Episode 5: John 13:31-14:31: Glorious Sight

20 Feb

As the disciples process Christ's imminent departure, they've got some questions. Join us as we walk through Jesus' tender and mind-blowing response to each question.

1. How does Jesus assure the disciples about heaven and their place there?
2. How does he comfort them with his words through this passage?
3. How do his words help us to trust him, and the apostles' message?
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The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Felicity: You're listening to the Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea podcast, the Bible Study podcast for everyday life. We're here for a 20 minute burst of Bible chat over a cup of tea and an English style biscuit as we make our way through a Bible book over the course of the season and then drive it to our hearts. And this season we're revisiting John's gospel as we get stuck into chapters 12 through 17 together. And this season we're revisiting John's gospel as we get stuck into chapters 12 through 17 together. Whether you've been listening for a while or have just found us, we're so pleased you're here.
Sarah: This season we're grateful to be partnering with 10ofthose.com. The Word One-to-One is a wonderful resource that aims to walk unbelievers through John's Gospel in manageable, bite-sized episodes, helping them to encounter Jesus. Rather than questions to answer, the Word One-to-One is a guided read-through of the text, enabling conversation to flow and questions to naturally crop up as you go through the Gospel together. I'm currently using the Word One-to-One with a friend and it's just been a joy to grab coffee after the school drop-off and get John's Gospel open together, trusting God to do his work through it. Access it online, through the app, or with the books themselves. Head to tenofthose.com/wordonetoone for more information.
Felicity: Welcome to Two Sisters and a Cup of Tea. My name is Felicity and I'm in the States. I'm here as ever with my sister Sarah. She's in the UK and we're excited to be jumping back into John's Gospel Chapter 13 and we're going to be going all the way through to the end of Chapter 14. So excited for you to join us with that Sarah. We have cups of tea in hand. We're ready to go. It's quite a long passage we've got so let's get into it but before we get into the passage could you just help us understand a little bit how have we been splitting up this big passage because whenever we have a big passage we're always going to be splitting up but just to kind of make it a bit more manageable think about the structure of it how have we gone about that?
Sarah: Really, really good question because as we've read around this, people do it very differently. And that's been confusing actually that there's not been one set way to do it, but also I think there's a freedom in how we do it as well. So what we've done is we've taken the kind of break of 13 verse 30 and it was night. That's a kind of deliberate kind of break that John puts in there and when he was gone, verse 31, this is the start of a new section and it feels like a new section. There's a lightness to Jesus' words in the way that there wasn't before. We have been most helped by the Bible Matters podcast. They did a brilliant episode walking through chapters, all of these chapters actually, 13 through 17, and talking about how William, who was being interviewed, would split it up. And he was really helpful in just saying, look at what's in the text in terms of the questions that come. This section that we're heading into is a series of questions and answers. Questions from the disciples, answers from Jesus. And he was helpful at just saying, try and ignore the subheadings that the Bible editors put in. You don't need those. Concentrate on where the questions come and where the answers come in response. So that's what we're doing today. We've got four questions from the disciples here. We're going to kind of walk our way through them. We may not get into all the detail of every one of them because there's a lot here, but that's the way that we've decided to split it up. Anything else you’d add?
Felicity: No, I think that's great and I think that's been a really helpful thing for me. And as I'm reading it now, I'm gonna read it. As you're listening, be listening out for those questions and then that helps us understand why Jesus is saying what he's saying. I think that's been really helpful for us, isn't it? All right, let me read it. So we're reading from chapter 13, verse 31, and we're going through to 14, verse 31. So here we go.
When he was gone, Jesus said, now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now, where I am going, you cannot come. A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Simon Peter asked him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus replied,where I am going you cannot follow now, but you will follow later. Peter asked, Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. Then Jesus answered, will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly, I tell you, before the cock crows, you will disown me three times. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way? Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered don't you know me, Philip, even after I've been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you.Before long the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me, because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show them myself to them. Then Judas, not Judas Iscariot, said, but Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?Jesus replied, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own, they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you, that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, peace I give to you.I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. You heard me say I'm going away and I am coming back to you. If you love me, you'll be glad that I'm going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I've told you now before it happens so that when it does happen, you will believe. I will not say much more to you, the Prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. Come now, let us leave.
