Sometimes Jesus meets us in the storm. In this passage, the disciples find themselves out on the Sea of Galilee when they get caught up in a ferocious storm. Why are they there? Because Jesus had them get on the boat. Where’s Jesus? He’s asleep on the boat. But when he wakes up, he will respond in a way which will leave the disciples with fear and awe, as they question “who is this?”
Category: Church
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Miracles and belief. John 14:11
In John 14:8, the Apostle Phillip says: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.
For many of us, that’s a relatable request. I think we all have times where God can seem distant or hard to find.
One of the ways God is made known is through miracles.
As Jesus continues to respond to Philip, he says in John 14:11: Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
For this post, I want to focus on the second part of that verse. Where Jesus tells Philip to believe on the account of his works. Now under the umbrella of works, it could certainly be the righteous life Jesus lived and the teaching that he gave.
But within John, I think the works more specifically refers to his miraculous signs. That those are what authenticate a heaven-sent ministry in the world.
The first sign that Jesus does in John’s Gospel is when he turns water into wine at the Wedding Feast at Cana. And in response, John’s Gospel gives the post-script:
John 2:11: This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
Jesus did not turn water into wine simply to help out at a wedding feast but it was a display of his glory. And all throughout the first half of John, we see these signs that Jesus does. Healing the sick, feeding multitudes, walking on water. And before going to the cross, his greatest sign is when he raises Lazarus from the dead in John 11.
All of them done for specific reasons in pointing to Jesus, who he is, and the heavenly ministry he was advancing in the world. They show his power and dominion. They show fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies of the things which would happen in a Messianic age.
They confirm and authenticate who Jesus is. And so in Jesus’ response to Philip, what he is telling Philip is that those miraculous signs are a legitimate reasons to believe in Jesus.
And certainly the greatest miracle of Jesus, his resurrection from the dead was still to come. Miracles are a reason why we too can believe in the Lord. The resurrection is the basis for our faith and what we believe. It is the heart of the gospel and the purpose of the gospel. It’s the greatest authenticator on Jesus, who he was, who he said he was, and the fulfillment of his promises to the world. And it because of his resurrection that we have the hope of eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins.
Just as Jesus told the apostle Philip to look at his works, that we too can look at his works and his greatest work as a reason to believe as an example of God revealing himself to the world.
“Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
God is still at work in our world. Miracles still happen today.
Miracles
I’ll define a miracle as an extraordinary event with supernatural intervention intended for divine purposes. Miracles defy explanation along scientific or rational grounds. They’re transcendent.
A 2010 Pew research study found that 80 percent of Americans believe in miracles. A 2004 survey by Louis Finkelstein for the Institute for Religious and Social Studies of the Jewish Theological Seminary surveyed 1,100 doctors and found that three-fourths of them believed in miracles and more than half thought that they had witnessed a miracle.
Doctors. Who are the most highly educated people in our society and who are also those who are those who are treating those battling sicknesses and diseases. In another survey, 38 percent of Americans claim to have personally experienced a miracle.
That’s tens of millions of people. Are all of those legitimate miracles? Probably not. But there are mysterious and undocumented healings and situations that defy medical explanation.
I’m not talking about some prosperity gospel preaching faith healer charlton who’s enriching himself or herself to a crowded auditorium in doing a glorified magic show that they call faith healings.
But what about the people who are under medical supervision and they experience healings that defy medical explanation and which run contrary to how human bodies respond to treatment?
Miracles should be an encouragement to us. They should give us hope that God is working and active in the world. When we’re tempted to mirror the words of Philip and say: show us the Father, and it is enough for us
We have the miraculous signs during the ministry of Jesus and the ways in which the Lord intervenes in the world today. And so I’d like to share two miraculous stories.
A pastor healed in real time
Duane Miller was a pastor in Texas who came down with a case of the flu in 1990.
Preaching on Sunday, his throat was bothering him and his voice sounded hoarse and scratchy. He eventually recovered from the flu but his voice remained scratchy and strained. And it stayed that way.
The flu virus had damaged his vocal cords. And just to be heard, with his damaged vocal cords, Miller had to scream at the top of his lungs. He saw specialist after specialist. The issue still didn’t improve. The following year, Miller resigned his position as pastor.
