Jesus Reassures His Disciples

(Gospel of John 14:1 - 14:31)
"Let not your hearts be troubled," Jesus said to his disciples.  "For you believe in God and you believe in me as well.  In the home of the Father are many dwelling chambers.  If that were not the case, I would not have told you that I am going there to prepare places for you.  When I go and have prepared a place for you, I will return and take you with me, so that where I am, you may also be.  You know the way to the place I am going."

"But Master," interrupted Thomas, "we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way there?"

Jesus responded, "I am the way, the way to truth and life everlasting.  No one comes to the Father save through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  Henceforth, you do know him -- and have seen him."

"Master," questioned Philip, "show us the Father and we'll be satisfied."

Jesus replied, “You’ve been with me all this time, Philip, and still you don’t know me?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  So why must you ask, ‘Show us the Father’?   Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?  The words I speak are not my own, but are of the Father, who abides within me and does his work through me.  Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.  At least believe it because of the miracles you have seen me perform.  Truly I tell you that those who believe in me will be able to perform the miracles that I have been doing; indeed, they will be able to work greater wonders because I am going to the Father.   I will then accomplish anything you ask in my name, so that the Son might bring glory to the Father.  Ask anything in my name, and I will do it!

"If you love me, obey my commandments.  I will ask my father and he will send to you another counselor who will be with you always -- the spirit of the truth.  The world does not accept him: it neither sees nor recognizes him.  But you know him, for he lives among you and will live within you.

"I will not abandon you to be orphans, for I will come to you.  Soon the world will see me no more, but you will see me.  Because I live, you will also live.  When I have been resurrected, you will realize that I am in my Father, that you are in me and I, in you.  Those who receive my commandments and obey them are the ones who really love me.  And because they love me, the Father will love them.  And I will love them and reveal myself to them."

Judas (not Judas Iscariot) asked Jesus, "Master, why is it that you will reveal yourself to us, but not to the world?"

Jesus replied, "Those who love me will obey my teachings.  My Father will love them.  We will come to them and make our home with them.  Those who do not love me will not obey my teachings.  These words you hear are not mine, but come from the Father who sent me.  I have said these things while I am still among you.  Later, the Counselor, a holy spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all the things I have said to you.  I leave you with peace, the peace I give to you, but not as the world gives.  Let not your hearts be troubled or be afraid.

"You have heard me say, 'I am going away, but will come 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.  I am telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe it.  I have little time to speak to you further, for the ruler of the world is approaching.  He has no real power over me, but I must do as the Father has commanded, so that the world may know that I love the Father.  --- Get up, let’s be on our way!"

Notes
1.  Jesus makes it clear that when he dies he will be resurrected and live again, but he does not say he will live again upon the earth as a man.  Rather he will ascend to Heaven to be with the Father.  In a sense, this is not resurrection at all since it is his spirit, or, at most, his spirit body that will have renewed and continued life.  He is not to be resurrected as Lazarus was supposedly resurrected, physically -- a dead man brought back to life.   He promises that his disciples will later join him, but he does not say when or how.  Is it be when after they have died?  It is necessary for Jesus to prepare a place for them, as if he has to reserve a hotel room for them and make sure the bed linen and the towels have been changed before they arrive.  What sort of preparation must be done and why hasn't the Father, who presumably knows everything, already taken of it?  This place, is it a physical abode, or is the place an office, an honorary position, or something of that nature?  And if they are to be in Heaven with Jesus, how will they occupy themselves?  Is there a need for evangelists in Heaven?

2.  Jesus makes another unfulfillable promise, that he, after he has gone to Heaven, will answer their prayers and give them anything they ask for.  And he will do this not out of love for them or out of the need of those whey may pray for, but only so that he, Jesus, may bring glory to the Father.  If the Father is God, the universal deity, the Creator, why on earth, or in Heaven, does he need glory and aggrandizement, why does he need to have someone else make him look good?

3.  Jesus, as he is wont, refuses to give a direct answer to a direct question, but is evasive and purposefully vague, constantly mixing the literal and the metaphorical so that one is often at a loss as to his meaning.  His disciples are often left clueless, (although, in truth, it doesn't seem as if he picked a particularly smart or even canny lot to be his followers).  He will not tell them where he is going.  (Can't he just be straight and  honest with the disciples who love him and give them a satisfying response, like "I'm going to be killed, but I will rise from the dead and go to Heaven.)  Nor does he say why he won't be revealing himself to the world, only to his disciples.  He dodges like a politician who unfailingly falls back on his talking points when faced with a tough question he doesn't want to answer.

