12 June. And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

1-3

THE PROMISE OF GLORY (John 14:1-3)

Just a little more and the students’ lives were about to change dramatically, their world was ready to collapse around them. At such a time, all that remained was to stubbornly hold on to faith in God. The psalmist experienced many such moments and therefore wrote: “But I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 26:13)

.
And again: “Lord, Lord, my eyes are in you, I trust in you, do not cast away my soul” (Ps. 140:8)
. We sometimes have to believe what we cannot prove and accept what we cannot understand. If, in our darkest hour, we are able to believe that there is meaning in life and that meaning is love, then even the unbearable will become bearable, and even in complete darkness light will appear.

To faith in God, Jesus adds something else and says: “Believe also in Me.” If the psalmist could trust in the goodness of God, then how much more should we trust in this goodness, because for us Jesus is proof that God is ready to give us all that He has. Just as Paul wrote to the Romans: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32)

.
When we believe that God has been presented to us in Jesus, then, in the face of such excellent love, it becomes, if not easy, at least possible, to accept what we do not understand, and in the midst of the storms of life to maintain the serenity of faith. Jesus further said to them, “In My Father’s house are many mansions.” By His Father's house He means heaven, but what does He mean when He says that there are many mansions in heaven? What kind of monasteries are these? monai
is used here and it is explained in different ways. There are three assumptions.

1. The Jews believed that there were various degrees of happiness in heaven, which would be distributed among people according to their kindness and faithfulness on earth. The book “The Secrets of Enoch” says: “In the future world there will be many abodes for people: good for the good, and bad for the bad.” This idea portrays the sky as a huge palace with many rooms in which people are housed according to their merits.

2. The Greek writer Pausnis has the word monai

means stages along the way.
Applied to our Scripture, this would mean constant development and progress both on the way to heaven and in heaven itself. This was also believed by some Christian thinkers, including Origen, who said that when a person dies, his soul goes to a certain place called heaven, located here on earth. There she undergoes training, and when found fit, will pass into the air, after which she will pass through the various stages of monai
, which the Greeks called spheres, and Christians called heaven, until she finally reaches the Heavenly Kingdom.
In passing through the path, the soul supposedly follows Jesus, who “passed through the heavens” (Heb. 4:14)
.
Irenaeus gives interpretations about the sower of seed, which, falling into the ground, brings forth fruit a hundredfold, and some sixtyfold, and some only thirty (Matthew 13:8)
. Since fruitfulness is different, the rewards are also different. Some will be worthy of spending all of eternity in the presence of God, others will rise to the level of heaven, and still others will be citizens of the “city.” Clement of Alexandria believed that there were degrees of glory, rewards and stages in proportion to the achievements of holiness achieved by a person during his lifetime.

There is something attractive in this to the soul, which in a certain sense shies away from the motionless sky. There is something attractive about the idea of ​​progress that continues in heaven. Speaking purely humanly, and therefore imperfectly, it sometimes seems to us that we would be too blinded by the heavenly glory if we were directly brought into it and into the very presence of God. It seems to us that even in heaven we will need to be refined and improved until we are fit for greater glory.

3. But it is quite possible that the meaning of these words of Jesus is much simpler and more beautiful. “In My Father’s house are many mansions” could simply mean that there is room for everyone. Earthly houses can become too cramped, earthly hotels sometimes do not accept tired travelers, because there is simply no more room in them, but with the Father’s house this does not happen, because the sky is as wide as the Father’s heart, in which there is always room for everyone . Jesus tells His friends: “Do not be afraid. People may slam doors on you, but you will always be accepted in heaven.”

THE PROMISE OF GLORY (John 14:1-3 continued)

There are other great truths in this passage.

1. The honesty of Jesus is clearly seen here. “And if it were not so, I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus told people directly that a Christian does not pretend to have a comfortable life (Luke 9:57.58)

.
He warned them about the persecution, hatred and punishment that they would have to bear (Matthew 10:16-22)
, although he also told them about the glory at the end of the Christian journey. Frankly and honestly, He told the people what glory and what sorrow they could expect if they followed Him. He was not one of those leaders who bribes followers with promises of an easy path. He called people to true greatness.

2. It also talks about the role of Jesus. “I’m going to prepare a place for you.” One of the greatest ideas of the New Testament is that Jesus goes before us so that we can follow Him. He opens the way and we follow in His footsteps. There is one powerful word that describes the role of Jesus. This word is prodromos (Heb. 6:20)

and the forerunner sounds in Russian.
This word has two uses that shed light on its inner meaning. In the Roman army, the prodromai
were reconnaissance units.
They walked ahead of the bulk of the army to check the path and ensure safety for the marching troops. The Alexandrian harbor was very difficult to penetrate. When huge ships with grain approached it, a small boat was released to meet it, which was supposed to guide the caravan safely through the strait into calm waters. This guide boat was called prodromos
, that is, the forerunner. She floated ahead so that others could follow safely. This is what Jesus did. He lit the way to heaven and to God so that we could follow Him and follow His footsteps.

3. Jesus' final victory is seen here. He said, “I will come again.” The Second Coming of Christ is one of the revelations that is often released from Christian thinking and preaching. It is curious that believers are either completely indifferent to him, or only think about him. It is true that we cannot know when it will happen or how, but one thing is clear: the story is moving somewhere, and without a climax it will be incomplete. History must have an end, and that end will be the triumph of Jesus Christ, during which He promises to receive His friends.

4. Jesus said, “So that where I am you also may be.” This is the greatest truth, expressed in the simplest words: for the believer, heaven is where Jesus is. We don't need to guess what heaven will be like. It is enough for us to know that we will be with Him forever. When we love someone with all our hearts, we truly live only in the presence of that person. So it will be with Christ. In this world, our connection with Him is foggy, we see as if through a glass darkly, darkly, because we are weak and cannot always live on top. It would be most correct to say that heaven is the state in which we constantly remain with Jesus Christ.

4-6

THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE (John 14:4-6)

Jesus repeatedly told the disciples where He was going. But for some reason they never understood this. “I will not be with you long yet, but I will go to Him who sent Me” (John 7:33)

. He told them that he would go to the Father who sent him, with whom he was one, but they still did not understand what was happening. And even less understood the path He walked, because that path was the Crucifixion. At this time, the disciples were completely confused, and especially one among them: Thomas. He was too honest and too serious to be content with vague, incomprehensible phrases. Thomas had to have complete confidence and therefore he expressed his doubts and his inability to understand and, what is remarkable, it was the questions of doubting people that evoked the most profound sayings of Jesus. No one need be ashamed of his doubts, for it is wonderfully and blessedly true that he who seeks ultimately finds.