Sarah: Thank you, Felicity. I'm reminded again as you read that there's so much in here. Again, as ever, this is literally just the start of a conversation. We've had many conversations on this before we've pressed record, so we're just gonna share a few reflections really, aren't we, of what struck us. There's a lot of glory in the first couple of verses, isn't there? A lot of glory, glory, glory. Reminding us that as Jesus heads to the cross, this is where true glory is found, this is what's going on. The cross is overshadowing everything that we read. It's just a really helpful reminder, isn't it, that as we of continue along through this section of John's Gospel, we're not doing something distinct. It's all part of this same narrative of him coming from the Father and going back to the Father via the cross.
Felicity: Yeah, I think that's really helpful. I think that understanding of glory, which we've been hearing as it's been increasing as we've been heading towards the cross, hasn't it? And as he says at the very end of this passage, he says, and you're going to understand, I'm telling you this now so that you understand what's going to happen. And so it feels like these questions and this whole conversation with the disciples, there's this growing clarity or Jesus is giving more information on the glory, helping them see and helping us see what this is that's about to happen. And ultimately though, it's not going to be fully clear until after the death and the resurrection of Jesus.
Sarah: Yeah, which is something John keeps saying through the gospel, isn't it? And we kind of see that in the nature of the disciples' questions, don't we? We see that they're not quite grasping kind of what he's saying in the sense that Jesus kind of says, here's a new command to love as I've loved you. And it's not new, is it? Because we've heard all way through the Bible, love your neighbours yourself. But the standard of love we've just seen in the foot washing has kind of amplified what it looks like to love. Without this even settling we've then got this kind of impetuous question from Peter, haven't we? But where are you going? Like, as though he's not quite registering what Jesus is saying about love and he's like, hang on a second, you're just telling me you're going off somewhere and I need to like register this first.
Felicity: Yeah, yeah I love that, I love that. He's like, Lord I'm coming, I'm coming with you. I'll do anything, I'll lay down my life as well. It's so sobering isn't it, because with the poignancy of knowing what's coming, as Jesus says, will you really lay down your life for me? And I think, you we're in the upper room with the disciples, these are the chosen few who are receiving Jesus' final words, and we could elevate them to almost be beyond the need of the. But actually in this very moment the dependence of peace on the cross He doesn't realize it at this stage, but he cannot do what he's saying that he will do without Jesus
Sarah: I love then that straight away though, Jesus in response to that, so 14 verse 1, don't let your heart be troubled by what you've just heard about Peter, the fact that he's going to deny me three times. Actually, what do you need to do? You need to believe in God and believe also in me, he says. I am going to prepare a place for you. The assurance of heaven, the assurance of what's coming despite the sin, despite what's about to happen is that I am, I'm all over it. I'm on this. You don't need to let your hearts be troubled in this. And I think that's been really fresh for me just seeing that in context. Like this is a well-known verse, isn't it? Don't let your hearts be troubled. But actually seeing this in context of sin and denial. Don't let your hearts be troubled because of what Jesus is about to achieve for you. It's been really, really helpful. And then we get this next question from Thomas, don't we? So Jesus says in verse four, you know the way to the place I'm going and Thomas pipes up. Lord I don't know the way! Like... What?
Felicity: You can sense the panic, can't you? But it's so, and this is, again, it's such a familiar statement, isn't it? I am the way, the truth, and the life. And I love that he's saying that, and there is an exclusivity to that, kind of, I am the way. It's not a way, the way. But also in that, this is Jesus who has been making himself known. We've been walking through that, through the whole gospel. It's not that he's been hiding. There's a kind of, here I am. You can know me. Trust me, believe me, trust that I am who the Father has sent, trust that I am going back to the Father, trust the authority with which I say this, that I am the way, the truth and life. And we're gonna, and we hear that again through this passage, I think we hear that quite clearly, the authority of Jesus, don't we? And I think here, as we hear this statement, like, yes, this is it, this is the way.
