Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Saturday, March 22, 2014 Read John 14:25-31 Jesus’ concern for his followers, that they will know that he is still present with them even after he has returned to the Father, continues to dominate our reading for today. Jesus knows that he will only be physically present to his disciples for a short time – the cross linger in the future! So once again he promises them that in his “absence” they will know the “Paraclete, the Holy Spirit” who will continue to teach the followers of Jesus and, most importantly, help them remember everything that Jesus has told them. So, the Holy Spirit will continue the work of Jesus! Jesus fully understands the chaos and the confusion that likely will descend upon his followers in the aftermath of his crucifixion so he promises them that out of the chaos will emerge peace – a peace that the world cannot give. The picture that John has been painting is of a very compassionate and caring Jesus who is doing his best to prepare his church for life after his death/resurrection/ascension. Jesus now addresses the concern, in fact the deep fear that must have engulfed the disciples as they heard these words. He tells them that rather than being fearful, dreading his departure, they should rejoice because he is returning to the Father. Whether or not it calmed their fears at that moment is difficult to tell – I know hearing Jesus words probably would not have made me any less fearful. But eventually the followers of Jesus remembered Jesus words and their fear was turned into faithful joy. Jesus tells them that he is telling them these things now, before they happen, for the distinct purpose that they will remember after they have happened. What a gift that was! We have noted that only John tells us this story and provides us with these precious words of Jesus. John has placed them in the context of the meal just prior to Jesus’ arrest – something the synoptic writers did not do. We have noted that behind this gospel is the claim that an eye-witness testimony is present. We have also noticed that perhaps that eye-witness voice has emerged in those sections of John’s gospel that are mostly the interpretation or meaning of an event. If those sections are the words of this eye-witness – more in the form of sermons or theological explanations – then perhaps these are more of those words. That Jesus spoke words like these to his followers is likely, though perhaps they have been re-worked after some theological reflection on the part of one of his eye-witness followers. Regardless of that kind of speculation, these words of Jesus are valuable to us, as they were to the first followers of Jesus. We can let them speak to us giving us assurance and hope. The fourteenth chapter of John ends with a statement by Jesus that he will only be with them a short time more because the “ruler of this world is coming” and Jesus will soon depart. Jesus reminds his followers that this ruler has no power over him – Jesus lays down his life and he will take it up again – Jesus is in control of his destiny! He will go to the cross because he loves the Father – the one who so loves the world that he gives his only Son! And then John writes the words, “Rise, let us be on our way.” As readers we fully expect that the meal is now over and Jesus and his followers will proceed to the garden. We expect to merge into the storyline of the synoptic gospels once again. But that does not happen! With chapter fifteen we find ourselves back into the conversation we have been following in the previous chapter. John does not specifically say that we are back in the context of the meal, but that is the implication. And that is how John wants us to think of what is said in the following chapters. What are we to make of this strange scenario? As I mentioned at the beginning, the interpretation of these chapters is a challenge. There are these “rough places” that make it challenging to piece things together. Here is one possibility that makes a lot of sense to me. Likely this was the ending of an early version of John’s “meal scene” and if that is the case it roughly parallels the scene in the upper room as told in the synoptic gospels. We have noted the differences – in John, Jesus does not institute the Lord’s Supper since John does not understand the meal as the Passover; in the synoptic gospels, there is no mention of the foot washing and Jesus has no discourse about his return above and the promise of the sending of the Holy Spirit – but otherwise there is much in agreement between John and the others. If we understand this point in John’s gospel as the original ending, then we might go on to speculate that the “historical” experience of Jesus and the disciples include a combination of all the elements we have been reading in both John and the synoptic gospels – Jesus washes his disciples feet (only in John), Jesus identifies Judas as his betrayer which is also an event which shook all of his followers to the core since they knew they were all capable of betraying Jesus (in both John and the synoptic gospels), Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper since this really was a Passover meal (only in the synoptic gospels), Jesus predicts Peter’s denial and the falling away of all of the disciples (in both John and the synoptic gospels), and Jesus spent some time trying to prepare his followers for his coming death and for how he would be present to them after his death/resurrection/ascension (only in John)! John’s apparent ending of the meal scene in chapter fourteen lends itself to this interpretation. By hearing John and the synoptic gospels together we get a fuller picture of the event. But that does leave us with the challenge of how we are to understand the rest of John’s gospel in chapters 15, 16, and 17. Were they really part of the original experience of the meal scene? If they weren’t, what are they? Where do they fit in the story? It is my interpretation that these chapters do not belong to the original meal scene. Likely they contain words that Jesus spoke on occasions prior to these events and also words that are simply the interpretation of the author – likely the witness of the eye-witness that stand behind this gospel is placed here to augment what happened in the meal scene as told in chapters 13 and 14 in John’s gospel. This does not reduce the importance of what we read in chapters 15-17. They are still critically valuable to us. And, while we might think of these chapters as not really belonging to the meal scene, it is important that we acknowledge that the author of John’s gospel wants us to hear them in that context. But it also does do justice to John’s gospel, especially his apparent ending at chapter 14. And, it does do justice to the storyline as we read it in the synoptic gospels.