It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you

 "These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you. 

"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged.  I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."

- John 16:1-15

We are reading through Jesus' Farewell Discourse to the disciples.  Yesterday, we read that He said to them, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.  If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'  But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

"These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble.  They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.  And these things they will do to you because they have not known the Father nor Me.  But these things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them.  And these things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you."  The ironic twist in this discourse:  Jesus has just finished teaching, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  And here, we are given something else:  they will in turn receive such hatred from the world that "whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."    They have known His love.  They are to share His love with one another.  But they will know hatred from the world.  He is preparing them for the irrational injustice of "the world" that hates Him without cause, and so, in turn, will hate them.

"But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, 'Where are You going?'  But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart."  My study bible says that "sorrow here means 'extreme grief leading to despondency or despair,' which is a sinful passion." "Great is the tyranny of despondency," writes John Chrysostom.  My study bible also refers us to the writings of the Desert Fathers which constantly refer to this sin.  It notes, "When the world persecutes the believer or when God seems to be absent, Christians are called to fight against this despondency, taking comfort from the presence of the Holy Spirit."

"Nevertheless I tell you the truth.  It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged."  My study bible says that through the illumination brought by the Holy Spirit, the world will be convicted - that is, proven wrong.  It will be convicted concerning:  (1) its sin, the ultimate of which, says my study bible, is denying Jesus Christ; (2) righteousness, which it failed to accept from Christ with faith and thanksgiving; and (3) judgment, "for all who reject Christ will receive the same penalty that Satan, the ruler of this world, has already received (see Matthew 25:41)."

"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.  He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.  All things that the Father has are Mine.  Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you."  My study bible tells us that because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and because this Spirit abides in the Church, the Church is the guardian of all truth.    What we are promised here is an abiding relationship of intimacy with Christ; His disciples are being told that despite what is to come, the hatred and the persecution that they will face, and the Passion and death He will endure, it is better if He goes, for the Holy Spirit will come to them and give them enlightenment and wisdom -- all that He has -- and declare it to them, and to us.

The Church, as my study bible refers to it, in today's context becomes something much, much more than an "institution."  It becomes something more than the great division we see in the world of all kinds of denominations, theologies, and ideas.  The Church here is the Body of Christ.  The Church is a living reality that is in and of the Holy Spirit.  It is, in some sense, created by Pentecost -- or rather, it is the Spirit which breathes in and through the Church.  The Church is a living reality, not merely a set of buildings or hierarchies or whatever other collective way we wish to think of it or characterize it.  Of course, it is not "only" the Spirit, but where any Person of the Trinity is present, all the Trinity is present.  Thereby the Spirit that Jesus speaks about, who will be sent upon His departure or exodus from this world, is the One who will bring "all things" and "all truth."  The Father and Son will be made present through the sending of the Spirit.  This is an unlimited and open-ended promise, the way I read it.  It is simply incalculable to try to note down or discern or make a list of what it is the Spirit will offer to the world.  How can we limit or measure the promises of "all truth" and of "things to come"?  It is simply not possible.  Nor can we limit the scope of what those things encompass.  And there is more:  "When He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:  of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged."  The Spirit also brings conviction:  of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.  These things, it seems to me, depend upon how we respond to this Spirit.  Do we accept His gifts?  Are we willing to find His breath, His voice?  Do we have ears to hear and eyes to see?  Do we discern?  This is the great challenge, the test, of this period in which we live, after Christ's Ascension, after the Passion, after His death on the Cross.  It is the Spirit that will lead us to all truth, to His voice in which He calls us by name as His sheep.  There's a beautiful Orthodox prayer to the Holy Spirit.  It begins every liturgical service.  It gives us names for the Spirit that help us to define the Spirit's life in us and in the Church:  "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of truth, who is everywhere present and filling all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all stain, and save us, O Good One."   In the midst of the world's irrational hatred for the Good, let us remember we are to call upon the Spirit.  Instead of despair, let us call on this Treasury of Blessings and giver of all good things.  We don't know what the Spirit can give us or introduce into our lives.  There are no limits set on the promises of Jesus here, and we don't know what it means to be told of "things to come."  This great abundance is God's love at work in the world, a love that may be rejected by some -- even by the "ruler of this world" -- but which we, nevertheless, are to be attuned to.  Even if it leads us to places in which we are persecuted for our faith in this love, in this Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit.  In this same "breath," in these same verses in today's reading, Jesus promises us all these things:  persecution and irrational hatred, a judgment and conviction at work in our time, and blessings too immeasurable for us to fathom.  A treasury of blessings!   A note must be made today that the words, "The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service," ring true for many brothers and sisters around the world.  Please pray for them, and for all of us. 