Jesus answered Thomas: “I am the way and the truth and the life.” This saying seems great to us, but for the Jew who heard it for the first time, it should have sounded even more sublime. In it, Jesus collected the three main religious concepts of the Jews and made the greatest revelation that in Him all these concepts found their full fulfillment.

The Jews talked a lot about the way,

which man should walk, and about
the ways
of God.
God said to Moses, “See that you do as the Lord your God commanded you. Do not deviate to the right or to the left. Walk in the way
that the Lord your God has commanded you”
(Deut. 5:32.33).
Moses said to the people of Israel: “For I know that after my death you will become corrupt and turn away
from the way
I commanded you”
(Deut. 31:29).
The prophet Isaiah told the people: “And your ears will hear a word saying behind you: “This is
the way,
walk in it”
(Is. 30:21).
Speaking about the new and excellent world of the righteous, Isaiah states that “there will be a high road there, and
the way
thereof will be called
the holy way;
the unclean will not walk on it, but it will be for them alone;
those who follow this path,
even inexperienced ones, will not go astray”
(Is. 35:8).
The psalmist’s prayer was “teach me, O Lord,

thy
way (Ps. 26:11).
The Jews knew a lot about the way of the Lord, which man should follow, and Jesus showed them: “I am the Way.”

What did this mean? Suppose we find ourselves in a foreign city and ask for directions, and the one to whom we turned says: “Turn right at the first corner, then left at the second, cross the square, walk past the church, turn right at the third corner and the street you need is will be fourth from the left.” Most likely, we will get lost before reaching half of this path. But suppose that the person we asked says: “Come on, I’ll take you there.” In this case, this person himself

becomes a path for us and we can never get lost. This is what Jesus does to us. He not only gives advice and shows direction, but takes us by the hand and Himself leads, strengthens, and guides us day after day. He does not tell us about the path, but He Himself is the path.

Jesus said, "I am the Truth." The psalmist says: “Train me, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in truth.

Yours
(Ps. 85:11).
“For Thy mercy is before my eyes, and I have walked in

Thy
truth (Ps. 25:3).
“I have chosen the path
of truth,
I have set Your judgments before me”
(Ps. 119:30).
Many men have told us the truth, but not one of them has embodied it in himself.
Moral truth has one extremely important feature. A man's character does not affect his teaching of geometry, astronomy, or Latin, but when he intends to teach moral truth, his character is of the utmost importance. An adulterer cannot teach moral purity; a miser cannot teach generosity; the arrogant cannot teach humility; the irritable cannot teach the benefits and beauty of calm; an embittered person cannot teach love. They are all doomed to fail. Moral truth cannot be conveyed in words; it is conveyed by living example. But it is precisely in this that not even the best teacher among people can resist, because not a single teacher embodied the truth that he taught, with the exception of Jesus Christ. Many may say, “I taught the truth,” but only Jesus said, “I am the Truth.” In Jesus not only the exposition
of moral truth find its highest point, but
the fact of
moral perfection was realized in Him.

Jesus said, "I am the Life." The author of Proverbs writes: “For commandment is a lamp, and instruction is light, and instruction is the way to life (Prov. 6:23).

“He who keeps instruction is on the way
to life,
but he who rejects reproof goes astray”
(Prov. 10:17).
“You will show me the way
of life,”
says the psalmist
(Ps. 15:11).
Ultimately, what man seeks is life. He is not looking for abstract knowledge, but such that it improves life, so that a person’s life is worth living. Love brings life. This is exactly what Jesus does. Life with Jesus is truly life.

And all this can be expressed this way: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Only He is the way to God. Only in Him do we see what the Father is like, and only He can bring people into the presence of God without a sense of fear and shame.

7-11

SEEING GOD (John 14:7-11)

It is quite possible that for the ancient world of that time, these words of Jesus were the most stunning of all that He said. The Greeks considered God absolutely invisible, and the Jews considered it one of the points of confession of their faith that no one had ever seen God. And to such people Jesus said: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” And then Philip asked what he apparently considered impossible. Maybe he remembered those glorious days when God showed His glory to Moses (Ex. 33:12-32)

, but even then God said to Moses: “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live.” In the time of Jesus, people were dejected and depressed by the so-called unknowability of God, and the infinite distance between man and God. They would never dare to think that they could see God. And here Jesus says with utmost simplicity: “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” To see Jesus is to see what God is like. Looking at Jesus, we can say: “This is God, living as we do.” In this state of affairs, we can say a lot of precious things about God.

1. God entered an ordinary house and an ordinary family, being born like any ordinary person. No inhabitant of the ancient world could imagine the coming of God to earth except in a royal manner, in a palace, where He would be given all due honors.

2. God was not ashamed of human labor. He entered this world as a working man. Jesus was a carpenter from Nazareth. We will never fully understand the fact that God understands our workday. He knows how difficult it can be to make ends meet, how difficult it can be to deal with clients and customers who refuse to pay their bills. He was well aware of the difficulties of life in a simple house and a large family, and the difficulties that can befall us during the working day. According to the Old Testament, work is a curse, and the ancient narrative says that one of the punishments for sin in the Garden of Eden was: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Gen. 3:19). But in accordance with the New Testament, the work was touched by glory, because the hand of God was in Him.

3. God knows what it means to be tempted. The life of Jesus shows us not the serenity, but the struggle of God. Anyone would understand a God who lives in serene peace somewhere beyond the tensions of our world, but Jesus shows us a God who passes all the tests inherent in man. God is not some military leader who leads the battle from the rear, but one who knows life at the front.

4. In Jesus we see a loving God. The moment love comes into life, sorrow comes with it. If we could be completely detached, if we could arrange our lives so that no one and nothing touched us, then there would be no such things as sorrow, pain and worry. That in Jesus we see a God who cares intensely, yearns for man, feels his pains keenly, loves and bears the wounds of love in His heart.

5. In Jesus we see God on the Cross. There is nothing more incredible than this. It is easy to imagine a God who condemns man, and even easier to imagine one who wipes out His opponents from the face of the earth, but no one would ever think of a God who chooses the Cross to gain man’s salvation. “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Jesus is the revelation of God and this revelation makes the human mind amazed and surprised, and silent before such greatness.

SEEING GOD (John 14:7-11 (continued))

Jesus expands His thought even further in this passage. The one thing that no Jew could renounce was monotheism. The Jews were unshakable monotheists. The danger of the Christian faith is that we can present Jesus as some kind of minor God, which many do. But Jesus Himself said that the words He spoke and the works He did were not His own, spoken and done by His initiative and His power as a result of His own knowledge, but that they were all of God. His speech was the voice of God addressed to the people through Him; His works were a manifestation of the power of God through Him to the people. He was the vehicle through which God appeared before the people in a manner acceptable to them.