Being able to talk…Is pretty important for being a preacher. Over nearly three years, he visited 63 specialists. An international consortium of throats specialists who reviews records from particularly difficult cases told him that his voice would never improve.
By 1993, Miller and his family had moved to Houston and were attending a large Baptist church. He was asked to teach an adult Sunday school class. He resisted, but people in the class promised to suffer through his raspy voice.
Being a large church, the Sunday school class was very big and so they recorded the audio of the Sunday school class. In the lesson, Miller was talking about the subject of healing and saying that God does not always bring healing in this life while teaching from Psalm 103:
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
I share a video that was taken from the Sunday school where the pastor’s voice was restored. You’ll notice how raspy his voice is. And the clip shows the audio of what he is saying, but pay attention when he says “I have had, and you have had in times past pit experiences.”
In mid-sentence, Miller’s voice was restored. He says “I don’t understand this right now” as emotion starts to overcome his voice and you start to hear people who had witnessed this being to clap and cheer.
Upon later medical evaluation, doctors said that Miller’s voice had fully recovered. Even the scar tissue disappeared. Miller later returned to ministry and nearly 30 years later, his voice remains normal.
Hospice patient restored
In the Case for Miracles, Lee Strobell interviews New Testament scholar Craig Keener who’s a professor Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky.
I consider Keener to be one of the best New Testament scholars in the world. A former atheist who found faith, Keener wrote a 2,000 page two volume book on miracles which gives numerous case studies from around the world.
In Case for Miracles, Keener talks about the well documented story of a Chicago area woman named Barbara Cummisky Snyder who was diagnosed by the Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s leading hospitals, with progressive multiple sclerosis.
Keener has interviewed Barbara and two physicians who treated her.
In the book, a board certified physician who treated Barbara and who had performed over 20,000 operations called ed her “one of the most hopelessly ill patients I ever saw.”
Numerous doctors had agreed with the diagnosis. She was high school aged when originally diagnosed. Barbara battled these health issues for 16 years. She spent months in hospitals.
She loss the function in one of her lungs. Her other lung operated at less than 50 percent capacity.
She had lost control of her bowels and had to have catheters and colostomy bags attached to remove bodily waste.
Legally blind. She was on a feeding tube. Eventually she need continuous oxygen. She had a tracheotomy. By 1981, she hadn’t walked in seven years and was bed-ridden. Her hands and feet had strained into deformed positions. She went on hospice in 1981 and was given less than six months to live.
One day, someone called Moody Radio Station and asked people to pray for Barbara. More than 400 people wrote letters to Barbara’s church saying they were praying for her. On Pentecost Sunday 1981, Barbara’s aunt came to her home to read some of the letters to her.
Barbara would later say that she heard a man’s voice tell her to get up – though there were no men in the room. “Get up and walk.”
Barbara stood up, removed her oxygen and began to walk on legs that hadn’t supported her body weight in years. Breathing fine, her vision was restored.
That night, Barbara attended church with her family at Wheaton Wesleyan Church.
During the service, when the pastor asked if anyone had any announcements, Barbara walked to the center aisle and walked toward the front of the sanctuary.
Upon further medical evaluation, Barbara’s lung function had been fully restored.
At the time of writing the Case for Miracles, 35 years had passed since Barbara’s recovery without a recurrence of her illness.
Her case so defied explanation that two doctors who treated Barbara each wrote books about her case.
God is working.
Conclusion
There are times in his goodness that God supernaturally intervenes.
Why not always? A skeptical person might ask. Because the world is fallen and sinful. We don’t deserve any of his grace. So instead of asking why he doesn’t eternally do what we think he should do, we should be thankful for the glimpses we get of God’s power and to remember the goodness of a God who loves us and who is active in the world.
Furthermore, God never says that he will always bring every miraculous intervention that we might want in this life.
It is in heaven that: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Also, if God always did what we wanted him to do, he wouldn’t be God. We would be. But he is greater than us. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways.
In John 11, when Jesus learns that his friend Lazarus is ill, he does not immediately go to him.
He says:
This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4).
Jesus knew that Lazarus would die and he knew he was going to raise him.
On a much smaller scale, I think of Pastor Duane Miller who we talked about earlier. Losing his ministry and spending three years with those voice issues. Not the worst thing that’s ever happened to someone.
But undoubtedly a grueling experience.