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you

 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."

- John 15:12-27

We are currently reading through Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His disciples.  Yesterday, we read that He told them, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

 "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  So essential is this commandment that this is the second time Jesus is giving it.  The first time was at 13:34.  My study bible repeats what it noted at that first occasion of the giving of this commandment:  that Jesus isn't speaking in theories or philosophy here.  The bar is raised high for us:  we are to love one another as He loved us.  That includes the fact that out of love, He laid down His life for His friends -- and even for His enemies.  We have a "living love" example to fulfill.

"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another."  My study bible teaches here that friendship is higher than servanthood.  A servant obeys a master out of fear or a sense of duty.  But friends obey out of love and an internal desire to do what is good and right.  It says, "Abraham was called a 'friend of God' (James 2:23) because he obeyed God out of the belief of his heart.  The disciples, and indeed all the saints, are honored as friends of Christ because they freely obey His commandments out of love.  Those who have this spirit of loving obedience are open to receive and understand the revelations of the Father."  There is, one may add, a kind of respect that comes out of love; it has to do with the acknowledgement of the "personhood" of the other, a way to affirm the boundaries of honoring another person and what is best for and in them.

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love its own.  Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.  If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.  He who hates Me hates My Father also.  If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.  But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, 'They hated Me without a cause.'"  My study bible points out that in Scripture, the term world is used in several distinct ways:  "In some cases, it refers to all that is glorious, beautiful, and redeemable in God's creation (3:16).  Other times, it refers to that which is finite in contrast to that which is eternal (11:9; 18:36).  In still other instances, as here, it indicates all that is in rebellion against God (see also 8:23)."   This rebellion, it says, reveals several things:  "(1)  While union with Christ brings love, truth, and peace, it will also bring persecution, because the world (in these terms) hates love and truth (v. 19).  (2)  The world hated Christ; therefore, it will try to hate all who try to be Christlike (v. 20).  (3)  The world hates Christ because it neither knows nor desires to know the Father (vv. 21-24).  (4)  Hatred for Jesus Christ is irrational and unreasonable, for Christ brings love and mercy; thus Christ is hated without a cause (v. 25)."  For "They hated Me without a cause" see also Psalm 69:4.   Another way to understand how the world is referred to here is through Jesus' earlier remark, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" (14:30).

"But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me.  And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning."  My study bible tells us that with respect to the working of God's salvation in the world, the Son sends the Holy Spirit from the Father.  But lest the Holy Spirit be diminished as Person of the Trinity, it is understood that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father (as the Son was begotten of the Father).  Eternal existence and shared essence is conveyed through the origin in the Father.  The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (that which was formed at the first two Ecumenical Councils of the Church) confesses belief "in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father."  