We will give two simple and imperfect analogies from the relationship between teacher and student. Dr. Lewis Muirhead said of the great theologian and expositor of God's word, Professor A. B. Brousse, that "men came to him to see the glory of God in man." Every teacher is bound to impart to his pupils something of the glory and beauty of the subject which he teaches, and he who teaches the doctrine of Christ may (if he be holy enough) impart to his pupils the image and presence of Christ. Professor A. B. Brus succeeded in this, and this is what Jesus Christ succeeded in an immeasurably greater degree - He conveyed to His listeners the glory and love of the Father.

In the second analogy, a certain A. L. Gossip writes about another student of A. B. Brus, MacGregor: “A rumor spread that the preacher MacGregor was going to change the church department for a professorship, that is, instead of a preacher, become a seminary professor. Colleagues asked him in bewilderment why he decided to do this. He answered, not without modesty, that he had learned things from A. B. Brus that he was obliged to pass on to others.”

One man wrote to his former teacher: “I don’t know how long I have to live, but I know that I will bear your imprint on me until the end of my days.” Often a student who studied with a favorite teacher retains something of his voice and his behavior. Jesus had the same influence, but only to an immeasurably greater degree. He conveyed God's pronunciation. His speech, mind and heart. We must remember from time to time that everything is from God. Jesus did not come into the world on a voluntary expedition. He did not do this to soften the stubborn heart of God, but He came because God loved the world so much that He “gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16)

. Behind Christ and in Christ stands God.

Jesus then proposed to test Him on two things: words and deeds.

1. First, He invited them to test His words and asked them the question: “Will you not know, when you listen to Me, that I speak the truth of God?” The words of any brilliant person are always self-evident. When reading great poetry, we cannot immediately determine what exactly is its greatness and why it grabs our soul. We can check and analyze vowel sounds, etc., but in the end we will run into something that cannot be analyzed, but nevertheless is easily and instantly recognized by us as great. Such is the case with the words of Jesus. As we hear them, we cannot help but say: “If only the world would be willing to live by His principles, how different things would be! If only I could live by His principles myself, how different I would be!”

2. Then He offers to try His works. He said to Philip: “If you cannot believe My words, then believe Me by the very works.” Jesus sent the same answer to John the Baptist when he sent his disciples to Him to ask whether He was the sent Messiah, or whether they should expect something else. Jesus said to them: “Go tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have good news preached to them; and blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:1-6)

. The proof of Jesus' words was that no one before Him could make a good person out of a bad person.

In fact, Jesus said to Philip, “Sweep on Me! Listen to me! Believe in Me! And to this day, one can believe in Christ not by arguing about Him, but by hearing His words and seeing His deeds, that is, through personal acquaintance with

Nim. When we do this, this one personal contact will compel us to believe in Him.

12-14

WONDERFUL PROMISES (John 14:12-14)

But there are hardly any greater promises than those contained in this passage. These promises are of such a kind that we must comprehend their deep meaning, for if we do not understand the meaning of these promises, life will undoubtedly end in disappointment.

1. Jesus said that in the future His disciples would not only be able to do what He did, but also much more. What did Jesus mean when he said this?

a) Certainly in the ancient world the early Church had the power to heal diseases. Paul mentions healing when listing the gifts of the Spirit (I Cor. 12:9.28.30)

.
James insists that the elders of the Church pray over sick Christians for their healing (James 5:14)
. But clearly, this is not all Jesus had in mind. While it can be said that the early Church acted like Jesus, it cannot be said that it did greater things than Jesus.

b) Nowadays there are many wonderful ways to heal diseases. Doctors and surgeons of the present day have achieved successes that would have been considered witchcraft or miracles in the ancient world. The surgeon with his new technology, the doctor with his new treatments, and his miraculous medicines are able to carry out extremely amazing healings. Although we still have a long road to perfection ahead of us, gradually the stronghold of physical pain and suffering is surrendering to the onslaught of modern technology. It is worth noting that the rapid development of technology was possible only under the influence of Jesus Christ. The question arises: why did scientists strive so hard to find a way to heal all sorts of diseases and relieve pain? In response, we can say that whether they knew it or not, Jesus, through His Spirit, told them: “Help these people and heal them. This is your duty, task, responsibility and privilege.” This means that the Spirit of Jesus conquered diseases, as a result of which a real person today has the power to do things that in the ancient world, in the time of Jesus, were not even dreamed of.

c) But we have not yet touched on the most important thing in this passage. Remember what Jesus accomplished in spreading the good news during his time in the flesh. He never preached outside Palestine and Europe did not hear the Gospel during His life on earth. He personally did not see the moral decay of Rome and other major cities of the world. Even His opponents in Palestine were religious people. The scribes and Pharisees devoted their whole lives to the religion which they received from their fathers, and there is no reason to doubt that they respected and practiced purity of life. It was not during the life of Christ on earth that Christianity spread throughout the world, in which marriage was valued at nothing, adultery was not considered a serious sin, and evil bloomed wildly like a tropical forest.

But it was into such a world that the first Christians went with the Gospel, and such a world they acquired for Christ. The good news of the Cross brought even greater victories than those Jesus experienced while living on earth. Jesus spoke of moral regeneration and spiritual victory, and said that this would happen after He went to the Father. What did He mean by this? What He meant was this: While He lived on earth, He was limited to Palestine, but when He died and rose again, He was freed from these limitations of the flesh, and His Spirit was able to work everywhere.

2. Jesus also said that prayer in His name will be answered. This is important for us to understand correctly. Notice that the Lord did not say that all our prayers would be answered, but that prayers in His name would be answered. So the most important thing in our prayer is whether we speak to God in the name of Christ? This is how our prayer is tested. No one can pray for the sake of personal revenge, personal ambitions, or some non-Christian ideas and goals. When we pray, we should always ask ourselves: Can I ask this honestly in the name of Jesus? A prayer that can stand such a test, that can say at the end, “Thy will be done,” is always answered.

15-17

THE PROMISED HELP (John 14:15-17)

For John there was only one test of love and that test was obedience. By His obedience Jesus showed His love for God the Father, and by obedience we must show our love for Christ. Someone said that with John love never descends into a mere sentimental feeling, but with him it is always moral and manifests itself in obedience. We are well acquainted with those who, speaking about love, cause grief and mental anguish to those who are close to them and whom they love in words. There are children who say that they love their parents, but at the same time cause them grief and anxiety. There are husbands who say that they love their wives, and wives who say that they love their husbands, and who, in their rashness and irritability, and in their inconsiderate unkindness, hurt each other and poison each other's lives. With Jesus, true love is not something frivolous. With Him it manifests itself exclusively in true obedience.