He went through some difficult seasons in those three years.
But God had a plan to use him for a tremendous purpose in impacting people’s lives all over the world with his testimony.
God is good.
And he is working.
We don’t always get the miracle we’re hoping for.But God is no less good. He is no less at work in the world. He is no less sovereign.
All things really do work for good for those that love the Lord (Romans 8:28).
And we must remember the Lord’s goodness.
Philip pleaded:
Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.
But that’s often not so simple.
People are fickle. We’re sinful.
A person can see something that they think if miraculous yet not really appreciate the source.
A person can hear about something miraculous but not really have their life transformed by it.
Because it’s not just about seeing something impressive, or unexpected.
At the end of the day, we’re called to faith and belief in this great God.
Remembering God. His goodness, his gospel, and his faithfulness. Everyday.
The miracles of life can stir and encourage our faith. But we must also pursue a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Living lives where we remember what God has done. Not just the big, spectacular moments, but how he has sustained us and our families throughout our lives.
And appreciating what God is doing today.
Throughout the Old Testament, it’s constantly pointing back to the Exodus. The Passover meal was to be celebrated annually. Really with all of the Old Testament holidays, they were meant to remember. To remember various ways in which the Lord had blessed his people.
And what does Jesus say at the Last Supper? When he breaks the bread?
“Do this in remembrance of me.”
For as long as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we remember his death until he comes.
We’re called to remember the greatest miracle of the New Testament, Jesus’ glorious resurrection from the dead.
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Sermon: Become as I am – Galatians 4:12-20
We live in a world where there is a lot of religious chatter, and many opinions. It can be hard to sift through it to get to truth. In this passage, Paul expresses his concern for the Galatian Christians who had been led away from the truth of the gospel by false teachers who had instead preached a self-serving message.
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The way to God. John 14:1-7
Our society does not handle death well. I believe that at least part of the reason is that most of us don’t really deal with seeing death. A century ago, most people died at home.
Now, according to a Stanford study, only about 20 percent of Americans die at home and most people die in hospitals or nursing homes.
A century ago, it was much more common for a funeral to be at a person’s home. The family would clean and dress the deceased. Sometimes you’d have several days with a dead person in their former home.
You saw death.
People lived shorter lives.
In today’s America, funerals are becoming less common. With modern day practices, when there’s even a funeral at all, the focus is on making a person look lifelike. Funerals are not generally handled by families. It’s been outsourced to funeral homes who handle the process. Funerary practices are an essentially universal human custom.
But it’s becoming increasingly popular for some Americans to opt for nothing. No funeral, no memorial, no visitation, no celebration of life.
We don’t handle death well. For many, it’s an uncomfortable and taboo subject. But for Christians we should not grieve as others do who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).
In John 14, while Jesus is looking ahead to the cross that awaits him, he is bringing comfort to the disciples in talking about the promise and hope of heaven which is found in Christ.
It’s the Last Supper. In the preceding passage, Jesus has told the disciples of his impending departure. Peter has questioned this and said that he wants to go with Jesus.
Jesus says that Peter cannot go with him and predicts Peter’s denial. It’s important to remember that because chapter 14 is the continuation of what precedes it. It’s the same stream of thoughts as we saw at the end of chapter 13.
The main idea of this passage is that Jesus is the way to life in a dying world.
Jesus presents the reason for our hope
John 14:1: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Jesus begins by giving a command. Let not your hearts be troubled.
Because the human heart is often troubled. For the disciples, Jesus knew that they had a harrowing experience on the horizon of seeing their Lord go to the cross and taken away from them.
We have many troubling experiences in our own lives. We can have anxieties over our health or the health of our family members. We can be stressed about the state of affairs in our world. We can be troubled by the things we fear.
And as for the disciples, Jesus has the same message for us: Let not your hearts be troubled.
Easier said than done.
Stop it!
There’s a comedy sketch that I really like with Bob Newhart. He’s playing a psychiatrist and a woman comes to him seeking help.
She tells Newhart that she has this fear of being buried alive in a box and how crippling this fear is and how it’s interfering with her quality of life.
Newhart reassures her and says that he has two words for her that she can use to deal with her fears.
The woman in the skit takes out a pen and paper and Newhart growls at her “stop it!”
She’s bewildered.