Sarah: Yeah, but it is just so, so huge what he's saying as well, isn't it? Because he says in verse seven, from now on you do know him and have seen him referring to the father. I mean, that is just extraordinary, isn't it? That Jesus can say that with such clarity to them that you're seeing God. Like if you're in any doubt whatsoever, like this whole Bible story up until now. You've not been able to approach God. There's no way that you can approach a holy God. And yet Jesus is saying, no, no, no, if you know me, you know the Father. If you're seeing me, you see the Father. That's how clear.
Felicity: It is, yeah, it's profound, isn't it? The relational intimacy of that, that God could be known like this. Yeah, absolutely.
Sarah: And then we get this question from Philip and you're like, what Philip? Like, because his next response is Lord show us the father and that'll be enough for us. And you're like, Philip, literally have you just heard what he said?
Felicity: But that's it, isn't it? Jesus, I don't know. I've been wondering what kind of tone this is set in. Don't you know me, Philip? There is a sense of, I feel like there's a little sense of disappointment, but maybe just also tenderness in that compassion. I know you don't get this yet. I know this is hard. This is hard to understand because it is so mind blowing, I think, and so profound but anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. In verse 10 down there rather, it's the Father living in me who is doing his work. Again, just this Jesus God what Jesus is doing is God's work. This is God's glory. This is authoritatively, absolutely what God is doing. And as I hear that and as I hear it repeatedly, because John says it and Jesus says it and everyone's saying it again and again, I can feel I'm kind of beginning to rest in it more. And as I've, you know, I've been a Christian for a while, I'm following Jesus, but to really, truly believe this is where. God is doing his work in the work, the personal work of Jesus Christ.
Sarah: Yeah, really, really helpful, isn't it? I love the kind of picture that's building here of the confidence we can have in Jesus, though, as well. So he says, kind of, look at me, doesn't he? As you see me, you see the Father. He says, listen to me in the words I say, because they are the Father's, and the Father's work is happening through the words that I say. He then says, don't just listen, but speak to me. So pray to, pray to God, ask in Christ's name, because as you're asking in the name of His character, in the name of His purposes, He will be doing His work, and I think that's just huge in itself, isn't it? And then the final one, further down, is that actually you're not only gonna kind of look and listen to Him and speak to Him, but also you're gonna experience Jesus as the Spirit is given to you and makes His home with you. And just just that reality of this building picture of Philip's asking, Lord, show us the Father. And Jesus responds with, of course I will. Of course I will. Because as you listen, as you look, as you speak, and as you experience the gift of the Spirit, you are gonna get so much more than just a glimpse of the Father. Like, just this whole picture is just so beautiful, isn't it?
Felicity: It really is, it really is. So there's so much, so much, as you say, in there. And then we get to this next question that Judas, not Judas Iscariot, but Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? And we're kind of homing in on this very particular group of people here, aren't we? At first, as I was reading this, was like, Jesus, I'm not quite sure how this answers that question. But what we seem to have is this growing clarity as to how Jesus is revealing himself, what he is giving to the disciples, and what it is that is the function of that in the sense that he's giving them all that they need, not just for themselves, but also in order to tell the world as to what is going on. What is this? Who is this? What is God doing in that?
Sarah: Yeah, and I think it is helpful to kind of just kind of see that clearly. He is speaking to the apostles here in terms of what they will then testify to the world. I think it's really important just to kind of have that in mind, isn't it? That he's speaking primarily to this group of men in this room with him.
Felicity: Just particularly you're talking about verse 26, 27 there, yeah.
