But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you

 

 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone 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.  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.

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.  And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.  I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."

 

- John 14:15–31 

 

 We are currently reading through what is known as the Farewell Discourse in John's Gospel.  It is Jesus' final teachings to the disciples at the Last Supper.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught:   "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father's house there are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  And where I go you know, and the way you know."  Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"  Jesus aid to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."  Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."  Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?  The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.  Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the My Father.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

 

 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.  I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."  In the Greek, the word translated as Helper is parakletos/παράκλητος, sometimes used in English as Paraclete.  My study bible tells us that Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit.  This title can also mean "Comforter," "Counselor," and "Advocate."  Literally it means one who comes when called; it was commonly used as Advocate in the sense of legal representation or one who can present evidence in court to assist.  The Spirit of Truth is in each believer, my study bible says, and we are called to know Him.  The Holy Spirit prays in us and for us when we do not know how to pray.  He enables us to pray in Christ's name (John 14:13-15; Romans 8:26) and gives us words of witness when we speak the gospel (Mark 13:11). 

 

 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also.  At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.  He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone 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.  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."  My study bible comments here that the brief separation of Jesus from the disciples at His death will lead to a deeper mystical union after the Resurrection, and to the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  When Jesus says, "At that day . . . ," He is referring to Pentecost.  St. John Chrysostom comments that it is "the power of the Holy Spirit that taught them all things."

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."  Again, Jesus refers to the Helper, and calls Him by name the Holy Spirit.  My study bible comments that we have confidence in the apostles' doctrine (Acts 2:42) because the Holy Spirit is their Teacher.  The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance not only the words of Christ, but also their meaning.  My study bible adds that we have confidence in the Church because the Holy Spirit is our Instructor as well from Pentecost until today, leading us into all truth (John 16:13).  St. Ireneaus teaches, "Where the Church is, there is the Holy Spirit and the fullness of grace."

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."  Peace was the customary Jewish word both for greeting and for farewell.  Perfect peace, my study bible teaches, is brought by Christ, who reconciles humanity to God (Ephesians 2:14).  Peace is also part of the traditional greeting of Christians to each other (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3).  The greeting "Peace be to all" is offered many times during the liturgical services of the Church.

"You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.'  If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I."  Here is an important distinction regarding the relationship and unity between Father and Son.  My study bible explains that Christ's words, "My Father is greater than I" do not mean that the Father is greater in nature or essence, as the Father and the Son share one divine nature.  Neither does it mean that the Son is created, for, as we say in the Creed, the Son is begotten from all eternity.  Instead, we are to understand it as meaning that the Father, as the Fountainhead of the Trinity, is the eternal cause of the Son.  If this seems confusing, it is due to the disparity of language to include a functional understanding that regarding the Holy Trinity, we attempt to describe events that took place outside of time.

"And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe."  Jesus is referring to His Passion when He tells the apostles that He has told them before it comes.  Telling them these events beforehand strengthened their faith. 

"I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.  But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do."  The ruler of this world is the devil, whom my study bible says dominates the realm of those who do not love Christ or keep His commandments.  It adds that Jesus says the devil has nothing in Me because there can be no compromise between Christ or His followers and the devil.  Jesus became Man, but was never stained with sin.  

 

 "Arise, let us go from here."  My study bible comments that Christ takes His disciples to another room or location to complete His discourse in order to gain their undivided attention.  According to St. John Chrysostom, their current location was susceptible to intrusions, and the disciples were likely to be distracted from fear. 

 

There are many ways in which today's reading serves to give us a setting of life as a contest, to teach us that we are in an arena of some kind, as in the ancient athletic contests.  Certainly this image has been given us throughout the history of the Church, and in St. Paul's letters as well, such as when he refers to himself as in an athletic contest by saying, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7).  But the setting for the contest Jesus describes is more than simply physical.  We are given the language of the courtroom, in which there is a contest of sides before a judge.  As Christians who seek to live in a peaceful society, we often find ourselves in a place where peace seems to mean an absence of contest.  But in today's reading, we're given a clear framework which Christ expresses as contest.  My study bible comments that Christ's blessing of peace:  "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.  Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" -- is not simply a benign wish or gift to those with faith.  It conveys, rather, that perfect peace is brought by Christ, because He reconciles humanity to God (Ephesians 2:14).  In this peace, therefore, is not a mere absence of struggle, but a culmination of the struggle in reconciliation to God, the ultimate Judge.  This means that true peace is the victory of God, and that we must come to understand a contest or struggle through a different lens than a purely material or worldly one.  Clearly there is a courtroom setting applied in the word used for the Holy Spirit, translated as Helper, as this word is also the one commonly used for advocate, one who can make a good judgment call, present evidence in court.  This sense is augmented in passages where Christ warns the disciples of persecutions to come, but teaches us not to worry about what we will say, as "the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say" (Luke 12:12).  But perhaps nowhere is "contest" more evident than when Jesus says, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me."   My study bible comments that Jesus says the devil has nothing in Me because there can be no compromise between Christ or His followers and the devil.  But I am also reminded of the event that defines the preparation for Christ's public ministry, in which Christ was "thrown out" by the Holy Spirit (as Mark 1:12 literally reads) into the wilderness to face the varied temptations by the devil, immediately after His Baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist.  In that contest of temptations in the wilderness, Jesus truly asserts that the ruler of this world has "nothing in Me," for He resists all the temptations put before Him.  There is no successful "hook" that can be used to catch Him and make Him stumble or lure Him in.  And this is where our contest comes in, where we can begin to understand what it means when Jesus teaches us that we must take up our own crosses in life and follow Him.  Because when we understand life as a kind of athletic struggle or contest, or possibly a courtroom in which we're called to testify, to stand before a Judge, with a Helper or Advocate on the side, we might understand better just exactly what it is that our faith calls us into.  Whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, there is a contest going on, and we are at once engaged in it, because we human beings are the ground for which darkness and light -- in the language of John's Gospel -- cast their claims.  It is in the ground of the heart, mind, spirit, and strength within us that this contest takes place (see Matthew 22:37-40).  Our peace is with the One who loves us, and we contend against the one who wants to sell us a false bill of goods, a "bait-and-switch."  The One who loves us tells us the truth, and the Holy Spirit is also called here "the Spirit of truth," who will come to dwell with us and live in us.  In the Orthodox tradition, all services begin with a Prayer to the Holy Spirit (found at the top of this page).   It is when we forget that we are, indeed, in a contest, that we are likely to be caught up in something that -- like the temptations faced by Jesus -- sounds good, but really isn't.   Let us carefully read the words of Christ in today's reading; they are His farewell given to the disciples at the command of the Father, and they are His gift to us.  Let us not forget the only true place to find our peace, and to contend for that peace.   We do so by keeping His commandments, for which we are given abundant help.