John 16:28

“I came out from the Father, and I have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world, and I am going back to the Father.”

I’ve seen this referred to as “The Children’s Creed” due to its succinct simplicity.

Isn’t it like Spirit-breathed Scripture to have so much in such a small space!

Here in just four short phrases we have the Pre-existence of Christ, His Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. How’s that for a brief summary of the Greatest Story of All Time??

John 16:30

“Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

More simplicity. More depth.

They know that Jesus knows all things. They have full confidence in Him. Jesus has answered the question in their hearts, and they ascribe to Him the power to do this always. There is no need to ask him anymore questions to find out who He is or where He came from. They now have assurance of His divine origin. Of His “Everythingness“.

John 16:33

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Notice the three contrast here: “in me” is set over against “in this world,” “you may have” over against “you will have,” and “peace” over against “trouble.”

There is no true peace anywhere but in Jesus. In the verses before this one, Jesus predicted His disciples’ desertion, and still loved them to His death. Who else can love you like this in the midst of your shortcomings? In full knowledge of how His friends would leave Him hanging, He promised them peace.

You will find this peace not in yourself, not in others, not anywhere, but in Jesus.

Living in this world, you will have trouble. It is inevitable. But you may have peace, if you live in Christ.

Everyone has troubles. Not everyone has peace…even though it is always abundantly available.

We are able to take heart, be encouraged, cheer up! because Jesus has overcome the world. The perfect tense of the verb “overcome” denotes abiding victory. Audacious, in the shadow of the cross, but Jesus sees it as His complete victory over all the world is and can do to Him.

In each moment, you may have abiding victory, if you look for it in Christ, the Conqueror.

John 15:10

If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love…

Upon a surface hearing of this verse, it sounds rather legalistic. Obey my rules in order to earn my love.

But then we see a couple verses later what command Jesus is asking us to keep, and realize that there’s nothing close to what can be labeled legalism.

This is my command: love one another, in the same way that I loved you. No one has a greater love than this, to you lay down your life for your friends.

So oppressive.

As we’ve seen before, the way Jesus loved the disciples was in radical equality and total sacrifice of self.

One way we can practically love one another is to cease from all “detraction.”

Over our wonderful weekend Arizona with long-time friends, I was reading my favorite author, Michael Casey, and came across his reflection on the 40th verse of chapter four in the Rule of Saint Benedict which admonishes “Not to be a Detractor.”

What is a detractor?

No, it is not someone who takes tractors away from people.

Detraction is sin against a person who is the object of our negative speech; it is an attempt to damage or destroy the reputation of someone; attacking someone in the hope of diminishing their value in the eyes of others. These are often acts of injustice which require some form of compensation or restitution for the wrong done to the other person.

It’s talking bad about someone who is not in the room.

I will leave you with a ridiculously poignant paragraph to ponder from Michael Casey that states the seriousness of detraction, and what it really is, perfectly:

Detraction is the most cowardly mode of aggression. We do not confront the other person; nor do we offer them any opportunity of self-defense. We do not need witnesses or evidence. We simply make an unsupported negative statement and call on our hearers to accept it without qualification. We not only narrate a particular unflattering incident, whether it is factual or fabricated, but also extrapolate from it to arrive at generalized conclusions, larding our recital of external events with generous helpings of our own interpretations. And we go further; we proceed to give a reading of the person’s intentions and motivations, even though we have no means of knowing what these were. The guilty verdict is inevitable, and we feel no compunction at all for our part in it. Mostly we walk away feeling blameless, but an injustice has been done. Our sense of righteous innocence is no more than an indication of an inoperative conscience.

Today’s reflection comes from my brother in Christ, Mark Morrell, who reads the Ripple from Nashville, TN. Though we’ve only spent a few hours together in person, we have the bond of our Lord Jesus.

“Jesus said, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6).

Way.  Truth.  Life.  WTL.

Today’s Chapter, John 14, describes a conversation between Jesus and his disciples after eating the Last Supper.  They are reclined and relaxed. The food is settling in their bellies.  The wine is probably giving a familiar lightheadedness.  And there is Jesus, his death only hours ahead, trying to explain what is about to happen, to a group who isn’t getting it.  

Chapter 14 follows Jesus’ prediction about two betrayals – denial by Peter and betrayal to death by Judas Iscariot. Jesus changes tone with a message of comfort:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (John 14:1).  Jesus knows what’s coming.  They don’t.  And he wants them to endure, to keep the faith.  

So Jesus gives the most recognized message of John 14, the WTL verse.  But what does “Way, Truth, Life (WTL)” really mean?

