John 14.1-20
14“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
4And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
15”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
18”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Thoughts: I will not leave you orphaned. I have a friend that went to the Ukraine to do some work in an orphanage. There was one little girl that he meet there who was all of 6 or 7 years old. All she wanted to do was stroke the bake of his hand. She knew what it was to be alone. She desperately longed for the comfort of knowing that there was someone, anyone in this world that would walk beside her, not leave her orphaned. So Jesus here assures us that even when he is gone, that the Holy Spirit will be with us and we will not be alone. There is great comfort in this passage, yes there will be a place for us when we die...and Jesus is indeed the way, the truth and the life! But there is also the promise that until that day we will have the presence of God in our lives through the work of the Holy Spirit. So with Paul we can say, whether we live or whether we die...we belong to Christ!
Questions: Have you ever felt the presence of God when you really needed to know that you weren't alone? Can we trust that God is there even if we don't "feel" it?
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