Newhart explains that she doesn’t want to go around being afraid of being buried in a box.
So stop it.
As the sketch progresses, she talks about other fears she has, and Newhart continues to give the same advice “stop it.” I think the humor of the skit is that that’s how we can sometimes treat the problems of others.
Stop feeling that way, stop thinking that way.
That’s easier said than done.
At the last supper, in a very trying situation, Jesus commands his disciples “Let not your hearts be troubled.”
I think we can have that “stop it” attitude sometimes in the church. To hide. To say things are fine when they’re not. To say we’re ok, when we’re not. To feel this pressure to always seem to have it together.
Let not your hearts be troubled.
Jesus said it. He commands it. We don’t want to be disobedient do we? But how do we follow that command? I think we can make the mistake of acting like the Bible calls for us to be stoic. Not showing emotions.
But that’s not what Jesus is calling us to.
In fact, in the gospels, we see that there were times when Jesus himself was troubled.
A troubled savior
In the preceding chapter, right before Jesus predicts his betrayal, John writes in 13:21:
After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit
Again in John 12:27, when Jesus is looking forward to the time of his death, he’s praying to God and says: “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.”
Jesus was troubled sometimes. Life is troubling sometimes. Jesus isn’t calling us to just muster up the strength to act as if we’re fine on the outside.Because Jesus isn’t calling us to appearances. He’s calling us to reality.
To not have troubled hearts and then Jesus gives the commands: Believe in God; believe also in me.
I take both of those to be imperative commands. We are to believe in God and to also believe in Jesus Christ. We need both. To believe in God without believing in Jesus as the Son of God and savior of the world is to not believe in the greater revelation of the truth of God to the world.
Believing in Jesus without believing in God is to disbelieve in the one who sent him and the God whom Jesus reveals. And as the chapter further unfolds, Jesus will give his richest teaching of the Holy Spirit so far in this gospel.
And so the antidote to the troubled heart is the truth of God. Not just some vague ascent “Yeah, I believe in God.” But having the Lord be your rock, be your strength, be your hope, and your joy.
Going to the Lord in our struggles. Gong to him in prayer. Filling our minds with the truth and knowledge of who God is. Going to him in faith.
In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul says: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The Lord is who is meant to be our comfort in times of trouble.
Jesus prepares a place for his people
Verse 2: In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
Verse 2 is one of those Bible verses that’s really beautiful in its simplicity. It’s a wonderful idea and even the words have a nice ring to them.
In my Father’s house are many rooms.
Now I think we can get too caught up in the house metaphor. What’s the house like? What does it look like? How big is the house? Does it have a finished basement?
That’s beside the point. The point is more that heaven is the abode of the Lord and that it’s a place where there is sufficient space for the people of God to reside. Heaven is heaven because that’s where God is.
Jesus talks of preparing a place for his people. Once again, what does that mean?
Is he the foreman on a construction project? He was a carpenter. Is he building a place?
I agree with D.A. Carson’s interpretation that the preparation for a heavenly abode has more to do with Christ’s redemptive work of going to the cross, his death, resurrection, and exaltation. It is those which signs our heavenly mortgages.
But that is another reason why our hearts should not be troubled.
Because we have a savior who has given us an eternally glorious inheritance.
Life is not for the faint of heart. There’s so much junk that we have to deal with. There is so much we see that can bring us down. There is so much sin and moral decay that can make us cynical. There is so much that is wrong in the world. And there are so many horrible things that we can suffer through.
But Jesus promises his people a future in the house of the Lord.
I think too many of us do not spend enough time thinking about heaven. That is our hope. That is what we were made for. And Jesus went to the cross so that we can have eternal life in heaven.
The Bible says that heaven is a place where God makes all things new.
Revelation 21:1-2: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
The Bible says that heaven is the place where all the pains of this world are taken away.
Revelation 21:4: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
I hear politicians talk. A lot of them put out these utopian ideas of what society can be. There can never be a perfect society because the world is fallen and imperfect.
But when we are glorified in the presence of the Lord, there will be no sin, or pain, or death. Jesus is the way to life in a dying world because he prepares a heavenly place for us.
Jesus promises a return to his people
Verse 3:
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
There’s a logic to verse 3. If I go and prepare a place for you
The second part of the statement is I will come again and will take you to myself
Jesus did go to prepare a place for us. It was necessary for him to go and prepare a place for us. And because he has gone to prepare a place for us, we can have assurance that he will come again and take us to be with himself.