Many self-identifying Christians interpret WTL as a disqualifier for anyone who doesn’t know about Jesus, or for anyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus specifically. Many view WTL as the litmus test for Christianity.  The verse generates logical questions – What about children who haven’t reached an age of accountability?  What about the foreigner in a remote place who has never heard?  What about babies?  What about good people, not exactly Christians, who have an inner peace reflecting truth but who would not qualify under the WTL standard?  If Jesus is the only way, then aren’t they excluded?

I don’t think Jesus was answering all the “What If” questions here.  He was making a going away speech to his friends, who didn’t understand he was about to go away.  He didn’t say that any particular mindset, doctrine, or denomination was the way, the truth, and the life.  He wasn’t talking about destination.  He was pointing the disciples, his followers, back to himself, as a way to know God, in times of trouble.  He was trying to reassure them, hours before his death.  And right after the WTL verses, he immediately previews the Holy Spirit, another comfort to the disciples in Jesus’ absence.  

If we are disciples of Jesus, then let’s keep the WTL for what was intended – to comfort us.  Not to disqualify, but to help us face difficult times ahead.   There are moments for all of us when God seems distant.  When we betray Jesus.  When we deny Jesus.  And when God is a far off, vague thing, do you know how God wants to comfort us?  Jesus. WTL.   Know him, and then God is known.  And we have the Holy Spirit to help us make that connection.   

Jesus is WTL.

John 12:27-28

What stood out to me as I was reading this chapter was when Jesus said, “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” This reminded me of what we talked about in class only a couple weeks ago. We talked about hard times and discipline. I think God gives us these times to see if we will turn to or away from him. Whenever we come across something hard we tend to turn away from God and sulk in our own misery, but what we should do is run to Him.

God understands what we are going through because Jesus went through something much harder and he felt the same feelings we feel: anger, sadness, and hopelessnesss. God does not make us go through these things for His pleasure, he hates seeing us in pain, but he makes us, and made his son 2,021 years ago, go through these hard times because he loves us. We should turn to the God who understands, the God  who wants to help, and the God who loves us so unconditionally. We should glorify his name because I know from experience, and I’m sure everyone can relate, that whenever we come out of something hard we are stronger in our religion, as a friend, and even simply as a person, and that’s God working thru us, working to improve and shape us.

Sometimes we don’t see how God works thru our hard times though. Sometimes God uses our hardships to help others, and that’s when it’s hardest to stay strong, but we have to remember that God has a plan and will never leave nor forsake us. All we have to do is believe in Him and glorify His name.

John 11:35

Jesus burst into tears.

I love this translation of the shortest verse in our Bible. It seems to really capture the language and feel from the author. It’s so powerful.

Jesus was deeply moved to tears.

What moved Jesus so deeply in this story?

We must admit that it is difficult to clearly pinpoint what exactly moved Jesus to such deep feeling here. But I believe we can say with some confidence that we do see the heartfelt humanity of Jesus.

In seeing the heaviness of grief over Lazarus’ death, his friends mourning and sad, the hopelessness of death in some there, Jesus becomes overwhelmed himself with tears.

We truly have a God who is intimately familiar with our range of human emotions. Jesus was susceptible of the impressions of joy, grief, and other affections.

One of our most foundational emotional needs as humans is to feel felt. To have at least one person in our life, hopefully more, to whom we can say, “You get me.” It’s mind-blowing, or “ShastaPuss” (the word I use to describe that which is beyond human language) to think that our Creator is such a person.

Jesus showed us God, and this revelation shows us a God of compassion to the fullest degree we can’t even imagine, proof of how really our Lord is one with us.

Immanuel.

God with us.

Every single emotion, no matter how fleeting, that you will feel today, God has not only felt before in Jesus, but feels with you in real time as you feel it.

This is one of the paramount and most profound differences of Christianity that truly sets it apart from the other religions of the world and ancient myths. There are many creation stories, flood narratives, and epic tales of sacrifice for others. But I know of no other account in which an almighty Creator God binds him or herself to the humanity which she created in such a manner as to become one with them–and then dying for them in order to be reconciled together!

Venturing beyond my self-imposed word limit, I want to leave you with this quote from Sir Oliver Lodge in his Man and the Universe from 1908:

The Christian idea of God is not that of a being outside the universe, above its struggles and advances, looking on and taking no part in the process, solely exalted, beneficent, self-determined, and complete; no, it is also that of a God who loves, who yearns, who suffers….This is the truth that has been reverberating down the ages ever since; it has been the hidden inspiration of saint, apostle, prophet, martyr; and, in however dim and vague a form, has given hope and consolation to unlettered and poverty-stricken millions:–A God that could understand, that could suffer, that could sympathize, that had felt the extremity of human anguish, the agony of bereavement, had submitted even to the brutal hopeless torture of the innocent….This is the extraordinary conception of Godhead to which we have thus far risen.

