Year 8, Day 262: John 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Jesus tells His disciples that He is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.  The context of this passage is that nobody comes to the Father except through Him.  He is the Way.  The truth is that He is the Way to God.  The life is the life that God gives to us when we come to Him through Jesus.

The greater context of this teaching is that Jesus is preparing His disciples for the crucifixion.  He tells them that they will see Him only a little while longer.  In a few days’ time, the disciples will experience the crucifixion.  They’ll experience the resurrection.  Then they’ll experience the ascension.  That’s the point.  Yes, Jesus will die.  Yes, the turmoil will be great, but only for three days.  Then the disciples will see Jesus ascend and He’ll be gone from the Earth for quite some time.

Jesus doesn’t want His disciples to feel abandoned.  He doesn’t want them to feel alone.  He doesn’t want them to be confused – although honestly that is hardly avoidable given that the resurrection and ascension aren’t exactly common or easily understood experiences in the moment.  The point is that Jesus loves His disciples and He is trying to teach them and allow them to make sense of the world around them.

All of this is said so that the disciples will understand that God plans to send the Holy Spirit to us.  Jesus won’t leave us alone, He will send His Spirit.  There’s a bit of a catch, though.  Having the Holy Spirit isn’t quite like walking with Jesus.  We cannot reach out and touch the Spirit.  We can’t look into the eyes of the Spirit.  We can’t hear the Spirit speak words over creation and work a miracle.  While Jesus promises the Holy Spirit and assures us that we won’t be abandoned, it is certainly and noticeably different than walking with Jesus on a daily basis as His disciples have done.

However, Jesus informs us that while the experience with the Spirit will be different than with Jesus it will actually be better.  Instead of looking into the eyes of Jesus, the Spirit will dwell within us.  Instead of wondering what Jesus is teaching, the Spirit will guide us from within.  When Jesus was on the Earth, God was with us.  After the ascension, God will dwell in us. That’s powerful.  The religious leaders proved that Jesus could be taken away when they crucified Him.  Nobody can take the Holy Spirit away from dwelling within us.

Our hearts should not be troubled.  Faith is hard, and discerning the Holy Spirit takes effort.  But God is with us!  He dwells with us!  He is in us.  We should have God’s peace indeed!

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