That there will be union with Christ. In theology, the doctrine of the last things is called eschatology. It’s the study of the last things, coming from the Greek word “escatos.”
And John 14:3 is the clearest statement that Jesus makes in the gospels of his return. Now there are a lot of different eschatological views in churches and among theologians. But one thing that’s not disputed in the church is the reality of Christ’s literal, bodily return.
And this idea is really an essential element of our faith. That as sure as Jesus came into the world at the incarnation, Jesus will come again. As sure as Jesus is risen from the dead we have the promise that Jesus will come again.
The second coming is a necessary event in bringing all of the promises of Christ to their ultimate fulfillment. Without that, we have no reason to hope in Christ. And without that, Jesus is a liar.
Jesus says that he will come again to bring us to himself so that where I am you may be also.
Jesus prepares a place for us. And Jesus will come again for the purpose of uniting his people to himself so that they can have access to the heavenly place that he has prepared for us.
Jesus provides the way to heaven
Jesus has just talked of the heavenly place he is preparing for his people and his return.
Verse 4, Jesus says: And you know the way to where I am going.”
Now it’s true that they know the way literally. As Jesus will say in a couple of verses, HE is the way.
And they know Jesus. And so they know the way, literally, to where he is going.
He has also told them the way that he is going to get to heaven and his glorious return. It is by way of the cross, his death, and his resurrection.
But that’s not so obvious to the disciples.
The Apostle Thomas speaks up in verse 5: Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Is there a more important question that a person can ask?
Verse 6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is the way. This is the sixth of the seven I am statements that Jesus gives in John’s Gospel. Jesus is THE way. He’s not a way. He’s not the best way. Jesus is the way to God, the way to heaven, the way to forgiveness. It’s an absolute claim that Jesus makes.
The blind men and the elephant
Now that is an idea that is not popular in our postmodern world. The exclusivity of Christ. But that’s what Jesus says. That he is the one way to God. There are many who say that there are lots of ways to God.
Many like to believe that getting into heaven is about how good a person is.
There are people who treat religions like they’re all basically teaching the same things and that none is truly better or worse than another.
It reminds me of the parable of the blind men and the elephant.
In the parable, three men who are blind come up to an elephant. Each of them comes to a different part of the elephant and has a different experience of the elephant.
One man feels the trunk. It’s swings around and he feels the power in the trunk. Another man comes to the side of the elephant. It’s massive, like a wall. Another man is at the rear of the elephant. Kind of unpleasant and smelly. They all have experiences that are true but none of them has the full picture.
That’s how some treat religions. Like they all have a piece of the truth but none of them fully has the truth.
The problem with that parable is that it’s assuming that you yourself see the full elephant and have the knowledge that they don’t have the full truth.
I think the idea that all roads lead to God appeals to our modern western sensibilities. I hear people say statements like those often. That no religion is any more true than any other. You know who disagrees with that?
Other religions!
So for people who want to say that all roads lead to God impose an absolute upon all the religions of the world that they almost universally don’t teach in order to avoid saying someone is wrong.
It’s saying that you have a greater understanding of absolute reality than all the world’s religions.
I think that’s actually pretty arrogant.
It’s one thing to say what one religion teaches on a particular topic. It’s another thing to speak for all religions. Especially when it’s something that they do not teach. It’s certainly not what the Bible teaches. It’s not what the Lord Jesus teaches.
He doesn’t teach that you can go any way. Jesus is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. No one comes to the father except through him. The fact that Jesus is the truth and the life flows from Jesus being the way. Jesus is the truth. He is the ultimate revelation of God in the world.
His word is truth. Jesus is the life. He is eternal.
John 1:1-2 says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.Jesus has life in himself.
John 5:26 says that Jesus has life in himself. In John 11:25, Jesus said that he is the resurrection and the life. And Jesus is the one who gives eternal life.
Jesus says “No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Because Jesus is the way to the Father. He’s the one who fulfills the father’s will and atones for the sins of the world. Jesus has said “I and the father are one” (John 10:30). John 1:18 says that while no one has ever seen God, Jesus makes God known. Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:9). Jesus is the one to whom the Old Testament points.
