My Peace
TRANSLATION
(21) “Whoever has my commands and obeys them is the one who loves me. And those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and will show myself to them.” (22) Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, “Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” (23) Jesus responded, “Those who love me will obey my teaching, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (24) Whoever does not love me will not obey my teaching. The words you hear are not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
(25) “All this I have spoken to you while still with you. (26) But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything that I have said to you. (27) Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. (28) You have heard me say that I am going away and will return to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. (29) I have told you now before it takes place so that when it does take place, you may believe. (30) I will not say much more to you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no hold over me, (31) but he comes so that the world may know that I love the Father and do what the Father has commanded me. Come now, let us depart.”
OBSERVATIONS
In this segment Jesus expanded on what he had been telling his disciples about the love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for them. In the first paragraph, the verb, “obey(s),” was used three times, first with “my commands” (vs. 21) and then with “my teaching” twice (vss. 23 & 24). “Show” was also repeated in this first paragraph (vss. 21 & 22). In the second paragraph, “peace” is found twice (in vs. 27), “going” was repeated (vs. 28), while “take(s) place” occurred twice (in vs. 29). Repetitions that occurred in both paragraphs included nine occurrences of “love/loves/loved” (in vss. 21, 23, 24, 28, & 31) and eight repetitions of “Father/Father’s” (in vss. 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, & 31).
Jesus never answered Judas’ question since the answer was obvious (vs. 22). The world, shrouded in darkness and blind to spiritual truth, has never been able to receive the things of God. However, those who belong to Christ have been given the Holy Spirit in order that he might “teach them all things and remind them of everything” (vs. 26).
OUTLINE
I. Those who keep Jesus’ commands experience the love and presence of the Father. (21-24)
II. Jesus promised his disciples the peace and comfort of the Holy Spirit in his absence. (25-31)
IDEA STATEMENT
On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus promised his disciples the love of the Father and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to calm their anxious hearts.
APPLICATION
One promise Jesus gave his disciples on the eve of the most terrible three days they would ever experience is worth our meditation: “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” (14:27). At least two great truths emerge from this statement. First, Jesus called the peace he would leave with his disciples “my peace” as opposed to the peace “the world gives.” Only those who belong to Jesus can lay claim to the peace that he promised to give. He is the source of that peace, and the means by which we receive his peace is through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the helper sent by the Father to strengthen and enable all who belong to the Son. All that the world can offer us remains woefully inadequate and incomplete because it can only treat symptoms rather than deal with the source of our troubles and fears.
This leads us to the second great truth found in Jesus’ command, that is, not to let our hearts be troubled nor to be afraid. At first this exhortation sounds like an impossibility. How can we stop our hearts from being troubled? How can we deal with the fears that seem to infect everyone around us? We must remember that the Lord never commanded his followers to do anything which he has not given them the means to obey. By relying on the Holy Spirit who indwells us and empowers us from within, we can deal with all our troubles and calm all our fears as we learn to “cast all our anxieties on the one who cares for us” (1 Pet. 5:7).