What are we to make of today's reading?  First of all, we note the direct and plain, bold talk of love.  Again, He gives the commandment:  Love one another as I have loved you.  This is not only emphatic for the double reminder we've been given so far in John's Gospel, but is also non-negotiable.  It is the new commandment.  And, here's the next part that makes us have to think and stretch our minds a little:  If we love Him, we will keep His commandments.  Love is an inescapable, irreducible reality of the presence of God, of our faith, and of its working in us.  It defines what God is, as John's Epistle will teach (1 John 4:8).  But this is not a master commanding slaves or servants.  It's a friend who speaks to us, a friend who has already given the greatest love possible before He's asked anything of us:  "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends."    This is a proactive love!  Those who will return it are the ones who are His, who hear His voice and whom He calls by name.  It's important to make that association of being called by name, because here Jesus makes it clear that this proactive love that He lives is one through which He chooses His friends, His disciples (or learners from the true root of the word).  And then, again, there is the third iteration here:  "These things I command you, that you love one another."    So, how often do we fail at this commandment?  How many ways can we ask ourselves that question?  He's given us this command three times so far in this Gospel.  Three times.  And there's more to this than simply the command.  We're to love one another as He's loved us, even as the world will hate us.  It's hated Him, and He will die because of it -- but even in a world that will rebel against God by "hating" those who love God, we are to remain steadfast in His commandments and therefore particularly so in this one we're given three times, explicitly:  "Love one another as I have loved you."  He sets the standard, He sets the bar.  He teaches us what that means by living a life of proactive love.  He's taught us in the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke's Gospel what it is to truly be a neighbor.   But for those who love Him, we remember to love one another as He's loved us.  Love, in Christ's example, doesn't only involve all the sacrifices we may be called to because of this love for God (who teaches us to love one another).  Love doesn't even mean only doing to one another as we'd have others do to us.  That's not quite complete.  Love also means following the true Good, what is best.  Love might mean teaching us to make proper sacrifices even when they're painful.  Love means showing the way, even when we don't want to go that way.  Love means, perhaps, a necessary rebuke.  But it's in how this happens that we really learn love.   Love means repentance and responsibility, and knowing what's in ourselves, even sacrificing what might seem like giving up a hand, an eye, a foot if it is poisoning the rest of us (Matthew 18:8-9; see also Matthew 5:27-30).  But it also means forgiveness, a forgiveness up to seventy times seven, a euphemism for an infinite, uncountable number.  Love is a proactive attitude that wants what's best for oneself and for others in the knowledge that it is God who leads us to that "best" and who teaches also how to love.  And this is the great mission of Christ, that He spreads to us as His friends who are chosen to bear fruit for this Gospel.  Let us think about how we can live His way for us.  He is the path, He is the door.  He is the love He commands us to be.  Even when the world may hate what that love really is.

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love

 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.  If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."

- John 15:1-11

Yesterday, we continued reading Jesus' Farewell Discourse to His disciples.  He said, "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."

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.  Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."  My study bible explains that the vine is a symbol of Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 2:21).  It says, "In contrast to disobedient and unfruitful Israel" [see the verses of Isaiah and Jeremiah just cited], "our Lord calls Himself the true vine, which together with the branches constitutes a new and fruitful people of God:  the Church.  At the Divine Liturgy, the bishop prays that the Lord will visit and confirm the vineyard, the local body of Christ, which He planted with His own right hand (Psalm 80:15-16).  To abide in this vine is to abide in Christ and His Church.  The figure of the vine and the branches shows (1) our union with Christ is intimate and real; (2) life flows form the vine to the branches -- abiding in Christ is dynamic and vitalizing; and (3) the fruit we bear is both good works and mission (v. 16,  17:18).

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.  If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  My study bible tells us:  "One cannot love God and disobey His commandments.  To love God is to obey Him (14:15)."

Thinking today upon this discourse (which is really all about love), there are first two verses that stand out for me.  One was in yesterday's reading, and the other is in today's.  Yesterday, we read that Jesus taught, "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."  And today, we read that Jesus says, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  These are huge things to think about.  While Jesus is preparing them for His departure, His exodus, He gives them two great gifts, in addition to this Farewell Discourse which exemplifies our understanding in so many ways that God is love.  He leaves them with peace -- and gives to them "not as the world gives" and He leaves them His joy, that it may remain in them and that their joy may be full.  If we have no other gifts from our faith but these, how can we not rejoice in the life of abundance in which we are blessed by Him, even as we live our lives in this world?  Salvation isn't only about what happens when you die, according to my way of thinking.  Salvation, in this image Christ gives us, is something that happens every single day, and it includes all of the life in abundance He promises.  It includes the life that is everlasting, which death can't put a stop to.  But all of this is every day in the life of faith.  Death comes in so many forms to us:  from sickness and ill health to so many other things that limit and destroy joy and peace.  Whether we are talking about the lies and torture of the world, to its selfishness, to the things that deaden hope, all of these things are forms of death we can think about.  All evil is in some sense a form of death, and is exemplified or characterized by death.  But Christ leaves us with these great gifts of tremendous abundance:  His peace and His joy.  They can serve us when all circumstances point to the idea that we can't enjoy them or have them.   But this limiting perspective (that we have no reason to feel peace or joy in our lives) is yet another form of death, a lie, like its father.  These gifts of love (for that is surely what they are, Christ's peace and joy are gifts of love He gives to us) are gifts that are of life itself.  They keep on giving.  They give of themselves; that is, they transcend our circumstances.  He tells us that He gives "not as the world gives."  These things, these gifts, don't run out.  They can't really be measured like we measure everything and anything else.  They're not a quid pro quo.  He's not asking for anything else from us but one thing:  our faith, our trust in Him.  That's it.  He does the rest.  He gives the rest -- not as the world gives, He gives to us.  Peace, and joy.  Think about that.  What can the gifts of peace and joy accomplish in your life?  What can they do for you when everything looks down or bleak?  How do peace and joy help us to transcend what we go through, to see a better way, to put faith in the future or in changes we might be asked to make?  Christ Himself is going to His death, His human death -- the ultimate sacrifice He makes for the love of us and of God the Father.  He is telling us something by being lifted up upon that Cross.  He is leading us somewhere, not "leaving us orphans," as He said in yesterday's reading.  He will give up everything for love of us, and for the life that God the Father gives Him, for the life that will then be coming to us even if He is not present as Jesus in the world.  Peace and joy are in this liberating knowledge that this sacrifice is voluntary and meaningful.  Peace and joy are in the knowledge that we, too, are asked to follow Him to our own cross, whatever God asks of us to give up in life, in order to find that abundance of love and life that we may share with others.  The gifts of peace and joy are things that are not measured like the world measures, not given like the world gives.  They are free gifts of grace and they command us to pay attention to what is on offer here, and to what His commandments are for.  His love is for peace and joy, for gifts that are inexhaustible, and to hold us in His and the Father's love.  Moreover He goes to the Father that He may send to us the Spirit, Who is, as an Orthodox prayer says, the "treasury of blessings and giver of good things."  Let us remember that we are held in His love, and that we are to abide in Him.  If we love Him, we will keep His commandments.  We will find that place in which to dwell and in which Father and Son dwell in us.

