SCRIPTURE JOHN 14:1-14
last supper discourse
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith* in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where [I] am going you know the way.”*
Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth* and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.b If you know me, then you will also know my Father.* From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father,* and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.i If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.
REFLECTION
Jesus prepares his disciples for when He ascends into heaven. Jesus goes to prepare a place for us. What will that place look like? I am sure most of us have imagined a place we have dreamed about here on earth that satisfies our worldly needs but knowing Jesus, I am sure it is going to be the perfect place for each of us. I am prepared to trust Jesus, what about you? If there was a place for the Good Thief, there must be one for me. Do not let your hearts be troubled.
How do we get to our dwelling place in heaven? Where I am going you know the way. What way is that Jesus? I am the way and the truth and the life. I get it, conform to Jesus, imitate Christ, do what Jesus did, love God and my neighbor, be good to those who don’t deserve it, be merciful as the Father is merciful, mercy is love we don’t deserve.
Philip said to Jesus “Master, show us the Father,* and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Jesus and the Father are one. The will of the Father is the will of Jesus. The Father sent the Son as His most dramatic revelation of Himself, a word incarnate that could be seen, heard, embraced, and followed in his footsteps. If we know Jesus we will know the Our Father.
Jesus promises whoever believes in me will do the works that I do so that His Father will be glorified. so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11 Jesus says, ask anything in my name and He will do it. Believe it, pray over it. Trust in Jesus!
SCRIPTURE JOHN 14:15-31
the advocate.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.
Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him. Judas, not the Iscariot,* said to him, “Master, what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. I have told you this while I am with you.
The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
You heard me tell you, I am going away and I will come back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. He has no power over me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me…
REFLECTION
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. The law will never save us because we continue to break the law. That is why we needed a Savior. But Jesus does tell us we show Him love by keeping the commandments, denying ourselves and choosing God’s will instead. All we take with us when we die is what we have given away. Love God and your neighbor by keeping the commandments for a happy whole life.
Jesus promises not to leave us orphans when He leaves this earthly life. That is good to know we won’t be left alone to just stumble around in a quagmire of sin.. But what does this mean? When Jesus goes to the Father, He will ask the Father to send the third person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the advocate, to coach us, to guide us, to guide the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. Through the Sacraments God dwells in us. We are alive in Christ! We were not left orphans!
The Advocate (Holy Spirit) will teach you everything and remind you of all I told you. Not only that, it is the Spirit that convicts us of our sins through our conscience and calls us to conversion.
Before departure Jesus offers his disciples peace not as the world describes it but peace of union with God
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. Jesus must go now that the world may know that He did just as the Father has commanded me. Not my will but thy will be done!