I will not leave you orphans; I will come to 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 14:18-31 

 

This week the lectionary gives us Christ's Farewell Discourse 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 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 said 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 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."  Here is Christ's assurance of His continued presence to His disciples, especially in the presence of the Spirit of truth, which He has just assured them is the Helper who will be sent from the Father.

 

 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me.  Because I live, you will live also."  My study Bible explains 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.  

 

"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."  That day is a reference to Pentecost (Acts 2).  My study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom, who 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."  Once again, we review that the Helper is the Holy Spirit.  The word Helper is translated from the Greek Παρακλητος/Paracletos, often rendered Paraclete.  This title literally means "One who comes to one's side when called" indicating someone assisting in defense at trial.  The title can also mean "Comforter," "Counselor," and "Advocate."  My study Bible comments that we have confidence in the apostle's doctrine (Acts 2:42) because the Holy Spirit is their Teacher.  He brings to remembrance not only Christ's words, but also their meaning.  It 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. Irenaeus is quoted, who comments, "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 of both greeting and farewell, my study Bible comments.  It says that perfect peace is brought by Christ, who reconciles humanity to God (Ephesians 2:14).  Peace is also part of the traditional greeting of Christians to one another (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."  My study Bible explains that when Jesus says, "My Father is greater than I" it does not mean that the Father is greater in nature or in essence, for the Father and the Son share one divine nature.  Neither does this indicate that the Son is created, for the Son is begotten from all eternity ("In the beginning was the Word" - John 1:1).  Instead, Jesus is indicating that the Father, as the Fountainhead of the Trinity, is the eternal cause of the Son.  

 

 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe."  Before it comes is a reference to Christ's Passion.  This Farewell Discourse at the Last Supper takes place just prior to Christ's betrayal and arrest.  My study Bible comments that telling these events beforehand strengthened the faith of the disciples.  

 

"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; my study Bible explains that the devil dominates the realm of those who do not love Christ or keep His commandments.  Moreover, my study Bible adds Jesus says that the devil "has nothing in Me" because there can be no compromise between Christ or His followers and the devil.  Christ became Man, but He was never stained with sin.  

 

"Arise, let us go from here."  My study Bible says that Christ takes His disciples to another room or location to complete His discourse in order to gain their undivided attention.  In the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, it is suggested that their current location was susceptible to intrusions, and the disciples were likely to be distracted from fear.  Therefore we may conclude that Christ is taking them to a more private place in order to further instruct them and continue His discourse.

 

 Today's passage begins with this statement by Jesus to His disciples:    "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you."  He is going away, and He is reassuring them that they will not be left alone.  He will return to them.  This statement is profound in all of its implications of the reality that is to come, and in what it teaches us about transitions and changes in life, and God's terms for the transformation of life in God's spiritual purview.   What this means is that the substance of Christ's teachings to them about what is to come -- after what will transpire at His Passion, death, and Resurrection -- exists within these words.  "I will not leave you orphans" tells us once again, in yet another form, of the relationship between Christ and those who are His disciples.  It is that of a family.  In this case, Christ speaks of Himself as Father to all of them, and by extension to all of His disciples, to those faithful who will come into the world, up until the present day, and into the future for as long as the Church exists, and until His final return at the Second Coming.  "Orphans" speak to us of those who are fatherless, without protection, grieving, comfortless, vulnerable, and abandoned.  It conjures for us, as it is meant to in Christ's compassion, the greatest fears of human beings, for He indeed understands the hearts and minds of His followers found in these His disciples, and all those to come.  Christ speaks of abandonment and the pain of loss in this world that we know.  But the comfort comes in that He says He will not leave them this way, and adds with commitment, "I will come to you."  The whole of His discourse, as we have read until now, is all about the ways in which He will return to them, He will come to them.  He will come in the sending of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Comforter and Helper.  That is, the One who will come to our sides when we call, and perhaps more to the point, the One "whom the Father will send in My name," the One who "will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you."  Christ will be present to them -- and to us in the Holy Spirit, and in so many ways described here.  He, the Holy Spirit, is the One who will bring Christ's presence to us in all the ways we need Him to be with us, to guide us and teach us, to show us His way (in His name), and who can bring all things to remembrance that Christ has said, to teach us meaning and purpose and even application in our own lives.  Jesus tells them, "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."  This is a solemn promise, a commitment, a covenant that those who love Him -- which is shown by keeping His commandments, His words, has a depth of communion with both Christ and the Father.  The Holy Spirit makes all of this possible through the functions Jesus names here in this passage.  Moreover, Jesus teaches them, and us, "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."  This is the promise in Him that He will not leave them or us parentless; He will come to us, albeit in ways different from His work and ministry as the human Jesus, Christ Incarnate.  But in His communion with us, in all the ways He will be present to us and with us, he gives us His peace.  And what He can give is given as no one else can give, as the world cannot give.  This is a peace found in our souls and spirits, in the depth of this relationship that becomes a part of us, in our communion with Him.  As we read further in His discourse, Jesus will be giving us more fullness in terms of the meaning of that communion.  Let us continue to read in the spirit of the peace He gives, and the confidence of our trust in the One who does not leave us orphans, but comes to us through so many ways.