However, Jesus does not condemn us to be alone in the struggle against evil in the Christian life. He promises to send us a Helper. Greek word parakletos

actually untranslatable.
The Russian Bible translates it with the word Comforter, which, although sanctified by time and use, still does not convey the true meaning. Moffat's English translation renders this word Helper, but it is only by studying the word parakletos
carefully that we can grasp something of the richness of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
It actually means someone who is invited in, but it is the reason why that someone was invited that gives the word its peculiar associations. The Greeks used this word in a very diverse way. Parakletos
can be someone who is called as a witness in a trial in defense of someone.
He may be a lawyer called upon to defend the case of someone accused of something for which severe punishment is due. He may be an expert called upon to give advice on a difficult matter, or he may be called upon to encourage and lift the spirits of discouraged soldiers. Always a parakletos
(paraclete) is someone who is called for help in an hour of trouble and need.
The word Comforter once fully corresponded to the purpose of the Holy Spirit, and such a translation satisfied the reader, because it once meant more than it does now. The English translation of the word Comforter was taken from the Latin fortis
, which means courageous, and a comforter was someone who could infuse courage into a discouraged person. And these days, consolation almost always refers to grief, and the comforter is almost always someone who comforts another in grief, who sympathizes with us when we are sad. Undoubtedly, the Holy Spirit does this too, but we would belittle Him if we limited Him to this duty alone. We often talk about the ability to cope with life, and this is where the Holy Spirit helps: He takes away our inability and replaces it with the ability to cope with life. The Holy Spirit replaces the life of defeat with the life of victory.

That is why Jesus says: “I am giving you a difficult task, I am sending you to a difficult task, but I am not sending you alone, I am giving you a paraclete who will tell you what to do and give you the strength to complete any task.” Jesus went on to say that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. By the world we mean those who live as if God does not exist at all. The essence of Jesus' words is this: we see only what we are capable of seeing. An astronomer sees much more in the sky than an ordinary person. A botanist sees much more in a bush than someone else who knows nothing about botany. Someone who is very familiar with painting will see much more in a painting than someone else who doesn't understand anything about it. Someone who understands even a little about music will get much more out of a symphony than someone who understands nothing. What we see and experience always depends on how much we ourselves contribute to what we see and experience. The one who has rejected God does not listen to Him, is not able to receive the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to receive the Holy Spirit without prayerfully waiting for Him and inviting Him to enter into us.

The Holy Spirit does not break into anyone's heart. He waits to be invited and willing to receive Him. Therefore, if we think to receive all those wonderful qualities of the Holy Spirit that we have heard about, we will undoubtedly find time among the noise and bustle of this world to wait in silence for His coming.

18-24

THE PATH TO COMMUNICATION AND REVELATION (John 14:18-24)

By this time, a sense of foreboding must have gripped the disciples. They must now have seen that some tragedy was looming. Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans.” Orphan

is a man without
a father,
but the same word can also be used when students lose their beloved teacher.
Plato says that when Socrates died, his disciples thought that “now for the rest of their lives they would be lonely fatherless orphans, and did not know what to do.” But Jesus told His disciples that this would not happen to them. “I will come again,” He said. He speaks here of His Resurrection and constant presence. They will see Him because He
will live and because
they
will live. He meant their spiritual resurrection, new life in Him. Now they are confused, numb with a sense of imminent tragedy, but the day will come when their eyes will be opened, their minds will be opened to understanding and their hearts will be on fire, and then they will truly see Him. And so it was exactly after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Resurrection turned despair into hope, and then they finally understood that He was truly the Son of God. There are three main ideas in this passage.

1. First of all, there is love here, because for John love lies at the basis of everything. God loves Jesus, Jesus loves people, people love God through Jesus, people love each other. Heaven and earth, man and God, man and man - all are connected by bonds of love.

2. John stresses the need for obedience —

the surest proof of love. Jesus appeared not to the Pharisees and scribes and not to those who were hostile to Him after the Resurrection, but to those who loved Him.

3. Obedient trusting love leads to two things: first, to greater security. On the day of Christ's complete victory, those who have obeyed Him in love will be safe from the collapse of the universe. Secondly, it leads to more and more complete revelation. God's revelation comes at a cost. It always has a moral basis: God appears (reveals) to those who keep His commandments. A wicked person will never see the revelation of God. God will use him, but he will never have fellowship with Him. Only to the one who seeks Him does God reveal himself, and only to the One who, despite his weaknesses, reaches up to God, does He bend down to lift him up. Communication with God and His revelation depend on love, and love depends on obedience. The more we obey God, the more we understand Him, and a person who walks God's way inevitably walks with Him.

25-31

CHRIST'S INHERITANCE (John 14:25-31)

This passage is filled to the brim with truth. In it, Jesus talks about five things.

1. He talks about His Ally

- Holy Spirit.

a) The Holy Spirit will teach us everything. Until the end of his days, a believer in Christ must study, because until the end of his days the Holy Spirit will lead him deeper and deeper into the truth of God. A Christian who thinks that he has nothing more to learn has not yet begun to comprehend the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

b) The Holy Spirit reminds us of everything Jesus said. This means two things: 1) In matters of faith, the Holy Spirit constantly brings to mind what Jesus said. We are obliged to reason, but all our conclusions must be constantly tested by comparison with the words of Jesus Christ. What we need to find is not so much the truth because He has revealed the truth to us, but rather the meaning of that truth. The Holy Spirit protects us from errors and arrogance of mind. 2) The Holy Spirit will keep us on the right path in matters of behavior. Almost all of us experience something. We fall into temptation to do something bad and are already standing on the very edge of the abyss when suddenly we remember the words of Christ, a verse or psalm, the words of someone we love and admire, an instruction we received in childhood or youth. At a critical moment, these thoughts suddenly flash into our heads and this is the action of the Holy Spirit.

2. He speaks of His gift and this gift of His is peace. In the Bible, the word peace - talom - never simply means freedom from difficulties. It means everything that is for our highest good. The peace that the earthly world offers is a world of forgetting, avoiding difficulties and refusing to face events head on. The peace that Jesus offers is the peace of victory. No transfusion can take it away from us, no grief, no danger, no suffering can remove it. It does not depend on external circumstances.

3. He talks about where He is going. He returns to the Father and says that if the disciples really love Him, they should be glad that He is going there. He was freed from the restrictions of this world. If we truly comprehended the truth of the Christian faith, we would always rejoice when our near and dear ones go to the Lord. This does not mean that we would not feel the pain of separation from them and loneliness, but we would rejoice that after the troubles and testing of the earth, our loved ones found something better. We would not be upset that they entered into peace, but we would always remember that they did not go into death, but into bliss.