John 10:16

And I have other sheep, too, which don’t belong to this sheepfold. I must bring them, too, and they will hear my voice. Then there will be one flock, and one shepherd.

Here’s another verse I’ve wondered about, so I checked with my commentary compadres, and they agree that Jesus is simply speaking of those believers outside of Judaism. Jesus and salvation came through Israel, the Jewish people, but it is for all people.

Yahweh promised Abraham in the OT that all the world would be blessed through his bloodline, not just Israel.

Jesus may also be referring to believers that were not in his midst during this conversation.

The beauty I find in this verse is in that last part: “Then there will be one flock, and one shepherd.”

There are “sheepfolds” all over the world full of people who love Jesus and call Him Lord. Undoubtedly they all look very different, but at the end of the day, there’s one flock, one Shepherd. It’s comforting and inspiring to know that there’s so many other “sheep” out there following Jesus in their own context.

When you think about it, the differences can actually be unifying. I kind of think of it like the power of music. Music moves people, people all over the world, from different cultures, generations, educational backgrounds, etc. And nowadays there’s a different style of music for about every person on the planet. How foolish to argue your favorite style to be better than someone else’s, when all the while we could be celebrating joyfully together, “Isn’t music wonderful?!?” “Don’t you just LOVE music??”

Spirit recognizes Spirit. Of course it’s gonna come out in vastly different ways due to the unique God of variety we have been gifted life from.

But all of us who have been regenerated can say in unity with one another, “Isn’t Jesus wonderful?!?” “Don’t you just LOVE Jesus??”

John 9:4

We must work the works of the one who sent me as long as it’s still daytime. The night is coming, and nobody can work then!

In the fourth chapter of The Rule of Saint Benedict there is this instruction:

To have death present before one’s eyes every day.

It is important to consciously remember that our time here as we know it is limited.

Even Jesus says here that we need to make the most of our time while we have it, because our days are numbered, and we will one day need to give an account for what we did with the time we were given here on “old earth.”

Along these lines, another helpful motivator for me is to put sleep into the context of years. It was somewhat startling to me when one day I realized that I have slept for approximately fifteen years! Since December of 1972, I’ve only been awake for thirty years of it! Weird.

So I want to invest my time, not waste it, for we don’t have as much of it as we might think. As my friend Sam regularly reminds himself: “What’s the point of my entire life?”

It can be healthy to think daily that you will one day die, to bring it closer to home so that your thoughts can be focused toward what is most important on a more consistent basis.

For me personally, when I think of dying, for reals, I don’t immediately think, “I’m so glad I collected every Star Wars action figure made between 1977 and 1985!” As fun as that was. I think, “Have I dedicated what God has gifted me with to Him and the expansion of His kingdom? Have I been present and attentive to my wife and daughters? Have I loved other people? Have I loved God all my days with all my heart?”

How are you investing your time?

John 8:43

“Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are unable to hear my word.”

How we think things should go can literally deafen us to God’s voice, and blind us to God’s work.

It is amazing how shut off we can become due to the preconceived notions and long-held traditions that we are unwilling to release for just a few seconds, even when God Himself is asking us to drop them so that He can do a work in our midst.

We stop being open and receptive, and miss out on who knows how much!

With our haughty 20/20 hindsight we berate those stupid Pharisees, yet how many times have we done the exact same thing? We miss God and even inhibit His work because something doesn’t coincide with the way we’ve been taught, or with the method we always thought worked, or maybe because the rules aren’t our rules (our own interpretation of God’s rules).

Always be open and looking for how God may be at work around you. Look beyond your own set boundaries so as not to miss Jesus’ kingdom that may look quite different, radically different, than how you were always taught, or how you think it should look.

This is what those religious leaders in Jesus’ day did—they missed God Himself, His kingdom on earth, because it wasn’t the way they were taught or thought. They looked for God more at the level of intellect, and not spirit, so that they couldn’t even hear Jesus’ message. They couldn’t hear the Word behind the words. Humans were dictating how God should operate.

And we do it too.

What blinders or ear plugs do you wear that block your awareness of God at work?

We of course don’t mean to be open to what we know is sin, what is against God. We don’t want to give anything close to that impression.

John 7:37-38

Now on the feast’s final day–its great day–Jesus stood up and called out loudly, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let him drink.

Whoever has faith in me, just as Scripture has said, ‘Out of his inner parts streams of living water will flow.'”

When people believe, they become servants of God, and God uses them to be the means of bringing blessing to others.

The person who is touched by Jesus in the innermost recesses of their heart will from thence send forth saving powers in abundant measure.

You simply won’t be able to stop it.

It will just flow out of you.