Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Tuesday, March 25, 2014 Read John 16:4-15 As we listen to the words in our reading for today a new challenge arises. There is a real sense in which these words do seem to fit best in the context of the meal scene. However, as we listen closely we discover that they contradict some things about the meal scene as we hear it in John 13-14. In John 16:5 Jesus says that “none of you ask me, ‘Where are you going?’” Yet in the meal scene when Jesus speaks of where he is going, Peter asks specifically, “Where are you going?” (John 13:36) and Thomas complains that they do not know where he is going so how can they know the way (John 14:5). The meal scene unfolds as a dialogue in which the disciples do ask Jesus questions. Has Jesus forgotten that? Wasn’t he paying attention? Or, are the words in this passage from another occasion? In actuality this passage does not add much new to what we have already heard. Those who have analyzed this gospel can demonstrate that the same pattern and the same ideas are now repeated. Is it possible that, once again, the final editor of John’s gospel has more than one version of words about Jesus’ concern for his disciples in this time that he is going away and has added these “extra” words to a story he has already told – he has added these similar words because he finds them in the testimony of the eye-witness and does not want to lose them? Once again, the character of these words is highly theological and not narrative in nature. They are like the words we have discovered when the author wants to explain the meaning of an event. We have theorized that perhaps these “theological words” are really the witness of the eye-witness. Perhaps the eye-witness was not concerned about creating a cohesive narrative but of proclaiming the words of Jesus and their meaning. The value of these words to the followers of Jesus in the time after his departure is immense! They remind those followers that in the “absence” of Jesus the Paraclete will come and make Jesus present. Jesus has already told them that the Paraclete cannot come until Jesus has departed. So, Jesus can say that it is really for the benefit of the followers of Jesus that he goes. He goes so that the Paraclete can come. John tells us that the Paraclete will teach the followers of Jesus things they cannot bear or understand before the death/resurrection/ascension of Jesus. Once again we hear the truth that it is only after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection that he can be really understood for whom he is. This idea agrees with that of the synoptic writers and likely reflects the exact experience of the first followers of Jesus – they cannot and did not recognize Jesus for who he really is until after the resurrection. At that point Jesus has returned to where he was before – to above – but the Paraclete will make him present nonetheless to those who believe. Once again, in John’s gospel the role of the Paraclete is welded to the ministry of Jesus. The Holy Spirit does not act on his own but only reflects what Jesus has already said and done. Just as Jesus and the Father are one, so the Holy Spirit and Jesus are one. In fact, later theology would develop the Trinity in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one God in three persons. John may not have thought in quite this same way, but he is not far from the later development of the Trinity in the church – a theory that is helpful to attempt to explain God who is beyond our full comprehension.