Category: Red Letter Year

The Secret of the Kingdom: Red Letter Year 12/4

John 14.3-17

3 “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. 7 If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11 Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

12 I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

15 If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.

Comments

I preached about this chapter just a few weeks ago. If you’re interested, click here to listen. This passage is driven by these two interrupting questions that John uses to highlight things going in the churches of his day.

Thomas’ question: show us the way – what are the religious practices we need to be engaged in? This is the question the Ebionites were asking – which of the practices of Judaism should we maintain? What is the secret handshake? Thomas is asking because he felt like Jesus had not addressed this important issue.

Philip’s question: show us the Father – what secret knowledge about God do we need to know? This is the question the Gnostics were asking – what is the hidden knowledge that is the true essence of the Gospel? What is the secret password? Philip is asking this because he felt like Jesus had not revealed to them the hidden knowledge he had about God.

Jesus responds to both questions by essentially saying, no there isn’t anything else, there aren’t any secrets. He tells Thomas, I have already shown you the way – then goes on in v.12, to say the way forward is the way I’ve been doing things. Keep doing the works I have been doing. Jesus tells Phillip,  I have already shown you the Father – the Father looks like me.

What has Jesus been doing? What characteristics does Jesus display?

We could elaborate on that all day (listen to the sermon for more). We could think about everything we’ve read this year. And we can sum it up by saying Jesus has been engaged in a variety of works of love and has been showing that God is love. This is why Jesus’ commandments are to love because the way, the truth, and the life he has revealed is love. Love is the way. Love is the truth. Love is the life.

And yet, when we read v.6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me,” we tend to read that exactly the opposite from what Jesus is getting at here. We read it as proof that there is a secret handshake, that there is a secret password; we use this verse as shorthand to promote the very heresies this passage opposes.

There are no secret practices. There is no secret knowledge. The Spirit comes (v.17) – not to give out secret handshakes or passwords – but to enable us to continue and extend the works of love because as the Spirit of God, the indwelling of the Spirit Jesus promises is the infusion of love itself into the existence of the followers of Jesus. This love will then mark the everyday actions of the disciple – we will live out the love of Jesus to the world around us.

The secret of the kingdom is that there are no secrets. It is more simple (love), more straightforward (love), and much harder work (love!) than any secret thing we could ever concoct. Secret things we make up wind up being easy for us and impossible for whoever we want to exclude and are always the opposite of what Jesus did.

We’re called to do the works Jesus did (and greater works!) and those are only possible when we do things his way. We know the way. We know the Father. Because Jesus has shown us both in his life, works, teachings, death, and resurrection. This is the way, the way of love.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Love Like This: Red Letter Year 12/3

John 13.31 – 14:4

31 As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. 32 And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will soon give glory to the Son. 33 Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can’t come where I am going. 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

36 Simon Peter asked, “Lord, where are you going?”

And Jesus replied, “You can’t go with me now, but you will follow me later.”

37 “But why can’t I come now, Lord?” he asked. “I’m ready to die for you.”

38 Jesus answered, “Die for me? I tell you the truth, Peter — before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me. 14.1 Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

Comments

Okay, last day using the foot washing painting, but I’m holding onto it because I still think John wants it echoing in our heads as we read this new commandment Jesus is giving: love each other like I have loved you, love like this. Love like people willing to serve each other, willing to throw off all privilege and power and do the lowliest tasks out of love for each other. We can also take Jesus to be referring ahead of time to the cross, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the small, everyday sacrifices we can make for each other that shows love and makes life together both possible and joyful.

Also take note of the glory talk in v.31-32. Jesus is entering his glory (does he mean cross or resurrection or both?), by which he will bring glory to the Father (sounds like cross), even as the Father gives glory to the Son (sounds like resurrection). We will see this again in the coming chapters – the members of the Trinity giving glory to each other. In tracing this giving back and forth – this glorifying, honoring, magnifying each other – we begin to see the mutuality that is essential to our understanding of Trinity. Quite the opposite of a hierarchy in God, this mutual glorifying speaks to the unity built on trust within the Godhead, the freedom built on hope within the Godhead, and the equality built on love within the Godhead. The members of the Trinity trust each other, hope for each other, and love each other. This may seem like a lot to get from today’s reading. It is, but I am taking this from what we are about to read in chapters 14-17. We get a prelude to it here at the end of chapter 13. I will be unpacking this in the days to come as we read further.

Finally, I want to say a word about Peter. This will come up again as well, but pay close attention to 13.36-38. Peter asks where Jesus is going. Jesus tells Peter he can’t come now, but he will follow later (<- mark that). Peter protests and says he is ready to die for Jesus. Then Jesus questions Peter’s death wish and says he is going to lie about knowing Jesus three times that night. What is so interesting to me is that before Jesus questions Peter’s claim to be willing to die, he has already prophesied that Peter will do just that – die for Jesus. That is what, “but you will follow me later,” means. We will come back to this near the very end of the year, but for now, we can take encouragment that Jesus knew what was in Peter’s heart even before he spoke it. Jesus knew it was truer than Peter knew it. Jesus knew that Peter was going to do both – lie about knowing Jesus to a tween girl and then insist on being crucified upside down out of deference for his Lord.

And this is why today’s reading wraps into the beginning of chapter 14 (yet another bad place for a chapter break). Jesus doesn’t leave the rebuke hanging, he goes right on to say, “don’t let your hearts be troubled.” This is the same thing he says to us. Jesus knows the worst of us – we betray (like we read yesterday), we deny, we make brash promises; and he knows the best of us – we love like he loves, we lay down our lives for him and for each other, even in our brashness we speak what we hope to be true. We can trust him to save us from the worst of ourselves and transform us into the best of ourselves. We can trust Jesus to help us love like this – like people who wash feet and make promises long before we’re ready to keep them. John has shown how Jesus set the example for serving and giving our lives. In what follows, his Gospel will explain how the Holy Spirit comes to empower us to replicate those examples and live in that trusting, hoping, loving way of life that God enjoys within the Trinity.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale HousePublishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.