Text: John 14:23-29 (RSV)
23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
25 “These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
If this passage were a music album, it might be titled “The Greatest Hits of Jesus of Nazareth,” because nearly all of the great themes of his ministry, nearly all of his most meaningful statements, are here: “If a man loves me, he will keep my word.” “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things.” “Let not your hearts be troubled.” “If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father.” “And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe.”
All of this is particularly poignant, because Jesus says these things on the last night he’s going to spend on earth. He tried to show his sad and scared disciples two elements of reality that are very hard to hold together: That he’s going away, but that he’s not going to leave them alone.
The Greek word used in this passage is ὀρφανός, (“orphanos”), which not surprisingly is where our word “orphan” comes from. Jesus tells his friends that he was not going to make them orphans – which strikes us as odd, since Jesus was not the biological father of any of them, until we understand that the word also “was also used of disciples and students bereft of the presence and the teaching of a beloved master.”[1]
But, Jesus says, this will not happen to them, because they will have the Holy Spirit, the Counselor sent to them by God, to guide them and teach them, to remind them of what Jesus has told them, and to accompany them in their mission.
And that mission would be very hard indeed. For some of the disciples, it would prove fatal. Simon Peter would end his days in Rome, crucified upside down at his own request, since he didn’t think himself worthy to die in the same way Jesus had. James, the Son of Zebedee, was beheaded in 44 A.D. by order of Herod Antipas. Andrew was crucified, possibly in Patras, Greece, on a cross made in the shape of an “X”, which to this day is called the “St. Andrew’s Cross.” Bartholomew was either put into a sack and thrown into the sea or was otherwise martyred in Albana, which is now the city of Derbend in the present-day Russian Confederation. And Paul, although not one of the original Twelve, was also beheaded, in Rome.
Even though the disciples could not have known what their eventual fates were to be, they could certainly guess that their lives would be no walk in the park once Jesus had left; and so his words to them that he was not going to just leave them to their own devices had to have been welcome news.
But Jesus does more than that. He says: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” When we hear this, we might be inclined to just shrug and say, “Gee, that’s nice.” When we use the word “peace,” it’s usually in the context of “peace and quiet” – as in, “Finally, spring break is over, and the kids are back in school! At last I can get some peace!” Or “The construction on the street outside is finally completed! Now we can get some peace!” When wars and conflicts are over, we breathe a sigh of relief and say that peace has come again. And certainly, when a friend or loved one dies, we say that that person is at peace.
That last concept of peace comes closest to what Jesus is getting at here, but even that idea doesn’t cover everything he means. The Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם “shalom” (translated as εἰρήνη – “eiréné” in Greek) meant much more than absence of turmoil or noise or even war. “Shalom” is a state of being. It means harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare, contentment, tranquility, and even “rightness” down to the depths of your very soul.
When I was little, our house in Oshkosh had big, south-facing picture windows in the living room. When it was sunny, the light would stream into those windows and fill it with warm and a golden glow. I used to love to lie down in the big warm pool of light and take a nap. I didn’t need a blanket or a pillow, or anything. I’d just lie there by the hour, basking in it. That’s one of my happiest memories of childhood.
I think that that’s kind of what this peace Jesus talks about is. It is basking in God’s pleasure, basking in the light and warmth of God’s grace.
And that is the peace Jesus gives to his friends. More than that, even: He says “my peace I give to you.” It’s a part of him. It’s part of his very nature, part of the very nature of God, in other words, that he transfers to them.
And – again – remember that Jesus does this on the very night before he is handed over to cruelty, and suffering, and death. Yet, even in that moment, he shows the majestic grace of God and the bottomless depth of God’s love.
“Peace I give to you; my peace I give to you.”
Last week, we talked about love. Well, outside of the crucifixion itself, what more profound act of love is there than what Jesus does for his friends on this horrible night?
And yet there’s even more! In Luke 17:21, Jesus tells us, “The Kingdom of God is within you;” and here, with the gift if his own peace, and the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, we see it happening. Another commentary attributes the following words to Jesus: “[God] speaks within the human heart as a still, small voice, saying, ‘This is the way; walk therein.’ Do you not comprehend that God dwells within you, that he has become what you are that he may make you what he is!”[2]
And finally, Jesus says to these unhappy men the words of comfort that have echoed through the centuries and given hope and strength and courage to countless people: “Let not your hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid.” In other words, “Don’t worry! I’ve got your back!”
What a gift! No matter what happens in this world to us, God will not abandon us. God is always at work for our good. Through us, God is always at work for the good of our neighbors and our world.
“My peace I give to you.” “Let not your hearts be troubled; neither let them be afraid.” He’s talking to us today, too!
So, today I’d like to invite all of you to join me in that little boy’s happy place and bask in the pool of warm, golden light from the smiling, shining, loving, gracious face of God!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Barclay, William, The Gospel of John, Vol. Two, Louisville, Kentucky, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001
[2] Jesus, The Urantia Book, (148:6.10)