A lot of these same ideas are summed up at the end of our passage in verse 7: If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
There’s no middle ground with Jesus. He didn’t intend for there to be.Either you believe he is the savior of the world who reconciles us to God or you don’t.
But you cannot believe that Jesus is the way and believe there are other ways. Because when there are other ways, Jesus’ way makes no sense.
When there are other ways, Jesus’ life and ministry makes no sense. The cross makes no sense when there are other ways. Jesus died for humanity to show us that there is no other way. Jesus is the way to God, the revealed truth of God who gives us life with God. And the response to him is to follow his way.
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Jesus and A new commandment. John 13:31-38
Passing the point of no return. No turning back. Taking the plunge. There are a number of phrases to communicate the idea of an irreversible deed. Burning bridges, which is often used to refer to employment but originates with military imagery of eliminating all options but moving forward and not looking back.
Burning boats, similar meaning, such as when Cortez burned his ships when he brought men into Mexico. You can’t unring a bell.
Fait accompli is a French phrase for “already accomplished.”
And then there’s my personal favorite: “Crossing the Rubicon.” That refers to Julius Caesar taking an army across Rome’s Rubicon River in 49 B.C. as an act of insurrection through which Caesar became emperor of the Roman Empire.
When Judas left the last supper, a point of no return had been crossed. And on the night before Jesus died, the wheels were in motion for him to be betrayed, sold out to the Sanhedrin, and brought before the Romans on trumped up charges.
And with all of that happening, and Jesus knowing what was about to happen, as he sat with – then – eleven disciples, he was instructing them to love each other.
The main idea of our passage is: Jesus taught a world who killed him how to love.
That is the beauty of the gospel.That the world was sinful, so sinful that it killed its own savior, but it is through the death or our savior, that he died so that we could have life.
This passage divides nicely into three parts: a glorified savior, our call to love each other, and Christ’s greater love for us than our love for him.
A glorified savior
John 13:31 begins: When he had gone out,
This is the departure of Judas.
He has left Jesus and the disciples and it is immediately after Judas has left that verse 31 continues: Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
So John ties together Judas moving forward in his plot against Jesus with the glorification of Jesus which would happen at the cross.
Throughout this gospel, Jesus has pointed forward to the cross, pointed forward to his hour, pointed forward to glory.
Now it’s happening.
With Judas’ departure and Jesus’ statement “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” that seems to be the official beginning of Christ’s passion in John’s Gospel. Jesus speaks about what is going to happen as if it has already happened.
No turning back.
Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. Son of Man originates in Daniel 7 when depicting a vision of a heavenly figure in the clouds. And so as the glorification of Christ begins, he states that he is the apocalyptic Son of Man figure foretold in the Old Testament.
Jesus is glorified in the cross, but in this passage, Jesus also points to God being glorified in Christ.
Jesus continues to speak of that mutual glorification in verse 32: If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.
God is glorified and he also glorifies Christ at the cross.
Glory of the world
It’s interesting to think of the things that the world glorifies. The world glorifies the beautiful, the famous, the rich.
We have accomplishments that we glorify. Great innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs. We glorify political figures and influential leaders.
We glorify moments like when a team wins a championship or a singer leads thousands of people in singing a great rock anthem at a packed arena or stadium.
Those are the glorious moments that our world has to offer.
Jesus looks to him giving up his life as the moment when he would be glorified.
There are several aspects to Christ’s glorification at the cross. Christ is glorified at the cross by living a life where he perfectly revealed God to the world.
Hebrews 1:3: He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God.
In John 17:4, when Jesus is praying he will again talk of his fidelity to God.I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
Jesus is glorified by God in being obedient to the divine plan in going to cross.
The cross is the culmination of that perfect life.
Philippians 2:8-11: being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is glorified at the cross by undoing the curse of sin upon humanity.
Romans 5:18 says: Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Jesus is glorified at the cross by dying so that people can have forgiveness in him.
Hebrews 2:9 says: Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Jesus displays glory at the cross by showing God’s love to the world.
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.If God can take humanity’s great act of wickedness and rebellion in killing its own savior, surely God really can take the worst things that happen in our lives and work those for good as well. For his ultimate glory, God works all things for good.
On the night before Christ died, the thought that the cross could be the thing which God would use for the ultimate good and blessing of humanity would have seemed impossible.