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

 "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

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 you 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."   The word here that is translated as Helper is parakletos/παρακλετος in the Greek, and refers to the Holy Spirit.  My study bible says that this title also means "Comforter," "Counselor," and "Advocate."  Parakletos can literally be translated "the one who comes (by one's side) when called."   Some say also it means one who is close enough to make a good judgment call (on one's behalf).  It was the regular New Testament time word for an advocate or attorney; i.e. someone who pleads one's case, an intercessor.   My study bible notes, "The Spirit of truth is in each believer, and we are called to know Him.  The Holy Spirit prays in us and for us when we do not know how to pray, enabling us to pray in Christ's name (14:13-14; Romans 8:26) and giving us words of witness when we speak of the gospel (Mark 13:11)."

"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."  My study bible tells us that Jesus is saying the brief separation from His 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 suggests to us that the life He promises (life in abundance) will live in them.

"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."  Here is a promise of a union of life that encompasses human beings, believers and disciples.  My study bible says that day refers to Pentecost.  St. John Chrysostom notes it is "the power of the Holy Spirit that taught them all things."   This is a promise of union between Trinity and human beings, an unbreakable connection, "which the gates of Hades shall not overcome."  This union of which Jesus speaks so eloquently and beautifully is no longer a unity of belief alone, but of love.  There is no talk merely of faith, and in following His words and keeping His commands there is not a statement of duty, nor is there a statement merely of assent or belief; Jesus says, "If anyone loves 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."  My study bible says here, "We have confidence in the apostles' doctrine (Acts 2:42) because the Holy Spirit is their Teacher; He brings to remembrance not only Christ's words, but also their meaning.  We have confidence in the Church because the Holy Spirit is our Instructor as well from Pentecost until today, leading us into all truth (16:13). "  St. Irenaeus is quoted here, who says, "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."  My study bible points out that Peace was the customary Jewish word of both greeting and farewell.  A note says, "Perfect peace is brought by Christ, who reconciles humanity to God (Ephesians 2:14).  Peace is part of the traditional greeting of Christians to each other (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3), and the greeting 'Peace 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 reminds us that the statement "My Father is greater than I" does not mean the Father is greater in nature of essence, because Father and Son share the same divine nature.  It neither means that the Son is created, for the Son is begotten from all eternity.  Instead, what it means is that the Father, as Fountainhead of the Trinity, is the eternal cause of the Son (and of all things).

"And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe."  Before it comes refers to the Passion that is about to begin:  Christ's arrest, trial, suffering, and death on the Cross.  He is (yet again) preparing them for what is to come, in so doing He is strengthening 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."   My study bible explains that "the ruler of this world is the devil, who dominates the realm of those who do not love Christ or keep His commandments.  Jesus said that 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."  It strikes me that "he has nothing in Me" also means that Christ goes to His trial and testing with faith, confidence.  He will be presented with a great cataclysm of evil in so many ways (even both Jewish and Roman law and norms of the time will be countervailed and broken), but through it all, it is His mission of saving and serving the Father that will prevail fully in Him.

