John 14

[lory al_moakar]

John 14

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

 1"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God^{[ a]}; trust also in me. 2In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3And 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. 4You know the way to the place where I am going."

Jesus the Way to the Father

 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

  6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know^{[ b]} my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

 8Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

 9Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe 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 miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

 15"If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the 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^[c] in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

 22Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"

  23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He 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.

 25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, 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. 27Peace 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.

 28"You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
      "Come now; let us leave.

[Christine Chung]

can someone clarify one verse from lory's last post for me? 

(especially maybe people who may be familiar with other translations like maybe the original hebrew version of the text.) 

  23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He 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.

i have questions about both 23 and 24. 

 

in 23, does it mean "if a person loves me then that person will obey my teaching"?

 

in 24, does it mean "if a person does not love me then that person will not obey my teaching"?

 

thanks,

christine

[Michel Hanna]

Hi everybody,
    i will try to answer this question as the Lord might give me.

Christine Chung wrote:

can someone clarify one verse from lory's last post for me? 

(especially maybe people who may be familiar with other translations like maybe the original hebrew version of the text.) 

  23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He 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.

i have questions about both 23 and 24. 

 

in 23, does it mean "if a person loves me then that person will obey my teaching"?

The true proof that we Love the Lord is that we obey his teaching. Otherwise; how we call ourselves his believers and that we love him and yet we disobey his own Living words. This obeying is pure love to the Lord Jesus Christ and to His Father.
From my point of view I see that Jesus is saying "I want to see the practical proof of your (us) Love to Me (Jesus)". So since Jesus can see our thoughts and know our hearts that we Love and Believe Him or just we are saying that as everybody around us might say, now Jesus want us to act upon our belief.

St. John in his first Letter is saying exactly the same thing: "He whom said: I know Him (Jesus), and he does not obey His teachings (Jesus Words) is a liar" 1 John 2:4. This will mean that we have to have our wills match the Lord's teachings.

 

in 24, does it mean "if a person does not love me then that person will not obey my teaching"?

I think this verse means that we can tell if a person if he loves Jesus by watching his deeds. If he (person) is not obeying the teaching of the Lord, then this person can not Love the Lord.

One last important detail I need to tell you guys, that I used a reference from my Coptic Orthodox Church for this question.

God bless your lives,

Michoo

 

thanks,

christine

-- 

Michel Hanna
Department of Computer Science 
Computer Engineering Program
6804 Sennott Square,
University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA 15260.

Email: mha...@cs.pitt.edu
Tel  : 412-624-8456
Fax  : 412-624-8854 
Web  : http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~mhanna/


Focus more on your desire than on your doubt, 
and the dream will take care of itself. 
Your doubts are not as powerful as your desires, 
unless you make them so. 

--Marcia Wieder
================================

[Shenoda Guirguis]

Thanks Michel for the clarifications, and thanks Christine for raising the question.

 

I have a comment:

 

Verses 23 and 24 are showing that the situation is binary, I either love Jesus or not, there is no gray area.

Our Lord Jesus Christ used this way more than once. For instance He said "He who is not with Me is against Me, ..." (Mat 12:30), and "For he who is not against us is on our side" (Mar 9:40), to show that one's situation is either with, or against, no third option. I think the same applies for the verses 23 and 24, one either Loves Jesus and follow His teachings, or does not love Jesus and does not follow His teachings. It can not be the case that someone does not follow Jesus teachings and loves Him (as the verse Michel cited from St. John's first letter clarifies), and it can not be the case that someone follows the teachings and does not love Him.

 

With Love in Christ,

+Sh

 

---

[Jose Baiocchi]

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to add: whenever you love someone, you don't want that
person to be unhappy with you, rather you care for his/her happiness.
What makes Jesus (God) happy is that we do what He commands, that we
accept God's will. Even when sometimes is hard to accept what God asks
from us, we should look at the issue through our Love lenses, and
that's when everything makes sense. And if we really love Him, knowing
that He is happy should make us happy too.

On an unrelated note, I wanted to ask you guys to remember in your
prayers all the people affected by the earthquake in Peru on
Wednesday. May God help them all cope with their losses and give them
the strenght to get back on their feet.

Peace in Jesus Christ,

Jose'

On 8/18/07, Shenoda Guirguis <she...@cs.pitt.edu> wrote:
> Thanks Michel for the clarifications, and thanks Christine for raising the
> question.
>
>
>
> I have a comment:
>
>
>
> Verses 23 and 24 are showing that the situation is binary, I
> either love Jesus or not, there is no gray area.
>
> Our Lord Jesus Christ used this way more than once. For instance
> He said "He who is not with Me is against Me, ..." (Mat 12:30), and "For he
> who is not against us is on our side" (Mar 9:40), to show that one's
> situation is either with, or against, no third option. I think the same
> applies for the verses 23 and 24, one either Loves Jesus and follow His
> teachings, or does not love Jesus and does not follow His teachings. It can
> not be the case that someone does not follow Jesus teachings and loves Him
> (as the verse Michel cited from St. John's first letter clarifies), and it
> can not be the case that someone follows the teachings and does not love
> Him.
>
>
>
> With Love in Christ,
>
> +Sh
>
>
>
>
>
> _____
>

[Shenoda Guirguis]

May God support the earthquake victims, and grant them peace in this furnace.
"Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted." (Math 5:4)

Thanks Jose for the addition!

In Him,
+Sh

[Peter Djalaliev]

I think that the word "love" in 23 and 24 of John 14, as well as in other parts of the Bible, has a very all-encompassing meaning.  We love our significant mothers in one way, our mothers in another way, our friends in a third.  When we love other people, we do not always obey them.  Sometimes we cannot obey everybody we love due to conflicts between what these different people expect and want from us.  In mathematical terms, "to love" here is not a transitive operator :)))

Jesus, however, gives us a "gift" (not sure if the word is precise here) that combines the love of all the people we love and more.  To love Jesus is to embrace him in our hearts and let him be a part of us.  This is more that what we often do with other people we love.  However, we cannot embrace somebody without embracing his ways.  After all, he is "the good shepherd".  How can the sheep embrace their shepherd without allowing him to lead them?  As a conclusion, I think that "love" and "embrace" in the context of Jesus carry much more powerful meanings than in the context of people around us.

You can also consider the statement that Jesus teaches us by example.  If we don't follow his example, his teachings are not as effective.

Peace,
Pesho