At the cross, Jesus takes the ultimate example of humiliation, and it is worked for his exaltation.
At the cross, Jesus takes an act of great sin and works it for an act of greater grace. At the cross, Jesus takes hatred and shows love.
A call to love one another
Verse 33: Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
He addresses the disciples here as “little children,” undoubtedly a term of endearment for these men.
This is a very endearing moment. Jesus is talking to a group of men with whom he had traveled for three years.
They had spent three years with the Lord of love. They had seen his glorious signs. They had seen him face opposition and turmoil. They had seen him live his life absolutely righteously and sinlessly.
He had been their friend. Their teacher. He had taught them how to truly live.
And here he is telling them that he must go and that they cannot come with him.
Twice in this gospel, once in John 7, once in John 8, Jesus is facing opposition from Jewish groups and he tells them that they will seek him but not find him.
He picks that language up again in this verse, but here, the tone is more optimistic.
In the first two instances, it serves more as a warning to come to him before it’s too late.
But the meaning is different here with his disciples. He must leave. First, in going to the cross, but even after the resurrection, his time with them will still be short and then he will have to leave to be with the Father.
It’s also interesting that Jesus says: as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you
The disciples are Jewish. But in pointing to the command that he is about to give to them, they have a newer and greater identity.
Verse 34: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
The disciples are a new community united in Christ.
And before Jesus departs, he says a new commandment I give to you.
Now, the command to love is not new.
We see it in the Old Testament. Leviticus 19:18 says: you shall love your neighbor as yourself
That command gets picked up elsewhere in the gospels, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.
So how is that given as a new commandment?
It’s a new commandment in the sense that the grounding for the command is new. Yes, there was a command to love your neighbor in the Old Testament law and as part of the Old Covenant.
But Jesus is reconstituting that commandment for his new covenant community. It’s a new command in the reason why we are to love one another.
Leviticus 19:18 says love your neighbor as yourself.
But Jesus says: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
So in the Old Testament, the golden rule is to love your neighbor as yourself, to treat others as you would like to be treated.
But Jesus calls the disciples to an even higher form of love. They’re to love each other as Christ has loved them. And the glorification on the cross shows just how high a standard that love is. That we are to have gospel love for one another.
Jesus doesn’t say “a new suggestion I give to you,” “a new virtue I give to you,” “a new idea that I give to you,” but “a new commandment I give to you.”
You cannot love God without loving his people. And a sincere love for God is meant to flow into our love for people.
The Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John wrote three other letters, and 1 John largely revolves around love within the Christian community.
1 John 4:19, John says: We love because he first loved us.
That is our command as believers in the gospel and as a church. To love one another well. It’s a high standard.
But it is meant to be a distinguishing mark of a Christian community.
Jesus told the disciples.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).”
If you want to show people that you love Christ, you need to love his people.
1 John 4:20, John says: If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Again, that is a high standard. Because not all people are equally loveable. And there can be disagreements. And there can be wounds.
So what does love for one another look like?
In the times when it’s difficult, may we remember that we have a savior who gave his life for us so we could have life in him.
Love is a complicated idea in our society.
C.S. Lewis and the 4 loves the four loves
There’s a well known book by C.S. Lewis called “the four loves” where he looks at the four Greek words for love and explores their meanings.
In some ways, I feel like that’s part of our problem in English. That we don’t have enough vocabulary to describe love.
We use the same word “love” to describe how we feel about our God, our spouses and our children that we use to talk about how we feel about our favorite restaurant, favorite team, and chocolate.
We use love to describe things we love and we use love to describe things that we enjoy. What is love?
I think we look to the love that Christ had and displayed throughout his ministry.
This list is by no means exhaustive but here are a few thoughts.
Love accepts.
Love doesn’t affirm sin. Jesus never affirms sin in the gospels. He never downplays sin and says “that’s ok, I love you.” But he always accepts. He’s always gracious.
Love sacrifices.
Jesus will say in John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus sacrificed his life. It is very rare in our society that such a love is required of us. But there are still ways we can make sacrifices. Our time, our talent and skills, our treasure.
Love is active.
Love is an action. Jesus is constantly serving people, ministering to people.
Love is forgiving.
Jesus displayed the ultimate forgiveness in going to the cross. We are called to forgive each other. To be gracious.