4. The Lord Jesus speaks of struggle. The cross was Jesus' final struggle with the forces of evil, but He was not afraid of this fight because He knew that evil did not have the power to defeat Him. He went to his death confident not of defeat, but of victory.

5. He speaks here of His restoration. People then saw in the Cross a symbol of defeat and shame, but Jesus knew that the time would come when they would see His obedience

IN 14

Bible. New Testament. Gospel of John. Chapter 14

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Chapters: 14

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Chapters: 14

Publication by the successors of A.P. Lopukhin. Explanatory Bible. Interpretation of the Gospel of John

Chapter 14

1–31. Continuation of Christ’s farewell conversation with his disciples: about Christ’s removal to the Father, about faith and love, prayer, the Holy Spirit and peace.

Chapter 14 contains the first consolatory speech (John 13 :31–38 is, in fact, the introduction to it). In this speech, Christ strengthens the shaky courage of the disciples, promising them a place in the abodes of His Father, where they will again be together with Christ. At the same time, the Lord resolves some misunderstandings expressed to Him by the apostles Thomas and Philip (verses 1–11). Then, in order to calm the disciples, He promises them to beg the Father to send the Holy Spirit of the Comforter to the disciples and, at the same time, says that He Himself will return to the disciples, and explains the bewilderment of the Apostle Jude James. Finally, He assures the disciples that the Holy Spirit will make clear to them everything that is currently unclear and confusing to them (verses 12–31).

1. Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, and believe in Me.

The apostles were extremely embarrassed by the short conversation between the Lord and Peter (John 13 :36–38). “Even if Peter denies,” they thought with fear, “then what awaits them!” (St. John Chrysostom). In addition, as can be seen from the Gospel of Luke, the Lord told all of them several words that were unclear to them about some kind of struggle awaiting them (Luke 22 :35–37). That is why the Lord begins His speech in a comforting tone: “Let not your heart be troubled...” As before, they, the apostles, must believe in God and, believing in God, believe in Him whom God sent, that is, in Christ. From childhood, the apostles, like Jews, had already been instilled with faith in God, and this faith should serve as a fulcrum for their faith in Christ, now somewhat shaken under the influence of His last words about His departure. Thanks to this “double” faith, the apostles will overcome their fear of the upcoming decisive events.

2. In My Father's house are many mansions. But if it were not so, I would have told you: I am going to prepare a place for you. 3. And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you also may be.

Continuing to reassure the apostles, like children grieving at separation from their beloved father, Christ reveals to them that he will soon see them again. Now He goes to prepare a place for them in His Father's house.

"In the Father's House." The Kingdom of Heaven, which Christ here calls the house of His Father, is depicted as a vast royal palace in which the eastern monarch lives with his many sons, each of the sons having a separate room for himself.

“And if it were not so, I would have told you”: According to the Russian synodal edition, through the placement of a colon at the end of this phrase, subsequent words do not retain any independent meaning, constituting only the end of the previous phrase. With such a reading, however, the expression of verse 3 seems completely unclear: “and when I go.” After all, according to the synodal reading, the Lord did not tell the disciples that He would go, but “would have said” if there had not yet been monasteries for the disciples. On the contrary, if you put a period after the words “I would tell you” (as done in the Slavic text), then the meaning of the first words of the 3rd verse is completely clear and the connection of the 3rd verse with the 2nd is quite natural. With this reading, the following thought emerges: “If it weren’t so, that is, if in fact there were no mansions in heaven, then I, to Whom everything in heaven is well known (John 3: 11-13 ), would tell you I wouldn’t seduce you with pipe dreams about this. But these abodes undoubtedly exist, and I even go to heaven so that you can choose the best ones.”

“I’ll prepare a place for you.” The Lord, as the Apostle Paul puts it, appeared as our forerunner in heaven (Heb. 6:20 ), opened the way for us to the Kingdom of Heaven.

"I'll come again." What coming of Christ is being talked about here? Is it about the last thing that will take place before the end of the world, or about the mysterious, spiritual coming, in the Holy Spirit? It seems that neither one nor the other can be understood here. The Lord could not speak here about coming to judgment because this coming, as Christ Himself knew, was extremely far away, and besides, the apostles could hardly be comforted by the thought of meeting with the Lord in the distant future after they had been resurrected; For Martha, at least, the thought that she would see her brother “after” the resurrection of the dead did not have a calming effect (John 11 :24–25). It is also impossible to understand here the coming of the Lord in the Holy Spirit-Comforter, because the Lord had not yet informed the apostles about His sending. How could they be consoled by something they could not yet understand? More plausible is the opinion that the Lord is speaking here about His resurrection, after which He will come again to the disciples: the Lord spoke about His resurrection to the disciples before (Matthew 17 :9; Mark 9 :9, etc.). But with this understanding, the following expression remains incomprehensible: “and I will take you to Myself...” After the resurrection, the disciples were not immediately taken to Christ. Therefore, it is more correct to believe that the Lord here is not talking about His coming to the disciples only after His resurrection, but in general about the fact that He will appear to the disciples at the moment of their death and take their souls to eternal rest. That is why Saint Stephen, dying, said: “Lord Jesus! receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59 ; cf. 2 Cor. 5 :8; 1 Sol. 4:17 ).

4. And where I am going, you know, and you know the way.

According to some codes, this verse reads like this: “And where I am going, you know the way to that place” (Loisy). With these words, the Lord reminds the disciples of His previous speeches about the path to heavenly glory (John 12:23 , 30–33, etc.), which passes precisely through the paths of suffering.

5. Thomas said to Him: Lord! we don’t know where you’re going; and how can we know the way?

The Apostle Thomas, who represents the type of man who is prudent and slow in faith, who wants to have accurate information in everything, and in the present case wants to know in detail, firstly, where Christ is leading, and, secondly, the path that Christ will go . By saying “we don’t know,” Thomas obviously expresses here the desire of the apostles in general, and not just his own. The apostles, apparently, still had not given up the idea that the Lord was talking about some kind of journey to another country.

6. Jesus said to him: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. 7. If you knew Me, you would also know My Father. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him.

Christ does not answer Thomas's question directly. He only uses this question as an occasion to remind the apostles of the teaching about His purpose (on the question that Thomas proposed to Him, He spoke a lot above), Christ is Himself the path to truth and life, or, in other words, to the Father. God. Some interpreters, for example, Silchenkov, consider the expressions “truth” and “life” to be epithets that Christ applies to Himself: “Christ is the truth itself - outside of Him everything is false. He is life itself—there is no life outside of Him.” But such an interpretation contradicts the further words of Christ: “no one comes to the Father except through Me.” Why would Christ begin to talk to the apostles about going to the Father as something necessary for them, if in Christ they had everything without the Father? No, Christ speaks of the Father as the true goal of all human aspirations. People strive for eternal glory, in which the Father abides, and Christ is the path leading to this high goal.