4.  After he is gone, Jesus will send to his disciples the Counselor who will instruct them in his message.  It is unlikely that this Counselor is actually some sort of entity, even a spirit entity, although it could be.  It is a spirit of truth or is it the spirit of truth, that is, the personification of truth.  It is probable that Jesus meant the disciples would be divinely inspired and that they would continue to have spiritual guidance, this Counselor being, like Jesus, an intermediary between God and man.  Apparently Jesus hasn't tutored and groomed his disciples sufficiently that they will know what to do and say to take his place as evangelists of his message.  They will need help, and he promises to send it to them.

5.  The Counselor Jesus will send is traditionally interpreted as being the Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity.  The Greek word is paraclete, meaning comforter, advocate, adviser.  However, the Paraclete, as it is defined here, seems a subordinate of Jesus, which would not be the case if it were a member of the Trinity.  The Paraclete seems another Greek philosophical abstraction favored by the author of John.

6.  Jesus leaves his disciples a gift of peace.  It seems unlikely, though, that if they continue to preach his message that they will know anything like peace, more likely harassment, persecution, even martyrdom.   But perhaps he means that they will have the peace of mind knowing that their own salvation is assured.  Wouldn't satisfaction in knowing that they were spreading the truth, helping others, inspiring people and improving their lives with a positive belief, be a better gift?

7. Among the mind games that Jesus plays with his followers is the continuing rebuke, familiar to nagged spouses, "If you really love me, you will believe me and do what I say.  If you don't, it can only be because you don't love me."   Once one is committed to love someone, the loved person can use that love as a weapon to get what he wants from the lover.  Here, Jesus is in effect saying, "You must not think on your own, you must dismiss logic and critical thought and your own observations and believe unquestioningly what I am telling you.  If you don't believe, you obviously don't love me.  Those who don't believe me are only those who don't love me."  Thus, if you love Jesus, you must believe in what he says.  But Jesus goes further by connecting himself with the Father, God.  Everything he does and says comes from God, he claims.  Therefore, to deny Jesus is to deny God.  To love Jesus is to love God, and to love God is to love Jesus.  The disciples are shamed into believing and obeying Jesus.  If they do otherwise, they are up against God himself.  Everything, though, is based on the premise that Jesus is the Son of God, an unproven claim, miracles notwithstanding.

8.  Jesus seems resigned to the destiny that, it seems, the Father has allotted him.  He is to be in conflict with princes and powers of the world, specifically the provincial government of Rome and the Judaic religious establishment -- although ruler or “Prince of the World" can, and often is interpreted as the Devil, or the evil forces at work in the material world.  He has the power to evade that destiny, but chooses not to do so, but to submit to it in order to please the Father.  One may question why a father would send his son into the world merely to be killed, but Jesus feels duty bound not to question, but to accept.

9.  The identity of Judas the Apostle, a different person from Judas Iscariot, is problematic.  He is often called Jude and may be Jude, the brother of Jesus, or could be the same person as the Apostle Thaddeus.  And there is Saint Jude who was martyred in Beirut in 65 AD, killed with an ax.  This Jude has also been identified in legend as the groom at the wedding at Cana.

Jesus Foretells His Betrayal

(Gospel of John 13:18 - 13:38)

"I do not speak to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen.  This is a fulfillment of the scripture that says, 'He with whom I have shared my food will turn against me.'  I tell you this in advance, so that when it happens you will believe that I am the One.  I tell you truly that whoever receives someone I have sent receives me, as anyone who receives me, receives the one who sent me."

Jesus then become deeply perturbed.  He announced, “Truly I must tell you -- one of you will betray me!"

The disciples looked querulously at each other, wondering which one of them he meant.  One of them, the disciple Jesus loved most, was reclining at the table next to him.  Simon-Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus who it was he was talking about.  That disciple, leaning closely to Jesus, asked of him, "Master, who is it?"

"It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread after I have dipped into the bowl," Jesus replied. Jesus dipped the piece of bread into the bowl and gave it to --- Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.  As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan took possession of him.  “Do quickly what you are to do."  Jesus bid him.  (None at the table knew what Jesus meant; some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was instructing him to go out and buy food for the festival or make a donation to the poor.)  After Judas had taken the piece of bread, he immediately departed into the night.

After he had left, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified and God has been glorified through him.  Since God has received glory from his son, he will give glory to his son. ... Dear children, I will be with you only a little while longer.  You will search for me, but I will tell you what I told the Judean people, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'  But I am giving you a new commandment: love one another.  As I have loved you, so must you love one another.  Your mutual love will show to the world that you are my disciples."

Simon-Peter asked him, "Master, where are you going?"

Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you will not now be able to follow, but will do so later on."

"But why can't I follow you now, Master?" he demanded.  "I'm ready to give my life for you!"

"Will you really give your life for me?" Jesus asked.  "I tell you truly that the cock will not crow this morn before you have denied even knowing me -- three times!"