Ephesians 4:32 says: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
If anyone here has a history with someone with whom they have bad blood, my point isn’t that the sins of another are insignificant. But we still must work to forgive. Forgiveness comes as a cost. We see that on the cross. And when we personally forgive, that costs us something too.
Christ’s greater love for us than our love for him
So Jesus has just given this incredibly important command for the disciples to love one another and how that communicates to the world that they are his disciples.
And Peter speaks up. As we so often see in the gospels, Peter is the one who speaks up first.
13:36: Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Peter may or may not have even heard Jesus give them the command to love. All he’s focused on is when Jesus had preceded the command by saying he was going to be leaving them.
Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
Peter cannot follow Jesus because Jesus is going to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world and that is not a mission through which anyone else can join him.
But Jesus responds to Peter in giving a prophetic statement that Peter almost surely didn’t realize at the time.
Jesus said that Peter cannot follow him…now.
But you will follow afterward.
Jesus is foretelling that Peter will one day follow Jesus in martyrdom. Obviously Peter’s death was not an atoning sacrifice the way that Christ’s was. But Peter, along with most of the disciples, would give his life for the gospel.
After Jesus died and rose, he commissioned Peter to be a leader in the early Church but he also tells Peter in John 21:18: Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
But it’s not yet the time for Peter to give his life for Jesus. Indeed, Peter is not yet ready for that. But Peter doesn’t want to hear it.
Verse 37: Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Peter says he will lay down his life for Jesus. It’s easy to say the things we’ll die for when we’re not in a life and death situation. Jesus has said that it’s true that one day, Peter will.
But Jesus knows Peter better than Peter knows himself and he knows that Peter will fail him.
Verse 38: Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
I listened to a sermon recently and I forget who the preacher was but someone pointed out that after Jesus says this, in John’s gospel, Peter gets real quiet.
In chapters 14-17, Jesus will give a lot of teaching to his disciples and we hear nothing from Peter. Almost like that quiets him for a few minutes. I think that Peter’s problem here is that he’s pledging his loyalty to Jesus but he’s doing that in his own strength and capacity.
In John 18, Jesus is arrested, and we see Peter quickly there to intervene. He takes out his sword and cuts a man named Malchus. Jesus rebukes Peter for this. But after Jesus is arrested, he’s spotted and a girl questions him as being one of Jesus’ disciples. And three times, he denies being with Jesus.
But in John 13, those events were still a few hours away and it’s just Jesus and his 11 disciples.
It’s ironic.
Jesus has commanded the disciples to love each other as he loved them, knowing that he’s about to lay down his life for them.
Peter speaks up about being loyal to Christ to the point of death when he will ultimately deny Christ when under duress.
Jesus has called the disciples to love each other as he loves them while exposing the imperfections of their love for Christ.
It’s a high standard. Because we fail.
We don’t love people as Christ loved us because Christ loves us with a perfect love. And we don’t love Jesus as much as he loves us.
There’s obviously no way for us to know what was in the heart of Peter when he stood up and made this pledge. But I believe that Peter really believed what he was saying there. In that moment, he was sincere.
But it was also a moment or pride.
We have a savior who knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows who we truly are. He knows our sins. He knows the darkness of our own hearts and lives. He knows our pride. But he loves us anyway.
And so instead of beating our chest, and talking about how great we are at loving each other, how great we are at loving Christ, we should look to Christ’s example and learn from him.
And we should know that we were not made to have this love in our own strength.
In Galatians 5, Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. It’s the work that the Holy Spirit produces in the life of a genuine believer.
The first of those fruits: love.
We don’t love him perfectly, but he loves us perfectly. The good news of the gospel is that we are not saved by the intensity of our love for Christ, but based on the loving savior who loves and forgives us.
Christ’s grace is stronger than our love. But we are called to love the savior who gives us life and who forgives us of our sins.
Loving one another as Christ loved us.
Like Peter at the Last Supper standing up and proclaiming that he would die for Jesus.
With love, it can be very easy to talk about love, but actually showing love, being loving, loving people who are hard to love, can be very difficult.
And while there is grace when we struggle, let us never have a nonchalant attitude about love. Love is not a Spiritual gift. It’s a Christian command. And more than anything else, it’s what shows the world that we love the Lord.
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