Hi everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is the daily gospel exegesis podcast where every single day. We do a verse by verse exegesis of the text. We're giving you the tools to understand the literal sense of the text of the Gospel. Reading that you would hear it today's mass. So today we have A rich theological text. There's a lot you could say about this one. So John, chapter 14 verses 23 to 29.
Jesus said to his disciples. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me, do not keep my words. And my word is not my own. It is the word of the one who sent me. I have said these Things to you while still with you. But the advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name. Will teach you everything and remind you of all. I have said to you.
Peace. I bequeath to you my own peace. I give you a piece, the world cannot give. This is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid, you heard me. Say, I am going away and shall return. If you loved me, you would have been glad to know that I am going to the father for the father is greater than I I have told you this now before it happens so that when it does happen, You may believe. So that's the text we're going
to take a look at today. We want to start as always by thinking about the context. So it's in the Last Supper, Jesus has begun the farewell discourse and that goes over quite a few chapters. Jesus has just said to his disciples, anybody who receives my Commandments and keeps them will be one who loves me, and anyone who loves me Will Be Loved by my father, and I shall love him and show myself to him.
So that's what he said. And then Judas, He's a bit confused and in fact, probably all the disciples are very confused. So Judas, not Judas. Iscariot the other one said to him, Lord, what is all this about? Do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world. So that's what's come just before this Judas is just ask him the question. Are you only going to show yourself to us and not to the
world? Now, this might seem like a funny question to us but think about the Jews in Jesus time. The common belief was amongst the Jews that when the Messiah came, he was going to do certain things. And the disciples by this point of come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But because of their beliefs about the Messiah, they think that means that he's going to triumphantly reveal himself to the world and re-establish the nation of Israel in this really public glorious way.
So it was part of their belief that the Messiah would publicly show himself to the world but now Jesus, is just said, I am going to show myself to you and not to the world. At least that's how the disciples have interpreted what he said and that's news to them. So Jesus is now going to sort of answer their question in an interesting way. Verse 23, Jesus says in response, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him.
Now, that's a repeat of what Jesus has already said. But probably in effect. What Jesus is saying? In response to Judas, is something like this, you heard me correctly. That is what I mean. So he does intend to teach that. Only those who follow his Commandments will get to experience, or he'll reveal himself to only them in some particular way. Now, Jesus is going to unpack this a bit. That mean to reveal himself to someone, he says, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.
So the way he is, my Father and Jesus himself. So the father and the son, this is a deep, mystical teaching. We shall come to him and make our home with him. Think about those words God himself, making a home within people. So the teaching here is that for those who cooperate with Jesus instructions and the promptings of God's grace, they will Allow their hearts to be a place where both the father and the son can do well.
So the Christian can participate in the Divine communion, this is a very Catholic teaching, isn't it? And many Christians who have progressed in the spiritual life in might know some people like this. They will testify that something like this has happened to them. They will say that they can feel the presence of God in their hearts. And it's a deep tangible reality to them. That's what Jesus is talking
about here. If you love my Commandments, if you follow in my footsteps and draw closer, Me, I will make my home in your heart is essentially the teaching here. Interestingly, the word here for dwelling. So Jesus says, we will dwell within that person. The word for dwelling is the same word that's used a couple of chapters. Earlier, when Jesus says, there are many Dwelling Places In My Father's House.
And we know from later in the New Testament, that each Christian is considered to be a temple of the Holy Spirit a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. That's a 1. Corinthians 3 verse 16. So there is this interesting background link here between the dwelling of God being the temple and what that means in terms of the New Covenant. So God, dwells to come in a believer's heart before they come to to dwell with him in
heaven. And if you've read Teresa of Avila, you'll know that she develops this your idea into the famous interior castle where she talks about an individual Christians, heart being like a castle that has different rooms that God wants to progress into another way of looking at this passage where Jesus says, we shall come to him and make our home with him. It's essentially a fulfillment of one of the Old Testament, prophecies about what God is
going to do in the last days. Ezekiel 37 verse 27 says, my dwelling shall be with them, I will be their God and they will be my people. So notice the word their my dwelling shall be with them. This is probably the Fulfillment of that. So really quite meaningful words that are well worth meditating. Verse 24. Then Jesus says what happens to the other group of people, those who do not. Love me.
Do not keep my words. So Jesus, probably here wants to make the point that no, he isn't going to reveal himself to the world, only to those who love him. He then says my word is not my own. It is the word of the one who sent me. And if you've been following through our series on the Gospel of John, you'll know that this is a pretty consistent theme in. Jesus words. Do not. Don't come from himself. They come from the father. Other translations have this as the father who sent me.
