John 14:25-31

John 14:25-31 My peace I give to you; do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid

In verse 26, what does Jesus say the Holy Spirit will do?

The Holy Spirit does not call attention to itself; it illuminates the words of Jesus.  How can we open our hearts and minds and souls to be taught by the Holy Spirit?

In verse 26, Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will “remind you of all that I have said to you.”  The “you” is plural, so this may be a promise to the Body of Christ as a whole, not to each individual.  However, it raises an interesting question for us as individuals.  Someone can only bring to your remembrance the things you already previously knew or experienced.  If you only know a little of what Jesus has said, there isn’t much information stored in your memory to be brought back to your remembrance.  What can you do to expand what you know about Jesus, so that the Holy Spirit can remind you of it when you need it most?

In verse 27, Jesus offers us his peace, and he says his peace is not like the world’s peace.  What is Jesus’s peace like, and how is it different from what the world gives?

In the second half of verse 27, Jesus says, “Do not let your heart by troubled, nor let it be afraid.”  Let’s take those separately.  First, what is a troubled heart?  What does it look like when your heart is troubled?

How does Jesus’s peace respond to the needs of a troubled heart?

Second, Jesus says, “Do not let your heart be afraid.”  In what ways is being afraid different than being troubled?

What kinds of things or situations can cause our heart to be afraid?

How does Jesus’s peace help up deal with the things that cause us to be afraid?

How can you rest in his peace?

In verse 28, Jesus says that the disciples should be rejoicing that he is going to the Father.  Of course, they aren’t rejoicing, because they don’t want him to leave.  But Jesus sees where things are going.  Are there ways we can rejoice even when we are losing someone?  How can Jesus’s peace help us to rejoice even in times of loss?

In verse 28, Jesus says that the Father is greater than he is.  Jesus is fully God and fully human.  He is speaking here partly from the perspective of the human and divine role he is playing.  The Father sent him.  He speaks only what he has heard from the Father.  He does the work the Father has given him to do.  And in John 13:16 he said that the one who is sent is not greater than the one who sends him.   In these ways the Father is greater than him.  As God, he is one with the Father (John 10:30) and therefore is not any less great.  However, even though the Son is equally God, in the mystery of the Trinity it is also true that the Son is begotten of the Father, while the Father is entirely without origin (not begotten).  Thus, the Son always defers to the greatness of the Father.

In verse 30, Jesus says “the ruler of this world” is coming.  Who is he referring to?

Satan.

Jesus immediately adds that the ruler of this world “has no power over me.”  What does he mean?  Jesus will be put to death.  How is it that the ruler of this world has no power over him?

In verse 31 Jesus explains that he is going to his death because he loves the Father, not because anyone has power over him.  He is acting in obedience to the Father’s command, which will fulfill the Father’s plan of salvation for the world.  How are we also sometimes called to submit to those who, in a spiritual sense, have no power over us, out of love for God and obedience to his commands?

Looking beyond Jesus’s death and all the way to our time, it is still true that no one has power over Jesus.  No devil, no ruler, no teacher of lies – no one has power over Jesus.  How can that guide your thinking about what is going on in your world and in your life?

How can this statement assure our hearts in times of trouble?

In verse 31, Jesus says that he loves the Father.  He does not say this explicitly anywhere else in the Gospels, yet there is never a time where it is in doubt.  In everything he does, throughout his life on earth, we see that Jesus loves the Father.

The chapter ends with Jesus saying, “Arise, let us go from here” (verse 31).  Since John is presenting this entire discussion as happening at the Last Supper, this could be interpreted as a signal that they are leaving the supper and heading for the Mount of Olives.  However, it is not until John 18:1 that John says they went out across the Kidron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane in 18:1.  Some scholars think that chapters 15-17 are in insertion of additional material that is related to what we have seen in chapter 14.  Others think that chapters 15-17 tell us what Jesus said as they walked through the city and past the Temple on their way out to the Kidron Valley.  Others interpret the statement rhetorically: The ruler of this age has no power over me, so arouse yourselves and let’s go face him.

Jesus wants to rouse your heart so that you have confidence in his love for you.  Here is what Jesus has said in this chapter: No matter what you are facing, Jesus has not left you alone.  The Father and Jesus dwell with you.  You are in him and he is in you.  No ruler, no devil, not even Satan himself has any power over Jesus.  And Jesus has sent his Holy Spirit to live inside of you.  What does that say to you right now?  What are you facing, and what do Jesus’s words say to you?

Take a step back and consider this:

A casual observer might think that Satan had a temporary victory when Jesus was put to death on the cross on Calvary, a victory that was only reversed when Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday.  Jesus’s statements in verses 30-31 refute that idea.

Satan never had any power over Jesus: not before he went to the cross, not while he was dying on the cross, not even during the 3 days that Jesus was dead and in the tomb.  Jesus always had greater power; he just chose to demonstrate his power in a way that the world does not think of as “power,” the way of self-sacrificing love.

How can we reorient our thinking and allow God to transform your hearts and minds so that we do not see power the way the world sees power, but instead see how powerfully God moves in acts of sacrificial love?

Often, we are silent when people around us voice the mindset of the world that power equates with force and the ability to do violence.  By our silence, we unintentionally reinforce that false idea of power.  How can we become more confident voices offering to others a different way of thinking that is guided by the One whose self-sacrificing power is greater than all the supposed powers of this world?