John 14:23-29

So what if the point of it all is Presence? And what if Presence is peace.

The evangelist John is writing to a community of believers at least forty years removed from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He will state at the end of his theological biography of Jesus Christ that there was much more that Jesus did and said that he did not record, so it can be safely assumed that what he did record was most likely written to address the situation of late first century believers. While the narrative context of John 14 is Jesus’ impending crucifixion, and subsequent departure, the readers’ context would have been the incarnate Christ’s absence. Furthermore, the eye-witnesses to the incarnate Christ were passing away, which might make it seem like Jesus too was becoming more distant.

The pre-resurrection disciples were afraid of the coming absence of the incarnate Christ and the post-resurrection disciples who were several decades away from the incarnate Christ could perhaps identify with that loss. They didn’t get to stick their finger into Jesus’ hands and they didn’t get to eat fish with Jesus on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They didn’t get to hear or see or look at or touch Him who was from the beginning. Granted, they would be blessed if they believed without seeing, but still, it would have been nice to have been there.

So Jesus reassured all disciples from every age that He wasn’t going to be as absent as they feared. The incarnate Christ was going to come and make His home with all of those who loved Him. John reported Jesus saying it in the verses preceding this Sunday’s lectionary reading. He told them that there would be SomeOne who would come along-side them and who would bring them not only Himself, but the Father as well!

John 14:15-20 “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate (paraclete)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.

Jesus was coming to His disciples in the person of the Paraclete; One who would be right beside them. The Paraclete would make His home with them. He would be as close to them as the incarnate Christ would ever be. The disciples who got to hear and see and look at and touch the incarnate Christ would have nothing over on those who didn’t, for the Christ would be incarnate in them! They could hear and see and look at and touch Christ when they were with others who loved Jesus and followed Him. God was going to inhabit flesh still!

And that’s what they were really wanting to know. Their hearts were troubled because the One they loved was leaving. They didn’t think peace was possible because they would have to live with an aching-forever-longing for their friend. This was really about fellowship. This was really about friendship. They didn’t want to have to say good-bye and Jesus said that they wouldn’t have to. He was coming back to them. Indeed, Jesus would be as close as He ever was.

And that would bring them the peace that the world could never offer. It’s what Jesus said.

John 14:25-27 “All this I have spoken while still with you. But 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; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

He was promising to be present with those who wanted Him present. He was promising that He would come to those who longed for Him. He was not going to leave them as longing orphans.

The point of it all was Jesus’ presence. The point of it all was fellowship with God.

And Jesus’ presence would bring an other-worldly peace.

Fellowship with God would bring a peace unlike any this world could afford.

If you think about it, that is the point of it all after all, isn’t it? Isn’t sin the broken relationship? Isn’t redemption’s purpose the restoration of that broken fellowship? And isn’t the ultimate penalty of sin the death of that relationship?

Augustine wrote clearly of that for which we long:

“Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you – we also carry our mortality about with us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

(Confessions Lib 1,1-2,2.5,5: CSEL 33, 1-5)

The Westminster Catechism stated that our ultimate purpose was to enjoy God!

Q) What is the chief end of humanity?

A) The chief end of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Fellowship with God is what we will be doing in the eternal moment that will be the new creation, as stated in the Epistle reading for the fifth Sunday of Easter.

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

And fellowship with Him is what John recorded Jesus promising at the very beginning of this discourse.

John 14:3b “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Folks, what if the point of it all is Presence, is fellowship with God in Jesus Christ, and what if His Presence, that fellowship, is what brings peace?

Then let’s spend time with Him.