"Arise, let us go from here."  My study bible explains here that Christ takes His disciples to another room or location to complete this discourse (called the Farewell 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."

In this Farewell Discourse, we are given the great strengths, in so many statements, of the theology of Christ, the understanding of the Church, our knowledge of who and what He is, and how we worship and live in relationship to Him.  Above all, what we see here is the teaching that tells us that the unity of the faith is based in love, and the entirety of this ministry is to take us to this point.  All along, He has prepared the disciples for what is coming in His Passion, framing it in the language of love.  His suffering and death will be for the love of those whom He serves in His saving mission.  That is our bottom line, it is the unpinning that scores everything we know about Christ and His Incarnation as the human Jesus.  The Son of Man came to save, and in so doing He serves the Father -- because it is the Father who has given the Son "for God so loved the world."  Jesus' basis all along for all commandments and teaches has been an expression of love.  This expression of love finds its full fruit in the teachings in this Farewell Discourse.  That He is in the Father and the Father in Him, that both will come and dwell and make their home within us if we love Him -- that these teachings and words of Christ come from the Father and will all be recalled and given to us by the Spirit -- all of this is an embracing relationship of love within an entire cosmos of Creation, and includes each one of us creatures individually in all uniqueness.  This kind of love is only possible from the Deity, which exists outside of all time and space and permeates all layers of Creation.  It is a love that is at once within us and surrounds us, it is a precursor and cause of our lives, it is eternal in its embrace; it embraces us in love as Body of Christ and as each individual shape, and knows us each by name -- meaning thoroughly in our hearts, and our personae.  Christ is Good Shepherd, but also parent who will "not leave us orphans."  This is relationship of love that is deeper than anything else that we can experience; it knows us more deeply and it loves us more deeply.  We are guaranteed a Shepherd and a Comforter, a Helper who pleads for us, and that even God the Father also dwells in us.  This is deeply related to our essence as human beings, as persons.  Like Father, Son, and Spirit are Persons, so we are made in their image:  there is much, much more to being a human being than just atoms and molecules and genetic codes, and the mystery of the reality of persona and of "the heart" is as deep as the unfathomable mysteries of God.  For this, we go to the One who knows and loves us better than we can know and love ourselves.  We go to the One who teaches us love beyond boundaries we learn in this world, so that we may share that love with others and grow in its understanding and knowledge and capacity to express and to experience it as we "follow Him" on this road.  He is the way, the truth, and the life we need for this kind of life abundantly.  His is the peace we need.

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

 "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 you 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."

- John 14:1-14

On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught, "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.  You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."  Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?"  Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."  Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?  I will lay down my life for Your sake."  Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?  Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."

 "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."  My study bible says that "many mansions is a word-picture of an abundance of living accommodations around a central courtyard.  Mansions also speak of the multitude of blessings that await those who enter the Kingdom of God."  He's speaking to His disciples here, giving them His parting words in His worldly ministry.  The word translated as "mansions" -- as my study bible has indicated -- also speaks of individual dwellings or rooms, also translated as "abode" or "home" several verses later ("We will come unto him and make our above with him" - John 14:23, KJV).

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."  Of I am the way, the truth, and the life, my study bible tells us that the way to reach the Father is forever established in both the Person and the work of the Son.  Christ (the Son) is the truth because He is the unique revelation of the Father.  He is the life who became Man so that we may have life -- and because He is our life, not even death can hinder us from coming to Him!  My study bible says, "Only in Christ can one come to know the Father, for only in Christ is the way of all truth and all life found."   His clear statement here is that in Him we have a revelation of the Father.

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 you can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"  A comment in my study bible tells us that our response to Christ determines our relationship with the Father.  If we reject Christ then we will never find the Father; but if we believe in Christ and follow Him, then we ourselves will become "children of God," living eternally in the love of the Father (see John 1:12).   But again, the emphasis here is that Christ is the revelation of the Father.   We are not only given the Son in this living ministry; we are given 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."  My study bible says that "while human beings are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26), the Incarnate Son is Himself the exact image of the Father (Colossians 1:15)."  It tells us that Christ did not say, "I am the Father," for He is not.   "Rather, He declares that He and the Father are one in essence and undivided in nature while being distinct Persons in the Godhead."