So they actually put the words, the father in there. Rather than the one who sent me in context, Jesus, he probably intends to say that those who do not keep his words. Not only do not love Jesus himself but because Jesus speaks the words of the father. These people also do not love the father. That's what Jesus is getting across and we need to Grapple with that. There's lots of people in society today who say that they love God or their But not religious or and there's all
sorts of variations on this. But Jesus says, one who really loves me and loves the father, is one who keeps my Commandments, there is no other way. Verse 25. I have said these things to you while still with you. So Jesus, he says he's going to leave them soon and he's given the apostles, all of the instructions that he can basically. So he's in the are going to talk about how someone else is going to take over that his teaching role after he's gone.
And remember, he's talking to the apostles here, he's giving the apostles confidence that he's not leaving them alone. He's going to send someone who will continue to guide them. And here's who it is in. Verse 26, The Advocate, the holy spirit will teach you everything. So, let's unpack the word, The Advocate, the Greek word here is parakletos, and that means roughly counselor but not counselors in a psychologist. Counselor is an illegal
counselor in a courtroom. So that word parakletos had a very specific meaning in this particular context and this is one of these times I think when digging into the literal sense and the context of that culture is going to really help us understand what Jesus intends here. So a paraclete toss in a Roman What room with someone who could provide help and assistance to a person in a trial.
So it's kind of, I guess what we might think of like a barrister today, someone who defends the defendant. So the paraclete else would give counsel plead the person's cause and intercede with the judge. So you might start to see some parallels here with the Christian Life. The basic idea here by Jesus calling the Holy Spirit, the paraclete office, or The Advocate or counselor is that the Holy Spirit fights on behalf of the Apostles to help them
succeed against the devil. Jesus knows that after he's gone, they're going to battle the world in the devil. And the parakletos is going to be like their legal helper, the one who's going to give them counsel and defend them. He then says the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name. So the father is going to be the one to send the Holy Spirit to the church. Although, in other places, Jesus says that he will send the Holy
Spirit himself. So, clearly, both the father and the son are involved in the ascending and descending.
And that's actually an interesting goes into an interesting theological discussion about the Trinity, because as you might know, historically, the Orthodox Church did not, Re with this expression of in the Creed, which says the Holy Spirit proceeds, from the father and the son, the Orthodox Christians would have preferred to just say from the father, but there are verses in the New Testament, which talked about this, the sun sending the Holy Spirit as well.
So, that's just an interesting aside if you're interested in getting into the complexities of trinitarian theology. So the father here, as in other places, the it appears that the Holy Spirit, cannot be sent and till the sun's work is accomplished and has returned to Heaven. There's other places where Jesus says, it is good for me to go so that the Holy Spirit can come. So, there's this idea that the Holy Spirit can't come until Jesus goes back to Heaven, which
is interesting. He says whom the father will send in my name. He will teach you everything or more literally will teach you all things. Now all doesn't mean the same as it does in English today. When it says all things basically, that's a Jewish phrase, which roughly, it will, it doesn't mean everything about everything. It's not. I'm going to tell you 100% of all knowledge there is but rather it means something like this. He will teach you everything you need to know.
So that all kind of means something a bit different. Notice that he will teach you everything as in everything that you need to know, who's he talking to? He's talking to the apostles. This is a promise that Jesus gives the apostles about what the holy spirit will do for them, not for all Christians and that makes sense.
Jesus is saying that in the early years of the church, when the whole when the apostles are around, the holy spirit will be there to guide the apostles and to communicate God's truth to them. If you read the book of Acts you'll see that coming Very pretty strongly.
Particularly if you look at the Jerusalem Council where the Holy Spirit actually guides them in their decision, what this means is that the early church is work in the book of Acts and in the Years following its really God's work. God is with them through the Holy Spirit.
Now, notice this matches. Well, this idea that the holy spirit will be with the apostles matches, the Catholic teaching about the Canon. If you know much about the Bible, the Catholic teaching is that the Canon of public revelation of scripture writing was closed after the death of the last Apostle. So the holy spirit is promised to the apostles here in this verse and we know it's the holy spirit that allows the scriptures to be inspired so it
makes logical sense to say that after the last Apostle died, Is the holy spirit is not going to be as active in the same way. So from that, we can reasonably infer that the scriptures the inspired word of God was finished writing after the well, at the death of the last Apostle and there was no more movement of the spirit in that same way that Jesus promises it to the apostles here. So I do think that that's a legitimate thing that we can take from this verse.