Notes
1.  Jesus has foreknowledge of the disciple who will betray him, yet there is no explanation why he persisted in tolerating the company of a disloyal disciple.  Would such a one not hinder his efforts, undermine his teachings, and bring disgrace upon the loyal followers?  Why does Jesus allow, if not abet the act of betrayal, if it is not in his interests?  And if it is in his interests, why should the betrayer be vilified if he is actually acting in accordance to Jesus' will? 

2.  Upon taking the bread, Judas becomes possessed by Satan -- metaphorically or literally?  If the latter, then this simply means that Judas had just then changed sides, defected to those oppose Jesus and has become an antagonist, which is what the word Satan or Shaitan means. When Judas takes the bread and leaves their company, he departs into the night, as one would expect since they are partaking of the evening meal.  The night, the darkness, is probably mentioned as a symbolic reference.  Judas is leaving the light of Jesus' company and his enlightened teachings to go into the spiritual darkness.

3.  The best-loved disciple, the one sitting, or rather reclining (on one’s left side) next to Jesus at the table, who is availed upon by the disciple-leader Simon-Peter to ask Jesus who the betrayer is, is not here named, but is generally thought to be John, the presumed author of this gospel.  Jesus tells him the betrayer is the one who will take the piece of bread Jesus has dipped into the bowl.  (Bread would have been used in lieu of dinner utensils: a piece of bread would scoop up pieces of food like a spoon or fork and convey them to the mouth or be used as a sop to soak up a sauce.  What was in the bowl was not mentioned and, apparently, not of any significance, symbolic or otherwise.)  Obviously this remark had to be a confidential one, not heard by the other disciples, especially by Judas, who takes the bread, presumably eats it, and then leaves.  The fact that Judas departs without explanation but on what seems to be a cue from Jesus suggests that the whole act of betrayal has been contrived by Jesus.

4.  Jesus prophecies the denial of Peter, but it seems only a put down of that disciple's enthusiastic support of Jesus and the claim that he would willingly die for him.

5.  Jesus makes clear he is leaving them to rejoin his Father in Heaven, but hints that at some future point the disciples will able to be with him there.  One surmises that this would be after the resurrection of the dead and the Day of Judgment.

Jesus Washes the Feet of His Disciples

(Gospel of John 13:1 - 13:17)

  Before the Passover celebration, Jesus was aware that the time was imminent when he should leave this world and return to his Father.  He had loved his disciples during his time on earth and continued to love them until the end.  (Even so, the Devil had already inspired Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him.) Jesus knew that the Father had given him control of all things, that he had come from God, and that he would soon be returning to God.   Therefore, during supper he got up from the table, took off his robe, and tied a towel around his waist.  He poured some water into a basin and washed the feet of his disciples, drying them off with the towel that he had wrapped round himself.

When Jesus came to Simon-Peter, he was questioned by him, "Master, you’re going to wash my feet?"

Jesus replied, "You do not understand now the significance of what I am doing, but someday you will."

Peter protested, "You must never wash my feet!"

Jesus explained, "Unless I wash you, you cannot be a part of me."

"Well, then Master, don't just wash my feet, but wash my hands and face as well."

"A person who has already bathed has no need to wash anything but his feet to be clean.  You, the disciples, are clean -- but not all of you are."  (Jesus knew who was going to betray him and that was why he suggested that not all his disciples were clean.)

After washing their feet, Jesus put his robe back on and again sat down at the table.  He asked the disciples, "Do you understand what I have done for you?  You call me ‘rabbi' and ‘master,' and indeed you should, for I am such.  But since I am your rabbi and master and have washed your feet, you should then wash each other's feet.  I have set for you an example -- to do for others what I have done for you.  I tell you truly, the servant is not greater than the master, nor the messenger greater than the one who has sent him.  Now that you are aware of these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Notes
1.  At a time when men generally went barefooted or wore open sandals, washing the feet would have been a common hygienic practice and one with ritual significance.  But an inferior washes the feet of a superior and not the other way around.  Here, Jesus, who is, on every level, superior to his disciples, lowers himself to wash their feet.  It is a symbolic gesture and also a signal expression of his feeling for them.  Simon-Peter, the "rock," who is literal minded and somewhat hard headed, doesn't get it.  The mutual washing of the feet that Jesus urges means he wished for the disciples to take care of one another after he has left them.

2.  We have more reference to the upcoming betrayal of Jesus by Judas.  When the text says that Judas had already been inspired by the Devil to commit the act of betrayal, the meaning is not clear.  Is this a figure of speech ("the Devil made me do it" kind of thing) or is it meant that a specific entity known as the Devil has influenced or compelled Judas to betray Jesus?  If the latter was the case, if the Devil really made him do it, would Judas be morally culpable?