"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."   A note says that the greater works Jesus refers to indicate that Christ's working through human beings after Pentecost is greater than His direct performance of signs and wonders in His worldly ministry.  It says, "These works, attested to in the book of Acts, include spreading the gospel throughout the world, miraculous healings, and raising the dead."  I think also we cannot exclude the power of faith that works in those who "haven't seen Him" in the flesh, and yet serve in unique ways to spread His light into the world -- the work of the Spirit in us is infinite and boundless, with capabilities as myriad as the human beings who may follow in all the centuries after Christ's earthly ministry.

"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."   My study bible says that to pray in Christ's name doesn't mean to just attach the phrase "in Jesus' name we pray" to the end of prayers.  To pray in Christ's name means to pray according to His will.  It says, "Just as an emissary of a king can only be said to be speaking in the king's name if he says what the king would want him to say, so also we can only be praying in the name of Christ when we pray according to what He wants.  The purpose here is not to get God to do our will, but for us to learn to pray properly, according to God's will (Matthew 6:10)."

We read many interesting things in today's passage, important statements of theology, of our faith, that we put all our stock into.  If we've seen Christ, we've seen the Father.  He is a revelation of God the Father; His living ministry is expressing the Father in the world.  He remains the Son, but His works are done with the power of the Father, and the words He teaches are the words given by the Father.  He is the way, the truth, and the life.  And He will join His Father where "many mansions" are prepared that we may dwell with them.  Everything is so that "where I am, there you may be also."   "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."  Every verse in today's reading becomes an essential part of the faith of the Body of Christ, the Church.  Each one is important and powerful.  But overall there is one message here that rings through every phrase, and that is a message of love.  Jesus says, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me."  It is a statement about identity, but much, much more; it's a statement about relationship, and the depth of bond between Son and Father.  But it's not just a lofty declaration that Jesus is making here to hammer a point home about His position in the universe as Son!  This statement is made for the benefit of the disciples and those who will follow in faith.  It is made not so that we understand only that the Son and Father are deeply entwined so that we see one in the other, via His earthly ministry.  It is a statement about our inclusion in this relationship, that Father and Son are also deeply concerned with us, our future, our welfare, our understanding, our own enlightenment, illumination.  He goes to prepare a place for us.   And this word translated as mansion, dwelling, abode, home -- it's a word that tells us there are places for each one of us.  This isn't a collective "home" -- it's a home with multiple individual permanent places for each one of us in it.  The Body of Christ isn't just a group; it's a structure of love.  It's a community of inter-relatedness that is determined by God who is love:  by the One who teaches the inseparability of each Person -- and each person.  And that's where we really start if we're going to understand Christ and what He's teaching.  The words of revelation here are astounding.  They are enough so that He will be called a blasphemer and sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin, given over to Pilate on trumped up charges of declaring Himself king with a sort of empire to build in a worldly sense.  But these inflammatory, amazing words are given to us with one full theme that runs through all of them, and it's a theme of total love, and inclusion.  It's a theme that says to us that we're not separate from God, either -- that through Him we are also inextricably linked with the Father (as we will be with Spirit), that we are held in a bond of love that goes through and in everything, if we but have the faith to which He calls us.  That's what we take home with us, even if we can't conceptualize what it is to be God the Father or the Son, or we haven't seen the many mansions of heaven, or we don't know ultimately all truth, or all ways, or the greatest heights of what it is to have life.  We are with Him, we are with the Father -- and in tomorrow's reading He will teach us that the two of them (Father and Son) may make their abode in us.  How truly awe-some can that possibly be?  Let us consider that we are not alone in our faith, that our faith connects us in and through everything.  Let us look to His words, to the light, to the revelation of the Father as the loving Person Jesus is in His ministry.  He came for each one of us, and we must consider the abode He offers, in a great mansion among those who know love.

Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward

"Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.  You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?"  Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."  Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?  I will lay down my life for Your sake."  Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?  Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."