“If you knew Me...” If the apostles had recognized Christ in His true relationship to the Father, with whom He is in the closest unity in essence, then they would have recognized the Father. It is clear that the Lord recognizes such knowledge as possible for the apostles and thereby considers the argument expressed by Thomas (“we don’t know… how can we know…”) to be completely unfounded: no, they could know!

“And from now on you know...” But, having expressed some reproach towards the apostles, the Lord immediately consoles them. Even if they do not have complete knowledge about Christ, even if they love Him more as the Teacher-Messiah, nevertheless, such knowledge is something positive, it will lead them to full knowledge, the foundation for which has already been laid (this is indicated by the expression “from now on "). Some (for example, Goltsman) see in the last words of Christ only an “optimistic assumption that does not correspond to reality”: the apostles did not actually have such knowledge and did not see the Son of God in Christ, and therefore did not know the Father either... But with this It is impossible to agree with this opinion due to the fact that the Lord further directly says that He “revealed” the name of the Father to the apostles (John 17 :6), and this discovery began a long time ago.

8. Philip said to Him: Lord! show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

The Apostle Philip was a rather indecisive person and inclined to be guided by other people's opinions (John 6 :7, 12:22 ). It was as if he was constantly looking for outside support for himself. This property of his character can explain the fact that he asks Christ to “show” him and the other apostles the “Father,” that is, he asks for the same Epiphany that, for example, Moses received on Mount (Ex. 33:18 ) . Then they will be completely calm about the fate of Christ.

9. Jesus said to him: I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, show us the Father?

With a sad feeling, the Lord admonishes His disciple. He who contemplates the Father in the Son with his spirit, for him any external manifestation of God is useless (cf. John 1:18 ). If Philip knew Jesus, he would understand that seeing Him is like seeing the Father.

10. 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 from Myself; The Father abiding in Me, He does the works.

Christ, saying that he who saw Him saw the Father, of course, meant faith by vision.

“Seeing” the Father in Christ is the same as “believing” that the Son abides in the Father, acts in His name, and that the Father abides in the Son in a very real way, imparting His power to Him. Thus, the Father is seen only by faith; not a single mortal has seen God in the ordinary way. Only one Only Begotten Son of God told us about the Father (John 1:18 ). Therefore, the Lord’s question to Philip (don’t you believe?) contains a call to faith. And the Lord bases this call on the same thing that he indicated before to the Jews (John 5:19 , 7:16 , 8:23 , 38), namely, on the fact that His teaching and deeds all come from the Father, following Him in all His activity is supported by the invisible Father (John 7:17 , 8:28 ).

“My works,” that is, all the miracles that I perform.

11. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; but if not so, then believe Me by the very works.

Christ now calls all his disciples to believe in the reality of such a relationship between Christ and the Father—not just Philip.

“If not so,” that is, if you consider My teaching about Myself insufficient, then believe My miracles, which testify to My presence in the Father. The Lord thus recognizes the need for miracles given the certain weakness of faith of the listeners of His teaching, but this, of course, is necessary only at the first level of the existence of the Church, then such certificates will not be required.

12. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do will he also do, and greater works than these will he do, because I go to My Father.

Returning now to His task - to console and encourage the apostles remaining in a world alien and hostile to them - the Lord's first consolation (verses 12-14) is for them the fact that they will continue His work and at the same time accompany their preaching with miracles even greater than those that Christ created. This does not mean, of course, that the apostles will have more miraculous power than Christ has, but indicates the result of the signs that they will perform. Thanks to the special new conditions of the time, conditions that did not exist in the days of Christ, their preaching and miracles will have extraordinary success. Even if these are miracles and occur not in the sphere of appearance, but in the hidden depths of the human spirit, in any case, they will be accompanied by extremely great consequences. In order to perform such miracles, two conditions are needed: 1) the apostles must firmly believe in Christ (“he who believes in Me”) and 2) Christ now needs to go to His Father in order to send from the Father an abundance of miraculous powers (“therefore that I am going to My Father."

13. And if you ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

However, the apostles will perform miraculous deeds only when they make a request to God in the name of Christ. But what does “in my name” mean? Some consider this expression to be equivalent to the expression of the Apostle Paul “in Christ,” seeing in this a designation of the mood in which the person praying is (Lutardt), others see here simply an indication of the person praying’s belonging to the Church of Christ (P. Christ).

More probable is the interpretation already found in St. John Chrysostom and Blessed Theophylact and accepted by some of the newest interpreters. This interpretation, based on the main meaning that this expression has in the New Testament and in the Seventy, understands it in the sense of “when using” or “when calling on the name of Christ” (Heitmuller). The connection that undoubtedly exists between verses 12 and 13 makes us agree with this understanding: verse 12 talks about the miracles that the apostles will perform, and here it indicates how they will perform these miracles. Indeed, we see that the apostles, while performing miracles, called on the name of Jesus (Acts 3 :6). It is clear that prayer, which consists of invoking the name of Jesus, must always agree with His will (1 John 5:14 ).

“I’ll do that.” The fulfiller of the request is not the Father, but Christ. By saying this, Christ expresses the consciousness of His closest unity with God in essence - a consciousness that permeated all the speeches of Christ. Because of this, a Christian treats both the Father and Christ in his prayers with the same feeling to the point of identity.

14. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

The thought expressed in the previous verse, in view of its special importance for the apostles, in view of its especially comforting meaning, Christ repeats, as if fixing it in the minds of the disciples.

15. If you love Me, keep My commandments.

The second comfort (verses 15–17) is the promise of the Comforter. Christ precedes this consolation with an exhortation to keep His commandments (cf. verses 21, 23, 24). This is necessary as a condition on the part of the apostles so that they can be worthy of receiving the Holy Spirit. One may also believe that the Lord speaks here, as above (verses 13-34), as a King establishing His Kingdom, the laws of which must be obeyed by His subjects.

16. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, 17. The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; and you know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.

When the apostles fulfill their duty, then Christ (“and I”) will fulfill His work in relation to them. He will pray to the Father, and the Father will send them another Comforter to remain with them forever.

“Comforter” - in Greek Paraklitos (παράκλητος). Initially, this word meant a person called to help, a defender (but not in the sense of an ordinary lawyer, but in the sense of a friend who goes to ask the judge for his friend accused of some crime). But then, especially among the Jews, to whom this word came from the Greek language in the form “Peracletus,” it began to mean a comforter, an adviser, showing a person in a difficult situation how best to get out of this situation. The fathers and teachers of the Eastern Church give this exact meaning of “comforter” to this term.