He then says this, the holy spirit will remind you of all I have said, To you. Now that's an interesting promised. The holy spirit is going to help the apostles memory. Now, that's a lot of things because Jesus has said a lot of things to them during his ministry. And Jesus here says, in order to help them. Remember all the things that he's said, he's going to send the Holy Spirit.
We see this actually happened. Several times in the gospels, the gospels themselves after Jesus resurrects. It talks about how the apostles remember things that happened earlier in the ministry. So if you look at John 2:17 and then John 12:16 John, their talks about, he talks about the event in the life of Jesus and then he adds a little editorial. Comment the apostles did not understand this until after
Jesus resurrection. So clearly the Holy Spirit was helping the apostles, understand everything that Jesus said to them. Even very soon after this after Jesus, resurrection. So the idea here is that the Holy Spirit helps the apostles make links to earlier teachings of Jesus but this could also be extended as well. Many scholars believe that this promise that the holy spirit will remind the Apostles of Everything Jesus has said, maybe that could extend to the writing of the gospels.
We know that the four gospel writers, two of them who are Apostles, Matthew and John, when they wrote their gospels, they were inspired. So Even though there's some things in there, gospels, that seems like it would be hard for them to know that these things happen. For example, Jesus, in The Garden of Gethsemane. One of the things that's often pointed out is he was too far away for the apostles to hear what his prayer was.
Although, somehow in the gospels, there are able to record what his words were saying with the woman at the well in John's gospel, it's a private conversation between Jesus and the woman. So how did the gospel writers know what Jesus said in these conversations? Well, according to some Scholars, this particular passage in John 14 says it gives us an explanation of how the gospel writers knew what Jesus said in those private conversations, the Holy Spirit told them when they were writing
their gospels. And I think that that's quite possible. Verse 27. Jesus Neil says to his disciples. Now notice the audience. He's not talking to all Christians. He's talking to the apostles in particular piece. I bequeath to you my own peace. I give you. And of course those words are familiar to you from Mass. We say that at the sign of Peace. What does that mean in the context though? Peace. I bequeath to you my own peace. I give you. So Jesus is speaking to the apostles.
He knows that he's going away and the apostles. He's going away as well. He's already promised to give them the Holy Spirit and now, he's giving them something else. He's giving them a special gift of peace for the difficult times. That he knows are going to be ahead for the apostles. Now, the language here, applies an active giving. It actually implies that Jesus is giving them some sort of Supernatural, gift of Peace. Which is passing from him to them.
My peace, I give you, this is my gift to you, so it does appear that he's bestowing a supernatural, peace on. Them here. He says it's a peace. The world cannot give. Or as other translations put this not as the world gives do I give to you. So the world is able to offer some consolation and peace. Although if you think about it, the kind of peace that the world could give in that Society was kind of like the Roman Empire piece. So it's like a political piece
which is always a bit unstable. And Jesus says, my piece is not like that, he's giving them a supernatural kind of Peace which gives us Comfort regardless of our circumstances. How does Jesus get this piece? It's from his relationship with the father. And now he passes on that special Supernatural peace to his closest followers who are going to be the leaders of his church.
The background for this is probably this Jewish idea of Shalom, that's the Old Testament word for peace and that carries the idea of well-being or everything is made right in shalom. Interestingly in the Old Testament God promises to have an outpouring of this special Shalom. On his people in the final eschatological age of Salvation, which of course is fulfilled in Jesus. And you can see that in Isaiah 52 and 54 in Jeremiah 33 and in Zechariah 9 verse 10.
There's all these references in the Old Testament where God says, one day, I will pour out my piece on my people and this is probably a fulfillment of that. He says this is my gift to you. So the language here, implies a piece, a supernatural peace. That's passing from Jesus to the apostles. Now it's possible that Jesus doesn't actually give them this piece, right? Then, and there because as we know, they, they do scatter, as soon as they see Jesus being arrested, some people, some
scholars. Believe, he actually gives them this piece at the resurrection. Remember, on Resurrection morning. He appears to them in the locked room and he shows them his hands and his feet and he says to them peace be with you, so it's possible that that's when he actually gives them the peace. Why does he give them peace while they're going to need it for the ministry?
Arguably, if you look at the book of Acts, you could say that they do have a special gift of peace with them while they're active in the book of Acts based on the way that they respond to leaders and when they're in prison, they seem like pretty peaceful people. He finishes by saying do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. Now, Jesus wants that to be true for all believers, fear and anxiety stops us from trusting in God. So, Jesus wants us once our hearts not to be troubled or
afraid. And those are great consoling words for all of us. Verse 28, you heard me? Say I am going away and shall return. So Jesus has said this several times already in the farewell discourse, and then he says, if you loved me, you would have been glad to know that I am going to the father. So by this point, the apostles are quite sad and anxious about
Jesus leaving. But Jesus says, I want you to be happy and the reason he wants them to be happy is not because he's leaving, but because of his destination where he's going notice. This is a Diction of the Ascension. I am going to the Father which is what he does do on the Ascension Day and then he adds for the father is greater than I. So the reason he wants them to be, glad that he's going to, the father is because the father is greater than I.