- John 13:36-38

On Tuesday, we read that Jesus said,  "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

 "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer.  You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."   As it is Holy Week (in the Western Churches and the Armenian Apostolic Church; Eastern Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox celebrate Easter 2015 on April 12th), the lectionary varies in the passages we read.  As I enjoy blogging the Gospels in the same order as the verses appear in the text, I have chosen the reading that fits between chapter 12 (Tuesday) and chapter 14 which will will begin this Monday.  It is just two verses (John 13:36-38), but I have added these verses before them to include an essential teaching of Christ.  My study bible makes the point that many religions and philosophies teach people to love one another.  But what makes this particular commandment new, it says, is the measure required of our love:  we must love as Christ has loved us, laying down His life not only for His friends, but even for His enemies.  It is a significant sign of this mission that a great part of it is just that, to teach us what love is, does, looks like.   God manifest in human form can do that as no other teaching form can do.  Ultimately, with Christ, everything goes back to the Father and the relationship He has with the Father; from this we learn, too, what love is, means, looks like -- and that we participate in this source of love ourselves.

Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?"  Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward."  Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now?  I will lay down my life for Your sake."  Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake?  Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."   My study bible tells us that Jesus gives a prophecy here of the martyrdom of Simon Peter, which he wold suffer for the sake of Christ by being crucified upside down in Rome in about AD 67 ("you shall follow Me afterward").  

In today's reading we're given not only Jesus' prophecy of the future death of Peter as martyr, but also, of course, the prophesy of Peter's denials which will follow more immediately.  We know our human weakness.  It's as if today's reading is juxtaposing for us the great standard of Christ, as well as our very human tendencies.  And really, maybe that is in some sense what Holy Week is all about.  It invites us to think about the standards (of love, for example, in loving one another as He has loved us) set for us.  Christ knows the eventual work of Peter as a great apostle and leader of apostles, a pillar of the Church.  He knows Peter's eventual martyrdom for the love of Christ and for His sheep.  And yet, He knows Peter as the one who will deny Him three times that very night, despite Peter's plea to follow and lay down his life for Christ's sake.  Part of loving us means that Christ knows our natures and our weaknesses, but He sees things we can't necessarily see -- or, if we do, we see by God's grace:  who are the sheep who also hold His kind of love (John 10:14).  As we've observed most particularly through the chapters we've read in John's Gospel, Jesus always goes back to the Father.  If you want to understand anything, you must go to the First Source, the Father.  Christ showing, living, and being love in the world is a reflection of the Father to us; where He is, there the Father is also.  Everything is teaching in this mission.  But maybe most importantly, we are to love one another as Christ has loved us, and we have to think about what that really means.  Has He ceased to tell about the Father and the love for the Father that is not only in Himself but must also be in us?  This is one key to understanding what Christ's love is all about, that it's not a philosophy and it's not a theory.  It's about relationship between persons/Persons.  Ultimately, love is a personal reality, because it is a living part of what it means to be a person, to have personhood.  Love is the expression of ourselves as persons, just as it is given for us to know from a Person.  Our faith is not in mere intellectual concepts, it's not only in philosophies, although all things that convey truth are a part of that faith.  In this Monday's reading, we will read Jesus' statement that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  Thereby for us as followers of Christ, truth takes on many powerful meanings and great significance.  It's not only that we need and respect truth in all things, but that we understand that our faith is in the Person who is Truth, and perhaps the deepest part of that truth is the love that He teaches in this great commandment He adds and leaves with all of His disciples.  He teaches us truth that sets us free, that which liberates us from a slavery of sin.  He teaches us to reach for that standard of love which belongs to us, too, and which He has brought by example into the world.  He teaches us to share His light.  All of this, in the end, is about the kind of love He teaches by example; it is a love that takes us further, that gives us new standards, that helps us to truly see and to illuminate the world for others as well.  Despite Peter's weakness and denials, Peter will go on to be a martyr for this particular love.  And so, it's important that we remember today that Christ teaches us who we are, and most especially that means what we're capable of being and doing.  We can love like He loves, too.  We can love His truth, we can bring it to others, we can be set free from a kind of slavery to lies, and false truth, and demagoguery that says that life can't get any better than a flawed system of willful blindness to love.  Christ gives us a measuring stick, Himself, but most of all He gives us His love and grace, which is always "on call" for us when we have doubts about how to proceed, how to decide, and what love is in any particular situation.  Oh, we're not expected to be perfect in the sense that we don't have a long ways to go.  Look at Peter, the denial we start from today, and the martyrdom that will come later on as the powerful apostle meets his death at Rome.  But we are on a road.  And we are on a road with Him, the Good Shepherd, the Teacher, the One who loves us, lays down His life for us as His friends, and teaches us how to be like Him.  And that's the important thing -- that we are on that road, and we start today, with His love which He shares with us and teaches us to share with others.  It is love inside of us that teaches us to follow Him.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going

 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

- John 12:27-36

Yesterday, we read that there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."