Hitherto, Christ Himself was such an adviser and friend of the disciples, although He is not called the Comforter in the Gospel. But now, in place of Christ moving away from the apostles, another Comforter, or adviser, friend will come to them. From the comparison here of Christ and the other Comforter, both the ancients and most of the newest interpreters (Kestlin, Hoffmann, Weiss, etc.) conclude that this contains the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as an independent person. Other interpreters (de-Vette, Schenkel) are confused, however, by the fact that in chapters 15–16 the return of Christ is depicted as coinciding with the coming of the Comforter Spirit. But this confusion is unfounded, because a similar relationship exists between the Father and the Logos: the Father abides in the Son, and the Son reveals the will of the Father, which does not prevent all interpreters from recognizing the Son as a separate person. So Christ will act through the Comforter Spirit and come in Him to the apostles. The Apostle Paul therefore considers it possible to identify the indwelling of the Spirit of God in believers with the indwelling of Christ Himself (Rom. 8:9–10).

"Spirit of truth." Some (for example, Schantz) see in this an indication only of the activity of the Spirit in relation to the apostles, whom He will teach all truth. But here the very essence of the Spirit is rather defined: He is truth itself, as one in essence with the Father and the Son. However, by calling the Holy Spirit the Spirit of truth, and Himself directly the truth (verse 6), the Lord wants to say by this that this Spirit is His Spirit (St. Cyril of Alexandria).

Clarifying the meaning of the Spirit of truth, the Lord adds that the world, which is in unbelief and error, cannot perceive Him either through the senses (“does not see”) or through internal enlightenment (“does not know”). On the contrary, the apostles, who have correct Christian ideas (“you know”), already know the Spirit, who now abides with them. “And it will be in you” - here, according to some authoritative critics (Goltzman), instead of έσται (“it will be”), one should read ἐστίν (“and it is in you”). Thus, according to this reading, the Lord speaks with special force (for this purpose two synonymous verbs “abide” and “exist”) are used that this Spirit is already in the disciples. But with such a reading, it seems unnecessary to send the Spirit to the apostles in the future, after Christ’s departure from them. Moreover, the conjunctions used here in the Greek text also contain the basis for believing the difference between the verbs used here. Namely, with the verb “abides” (μένει) there is a pronoun with the preposition παρά - “at”, and with the verb “will” there is a pronoun with the preposition ἐν - “in”. It follows that of the two possible readings, it is better to accept the one that exists in our text and in the 8th edition of Tischendorf, that is, the reading “will be” (έσται). The Lord obviously wanted to say that the Spirit who will be sent to the apostles is partly and now already somewhat close to them due to the fact that, of course, they stand close to Christ, in whom the gifts of the Spirit abound in abundance (John 3:34 ). But the Spirit now dwells only with the disciples, and over time He will already dwell in them, as a life-giving and renewing force.

18. I will not leave you orphans; I'll come to you.

This is where the third consolation begins (verses 18–21), consisting in the promise of a meeting between Christ and the apostles. The Lord will leave His disciples as orphans for a short time, He will come to them - He will come, first of all, after His resurrection (John 20:19 , 26), and then in those phenomena of the inner life of the apostles, which the apostles actually saw before their spiritual eyes Son of God (see Gal. 2:20 ). Some (the fathers of the Western Church and the newest interpreters, for example, Tsang) understand this passage as a prophecy about the second coming of Christ to judge the world; one cannot agree with such an interpretation, because at the second coming the Lord will come to the world in general, and not just to His disciples . Bishop Michael’s explanation is more likely that this refers to the coming of Christ in the Holy Spirit, but this assumption is not entirely suitable, because with it the special character of the third consolation, which distinguishes it from the second, is lost.

19. A little more and the world will no longer see Me; and you will see Me, for I live, and you will live.

“The world,” that is, those who do not believe in Christ, will soon lose the opportunity to see Christ, because the world looks only with sensory eyes, and Christ will withdraw from the world of sensory observable phenomena. On the contrary, believers whose spiritual eyes are opened to observe supersensible phenomena will see Christ or will continue to see Him, despite the fact that He moves away from them. The reason for this is that Christ, as truly living (ζῶ), lives continuously, eternally, and death cannot interrupt His life. Moreover, He also gives to His disciples the kind of life that is in Him (καὶ ὑμεῖς ζήσετε).

20. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

"In that day". The Lord with this expression designates not just one day, but the entire period of activity of the apostles under the new conditions in which they found themselves after the resurrection of Christ and the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. It is impossible to see here, as Goltsman does, an indication of the entire history of the existence of the Church of Christ until the end of the world, because in this case the special relationship of this consolation to the apostles is lost, and yet it was meant mainly for them, and not for the believers of all subsequent eras .

“You will know that I am in the Father...” Knowledge here means experiential or based on experience. The apostles will receive this knowledge from the appearances of Christ after the resurrection (John 20:21 ; Acts 1 :3), from the testimony or testimony of the Angels who appeared immediately after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and, finally, from the own inner experience of the apostles who felt after resurrection of Christ, that there is the closest communion between Christ and the Father and between them and Christ.

21. He who has My commandments and keeps them, he loves Me; and whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and appear to him Myself.

Somewhat expanding here the circle of persons who can be worthy, like the apostles, of His appearances, Christ says that in order to be worthy of such an appearance, one must keep the commandments of Christ. In such observance of the commandments, a person shows his love for Christ, and for this love he will be loved both by the Father and by Christ, Who will appear to such a person. “Those who truly love cannot remain without a date for long” (Archbishop Innocent).

22. Judas - not Iscariot - says to Him: Lord! What is it that You want to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?

Here the Lord's speech is again interrupted. Apostle Judas, whom the evangelist distinguishes from the one mentioned in John. 13:30 Judas Iscariot, does not understand why Christ wants to appear only to the apostles. It is very likely that Judas saw in the previous words of Christ an indication of His second coming, which the disciples expected in a short time, and therefore it seemed strange to him that Christ was at this second coming, which He Himself portrayed as coming in glory (Matthew 25 : 31), will appear only to those who believe in Him.

About the Apostle Jude (James), see comments on Matt. 10 :3. Some (for example, Silchenkov) see here an indication not of the apostle, but of the Lord’s brother Judas (“Farewell conversation”, p. 191), but one cannot agree with this opinion, because in the entire conversation the Lord addresses only the apostles whom He chose (John 15:16 , 19), and the brothers of the Lord before His resurrection “believed not on Him” (John 7 :5).

23. Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him. 24. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; The word that you hear is not Mine, but the Father who sent Me.

