The Spirit and Peace – John 14:8-17

A text – John 14:8-17

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷ This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

A reflection:

So what was Jesus’s purpose on earth? Why was he teaching 12 people for three years? He chose followers that would be able, for one reason or another, to perceive what God is really like by living with and watching Jesus. He wanted to show these followers, and perhaps some other persons in the crowds that came to follow him as well, that God was like a loving parent, like a providing creator, like a deep listener and a wise servant.

Jesus behaves in this way for three years with his group of students/followers/disciples. And then he tells them that he is going to leave them. They panic. Of course they do. They know they haven’t listened and watched well enough to do what he has demonstrated to them for three years, yet he is saying they will carry on his work. They are worried that they will let him (and God) down.

Everything Jesus says here is meant to reassure them that they will be ok, that he will still provide for them whatever they need, and that the Advocate (Paraclete) or Holy Spirit will bring them peace and instruction and wisdom, because what the disciples do will glorify both Jesus and the Father from whom Jesus came.

Jesus promises us that Advocate/Paraclete/Holy Spirit too. One way to receive the Spirit is to be baptized. But I believe that many who are not baptized can still receive the Holy Spirit and can carry out Jesus’s work of love and goodness and healing. When we extend God’s peace to one another, we are engaged in that work. God’s peace pours out like something wonderful that clings – like maple syrup on a waffle, like the fragrance of lily of the valley wafting through a room – and it makes a person stop and notice and take it in. Jesus breathes it out onto his disciples on Easter evening. We send it across the room or in a message across the world to our friends in need of comfort. When we extend that peace, good things can happen because God’s spirit is goodness.

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for Jesus’s comforting words to his nervous, anxious disciples. Help us to know that you have already sent your Spirit to us and that you breathe your peace out over us each day. Help us to remember to extend it to others in our path. Amen.