  "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."     Here is the witness of the conflict between the human and the divine in Jesus; His soul is troubled.  A natural response to what He knows is His impending death on the Cross.  But the divine nature takes the helm, so to speak, and His human nature follows.  "Glorify Your name" is the response to the will of the Father.   A note in my study bible refers to Christ's prayer in the Garden, in Luke's Gospel (Luke 22:41-42):   "Christ willingly takes in Himself the voice of weak humanity, thereby conquering weakness:  'The words of weakness are sometimes adopted by the strong in order that the hearts of the weak may be strengthened' (St. Gregory the Great)."  He also sets the example here, for all of us, in our own fears and weakness.

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake."  My study bible tells us that the Father's name is an extension of His Person.  The Son's death completes the purpose of the Father and shows His love for all, thus glorifying Him.  Jesus is in effect saying, "Father, lead Me to the Cross."  This is Christ's divine response to the human prompting to avoid the Cross.  The Father's response refers to the signs that have already been performed by Christ, and to the death and Resurrection which will come.

"Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said signifying by what death He would die.   Jesus refers to His death on the Cross by speaking of being "lifted up from the earth."  My study bible says, "This death will bring salvation to all peoples, while at the same time rendering judgment on the faithless and destroying once for all the power of Satan, the ruler of this world."  He has also referred to being "lifted up" elsewhere in John's Gospel, meaning His death on the Cross -- see John 3:14-15; 8:28.

The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.   Once again we can hear in the people a kind of "Greek chorus," reflecting the ideas of the crowds who listen.  They are curious and don't yet understand what He is talking about.  Jesus refers to Himself once again as the light (see also 1:4-9; 8:12).  My study bible suggests here that there are many facets of meaning in what Christ is saying.  First, He will be completing His public ministry very shortly.  Additionally, it says, our lives are very limited -- we have but a short time to repent and to believe in Christ before death.  Finally, the second coming of Christ is but a little while when compared to eternity.

We recall other words of Jesus about the light.  That was in recent readings, as He made up His mind to go to Lazarus, for the seventh and final sign in John's Gospel -- the raising of Lazarus, the one which has sealed His fate with the authorities.  At that time, His disciples warned Him about the Pharisees at the temple, who wish to stone Him.  They said, "Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and You are going there again?"  Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?  If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."   All things must be done with, in, and through this light, and that is the great message of the Gospels -- and particularly of John's Gospel which speaks so strongly and vividly of the Light.  Christ is the light of the world, as He has said of Himself.  To the writer of the Gospel, a man who has born direct witness to the ministry of Christ, the palpable impressions of that light are clearly present.  The vivid memory of Christ is something we can sense all throughout John's Gospel, and perhaps a great sadness at His rejection by the authorities in the temple, and at the evil that is in the world that will not accept the light.  Jesus also says of John the Baptist, "He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light" (John 5:35).  So light takes on the power of the gift of grace, a light from heaven showing our way -- Jesus Himself is the light, but He calls upon each of us to be a lamp, just as He has spoken of John the Baptist as a lamp.  In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus teaches His followers:  "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven"  (Matthew 5:14-16).  In today's reading, He offers to all of us: "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."   So faith is essential to this light.  Not only do we put our faith in the light, but in doing so we may also carry the light, as lamps.  In so doing, we become sons of light.   (Lest we worry about gender-related language, let us remember that in the tradition of this time and place, it is the sons who are the inheritors; thereby we are all "sons," regardless of gender.)  The implication here is that what we choose to put our faith and trust in, we become somehow.  We "inherit" whatever traits of that person or thing we put our faith in.  Thereby our choices become essential to understanding what we become, who we may be, and what we carry into the world.  Such are the terms here that the choice is made absolutely clear:  light or darkness.  What do we put our faith in?  What will we trust?  Moreover, what do we wish to become?  Whom do we wish to be like?  Whose likeness shall we carry into the world?  As His followers, we remember His light, and that we must carry it with us, within us, and out into the world.  Jesus sets the ultimate example of glorifying the Father; He will make the complete sacrifice in order to follow the will of the Father and complete this mission of love.  How do we follow Him?  What part of our lives do we give to His light today, so that we may reflect His light in our own life?