In response to Judas, the Lord says that the appearance of Him and the Father can only be received by those who love Christ and keep His word. Meanwhile, the world, of course, does not have such love - how can the Lord appear to it?

“We will come to him...” Like travelers, the Father and Son come from heaven to find shelter under the roof of a man who loves Christ. The Lord borrows this image from those places in the Old Testament where the theocratic idea of ​​God’s presence in His people was portrayed in this way (Ex. 25 :8, 29:45 ; Lev. 26 :11–12, Ezek. 37 :26–27) .

“He who does not love Me...” The thought expressed positively in the previous verse is here repeated negatively in order to determine more precisely what Christ meant by “peace” in the 22nd verse. The “-” world is all that does not love Christ and does not keep His words or does not accept His teachings (cf. John 12:48 ). It should be noted that in John, both in the Gospel and in the Epistles, all people are divided into only two categories: some love Christ and keep His commandments, others do not love and do not keep His commandments. There is no middle ground between one and the other, and this is how it should be, because Christ, according to John’s conviction, is the true Light, the Sun, and the sun can either be seen or not seen, there cannot be any average relationship to the sun! And, of course, sighted people see, others - blind - do not see. Unbelievers, therefore, according to John, must be considered blind in the spiritual sense. When the Father and Son “come” to the unbeliever, Christ does not say this. It can be assumed that He meant here the descent or coming in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come, and at the same time the dwelling of both the Father and the Son will begin in those who have received Him.

25. I told you these things while I was with you. 26. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have told you.

In the conclusion (verses 25–31) to the first speech, the Lord first of all says that He personally ends the teaching of the apostles at this point, because He considers His stay among them to be over (“said” - past perfect tense). He provides further consolation and admonition to the apostles to the Comforter Spirit, whom the Father will send to them.

“In My Name” (ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου). This expression here, as in verse 13, is understood differently. Some say that the Lord speaks of sending the Spirit “to continue His work,” others translate “in My place,” but it is most natural to retain the same meaning for this expression as it has in verse 13, i.e., He will send “with calling on My name."

"Teach you everything." The Lord distinguishes between “this” and “all.” “These things” He said Himself (verse 25), “all things” will be explained to them by the Comforter Spirit. The Lord offered them much in fragmentary form and not in a sufficiently clear form (cf. John 2:22 , 7:17 , 13 : 7, 36), and the Spirit will complement the teaching of Christ and illuminate in it what remained incomprehensible to the disciples. However, this will not be a simple reminder and explanation of only what students already know. No, the Spirit will awaken creative thought in the apostles, which will be expressed in various literary works (Gospels, Epistles). Here one can also see the basis for the subsequent activity of the divinely inspired apostles in the field of church structure. The Holy Spirit in all areas of Christian thought and life will help the Church to follow the path that Christ Himself showed Her.

27. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

With the words “go in peace,” often in the Old Testament pious and even simple people who knew decency addressed those with whom they parted (1 Sam. 1:17 , 20:42 , 29 :7). Such farewell was also the custom among the Jews during the time of Christ (Mark 5:34 ; Luke 7:50 ; James 2:16 ). And the Lord, parting with His disciples, says goodbye in the usual way. But at the same time he adds that in His mouth this greeting is not a simple wish, which is often not fulfilled when ordinary people pronounce it, but a real gift of peace, and, moreover, the kind that reigned in His own soul (“My peace”). Just as He was the ruler of life and gave it to whomever He wanted (cf. John 5:21 ), so He is also the ruler of the world, which He now provides to His apostles as the most necessary treasure for them. With this peace they will not be afraid in the world even after the removal of Christ.

28. You heard that I said to you: I am going away from you and will come to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I said: I am going to the Father; for My Father is greater than Me.

But all the disciples are sad. The Lord sees that they don’t even seem to be listening to Him, and therefore says half-questioningly: “Have you heard...”, i.e., what is this? Didn't you hear me say that I would come to you again? Why lose heart?

“If you loved Me...” To encourage the disciples during the upcoming separation, the Lord turns to their love, which they, it seemed, should have, but which, as if now, does not give its voice at all in their souls. The love of the apostles for Christ, if it were true love, would have prompted them to willingly agree to a short separation from Christ in order to give Him the opportunity to ascend to the Heavenly Father and receive the glorification due to Him: a lover always sacrifices his interests for the benefit of his beloved.

"My Father is greater than Me." Some fathers and teachers of the Church (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Athanasius of Alexandria, Blessed Augustine) see in these words a comparison of the state of Christ as the God-man with the glory in which God the Father continually dwells. The latter, from a human point of view, is, of course, higher than the state of the Son in His earthly life. Others (for example, St. Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, St. John of Damascus) see here the revelation of the thought of the origin of the Son from the Father, Who is “the wine and the beginning of Him who is born of Him.” The second interpretation is inappropriate here, because the words of Christ in this case cease to indicate the reason why the disciples should rejoice at the removal of Christ to the Father: if the Son is always less than the Father, then what significance does it have that He goes to the Father? Does it really matter - He remains smaller (Silchenkov, p. 212)? Thus, it remains to accept the first interpretation. Indeed, the death of Christ is not only a mournful, but also a joyful event, for it marks the beginning of the departure of Christ the God-Man to God the Father and His complete glorification among humanity (Znamensky, p. 318). The state of humiliation ends, and the state of glorification begins, which are compared with each other not directly, but “through a comparison of the bearers of these states themselves” (Silchenkov, p. 212).

29. And behold, I told you these things before they happened, so that you might believe when they happen. 30. It’s already a little time for me to talk to you; For the prince of this world comes and has nothing in Me. 31. But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded Me, so I do: get up, let us go from here.

Everything said so far to the disciples was aimed at giving them support to survive the difficult trials that awaited them. Let them then remember what the Lord told them: for them these trials will not seem particularly difficult, because the Lord has already prepared the disciples for them. The Lord could continue to speak to them, but time is running out. The ruler of this sinful and hostile world to Christ is coming - Satan - in the person of the traitor, leading with him a detachment of soldiers (cf. John. 13:2, 27).

Since this word could further increase the horror of the disciples, the Lord, to calm them down, says that Satan, who has such great power over the world, has no actual power over Him: in Christ there is no fulcrum for the actions of Satan - there is no sin. The Lord could drive Satan away from Himself, but He does not want to do this. Out of love for the Father, whose will is for Christ to die for people, He Himself goes to meet the Lord of death, who brings death to Him too.

“Get up, let’s get out of here.” This is only an invitation, to which the students, apparently, did not respond and remained in their places. There is no reason to assume (like Bishop Michael) that the following speech was said on the road; on the contrary, the removal from the upper room is spoken of only in John. 18 :1. Therefore, the Lord again began to console the disciples, awakening courage in them.