What does that mean? So it seems to be something like this being with the father is a good thing because he is the Supreme good. Something like that is probably what Jesus means here. Some people have found this a bit controversial because it's the sun speaking. In the son, says, for the father, is greater than I does.
That contradict trinitarian theology about all three persons of the Trinity being equal, no, because the Catholic teaching is the three persons of the Trinity are equal in nature, but not in the roles they play. So, there is a relational hierarchy among the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the father is in a sense, greater than the Son, and the Holy
Spirit in a sense. Because he is entirely without origin, whereas the Son and the Holy Spirit, and not entirely without origin, and that gets into some complete complexities of theology, verse 29. I have told you this now before it happens so that when it does happen, you may believe.
So Jesus gives the apostles this prediction so that when the Ascension does take place, which would be around 40 days later they can look back on this prophecy that Jesus has given them in the last supper and Faith, that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. That makes sense, because at this point, the apostles do believe, he's the Messiah certainly, but after his crucifixion, they sort of lose faith in that because they weren't expecting the Messiah to
be killed. So, when Jesus dies on the cross, they a lot of them seem to fall away from the faith and they stopped believing his, the Messiah. So Jesus here says that on the day when I Ascend, you can look back on this prediction and believe that I am the Messiah. So it's kind of a almost Jesus predicting that they're going to need a faith booster. Remember who's writing this? This is the Apostle, John, and he's one of the Apostles.
So, presumably, when the Ascension happens, 40 Days Later, he's one of the people there, that's able to look back on Jesus words. So that's the end of what we have today. And there's a lot in that a lot to think about the farewell discourse continues in the lectionary, in the coming, week days. So, if you keep listening, you'll get to hear more of the farewell discourse, which keeps going into John 15. There's a few really interesting.
Catechism, paragraphs that we want to take a look at which may clear links to what we've seen here. So I'll just read out a few of them. Paragraph 647 is about the resurrection and it talks about how this idea that Jesus is only going to reveal himself to Believers. Could actually be applied to the resurrection appearances of Jesus. It says, although the resurrection was a historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb.
And by the reality of the Apostles encounters with the Risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of Faith. It's something that truly And sends and surpasses history. This is why the Risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples to those who came up with him, From Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. There's also a reference to it
in paragraph, 2615 about prayer. It says, even more what the father gives us when our prayer is united with, that of Jesus is another counselor to be with you forever.
Even the spirit of Truth, this new dimension of prayer and of its circumstances is displayed throughout the farewell discourse in the Holy Spirit, Christian prayer is a communion of love with the father not only through Christ but also in him, here the two I have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. Paragraph to 60 is a discussion about the Trinity.
It says, the ultimate end of the whole Divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect, Unity of the Blessed Trinity. How incredible is that? That's what we as Christians get to have access to entry into the perfect Unity of the Blessed Trinity. So it goes on, but even now, we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity. If a man loves me says the Lord, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will Come to him and make our home with him.
So that entire paragraph paragraph, 260 about how we should understand the Trinity and its relationship to us, is informed largely by John chapter 14 here. Paragraph 2. 4 3 is says a little bit about how Jesus sends the spirit, so I'll include that in the show notes and then paragraph, 263 summarizes. The trinity in this way, the mission of the Holy Spirit sent by the father, in the name of the Sun and by the son, from the father reveals that with them.
The spirit is one and the same God with the father and the son who is worshiped and glorified, Paragraph 69 to about the titles of the holy spirit says when he proclaims an advisors the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him, the paraclete literally one who is called to one side. Advocaat has paraclete is commonly translated by consoler, and Jesus is the first consoler.
Paragraph seven to nine talks. A bit about how Jesus relates to the Holy Spirit and so I'll include that show note that in the show notes to and then, lastly, this is a nice thing to finish on paragraph. 1099 says, primarily in the Eucharist and by analogy in the other sacraments, the Liturgy is the memorial of the mystery of Salvation. The holy spirit is the church's living memory.
So that's a really interesting. Simplification not only did the Holy Spirit bring to memory of the Apostles, the things that Jesus said, and did we have access to that same kind of memory function for the Holy Spirit as well? The holy spirit is the church's living memory. So all of that will be in the show notes for you to look at. Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying this and you believe the ministry is worth supporting.
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