Sarah: Yeah. Yeah. But I think the whole thing, as we seek to drive this to our hearts, we want to be in line with how He's encouraging them, don't we? So actually, what do they need to know? What does He think they most need to know as He responds to their questions? Well, actually, that's the same for us as well, isn't it? We need to believe that Jesus has got it when it comes to our assurance of heaven and getting us there. We need to trust in his authority, in his words and the work that he's continuing to do. We need that assurance that he continues to work and that we can trust all that he says. We need to trust that the Spirit is with us and we have all that we need to press on in the Christian life because we've been given everything by the Spirit, through the words, by Christ, by God himself. And think that's just, it's just really helpful to remember. I think at first glance I'm like, oh, I'm not quite sure why these are the things that are kind of being talked about on this final night. But the more that we dig into it, I'm like, oh yes, okay. I can really trust what he's saying here.
Felicity: Yeah, and I think in a wider sense, as you take a step back from that, so these are the things that in God's wisdom, he's decided this is what we need to know, what the disciples need to know, and what we need to do. And as we take a step back from that, we then can see and just begin to see in the bigger picture that this not just enables them to keep going in this moment, but actually this is the means by which the next epoch of the salvation story is brought about. As Jesus goes to the cross and the resurrection happens, we need all of these things in order that these people would be proclaiming this, that this apostolic word, as we talked about in that first episode, would be the word that is given. And as it's given, as these men are able to keep trusting, to keep walking, to appreciate all that Jesus has said, then this is how the likes of you and I eventually come to know this same Jesus. As I've reflected on that, it's it kind of blow my mind a bit that that is what's going on. This moment in time has just huge significance.
Sarah: Yeah, despite their sin, despite what's going to happen in the next few hours with Peter and everything else and everyone's scarpering from him. I just love coming back to the kind of verses around the word in verses 9 to 13. Jesus is the one who's going to do it all. Like, he's the one who's going to do the work. He's going to keep them as they pray. I will do the work, he says. And just that, the affirmation that however weak they are, whatever the situation. He is gonna be the one at work in and through them, ultimately again, and then through the rest of the church, through history, to make it all happen. And I just, wow, don't we need that? That is what we need to remember, isn't it? And I've, yeah, it's a comfort. It's a comfort to remember that, isn't it?
Felicity: It is a huge comfort and it's how, and I think that's a question that we, as we ask or as we wonder, like, how can I be comforted? How can I have assurance? Like, as I begin to feel in any sense, any of the anxiety, the struggle, where do I go for my comfort? This, the certainty of this, what we're reading here. I think I've been praying that for myself, that this would be my port of call rather than anything else and in that really the person of Christ. Do I trust the words of Christ? Do I trust my everything into what I read here and trusting that God authoritatively is doing his work through this and yeah. Should we? Yeah.
Sarah: Pray for us, Felicity. Pray for us as we wrap up.
Felicity: Father, we praise you so much for what Jesus says here. Thank you for these words. Thank you for the questions and the answers and the level of assurance and authority we hear here. Lord, help us to be those who run to this for our comfort, who run to Jesus, who see Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection clearly. And so would we trust that you are at work. Thank you that you are our shepherd. Thank you that you are the one who is doing it, that it's not dependent upon us, but on you. And we praise you for your grace in showing us that and helping us to know how to keep trusting you, to keep walking with you, that we might be those who are really for your glory. Amen.
Sarah: Well, we haven't wrapped that up. There's so much more we could go into. But we do have an email that goes out every week with a weekly roundup that just helps you to continue reflecting on our conversation and on these words most importantly. So do sign up to receive that. In that, there'll be the kind of episode for the week, along with discussion questions, a written reflection, and a prayer as well, all there to hopefully serve you and help you. So click the link in the show notes to sign up if you haven't already. And look forward to seeing you next Friday as we continue on in our journey through John's Gospel and we can't wait.
Felicity: See you then.
Sarah: This episode has been sponsored by 10ofthose.com.
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