to my favourite radio station this morning K-Love and one of the DJ’s said this. Worry asks “what if”, faith says “even if”. Jeremiah 29:11 is my absolutely favorite verse in the Bible and one I have committed to my heart. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Cling to that phrase in all your life and live in freedom. Know that even if you make a bad decision, God can turn all things for your good. God is so good.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
“Come now; let us leave.
finchmeredith1 