Frameworks:
John's Gospel, chapter 14
(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for verse-by-verse study or meditation. To focus each
verse we have also added in italic a description of what is happening)
CHAPTER
14
v.1-14
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
v.5-14
Jesus the Way to the Father
v.15-31
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
v.1-4
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
v.1
(Don't be troubled, just believe) “Do
not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also
in me.
v.
2 (I'm going to prepare a place
for you) My Father's house has
many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I
am going there to prepare a place for you?
v.
3 (but I'll come back to get
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.
v.
4 (you know where that is)
You know the way to the place where
I am going.”
v.5-14
Jesus the Way to the Father
v.
5 (how can we know) Thomas
said to him, “Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how
can we know the way?”
v.
6 (a major declaration) Jesus
answered, “I am the way and
the truth and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through me.
v.
7 (know me and you know my Father)
If you really know me, you will know
my Father as well.
v.
8 (Philip asks ) Philip
said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
v.
9 (again -see me and you see the
Father) Jesus 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'?
v.
10 (we are one, hear me and hear
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.
v.
11 (if you struggle to believe,
believe the works) 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.
v.
12 (if you believe in me you'll
do these same works) 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.
v.
13 (ask and I'll do it in order
to glorify my Father) And I
will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be
glorified in the Son.
v.
14 (ask anything) You
may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
v.15-31
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
v.
15 (let obedience be your sign
of love) “If you love me, keep
my commands.
v.
16,17 (I'll ask for you and He's
send the Spirit) 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.
v.
18 (I won't leave you alone)
I will not leave you as orphans;
I will come to you.
v.
19 (soon the world won't see me
– but you will) Before long,
the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because
I live, you also will live.
v.
20 (then you'll realise our unity)
On that day you will realize that
I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
v.
21 (the one who obey me is the
one who loves me) 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 myself to them.”
v.
22 (the ‘other Judas' - why)
Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said,
“But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to
the world?”
v.
23 (obedience equals love, a place
for us to dwell) 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.
v.
24 (those who don't love me don't
obey) 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.
v.
25 (I've made sure you hear this
while I'm with you) “All this
I have spoken while still with you.
v.
26 (when the Spirit comes,
He will teach 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.
v.
27 (so my other-world peace I leave
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.
v.
28 (if you understand my going
you'd we glad) “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.
v.
29 (I've given you this pre-warning)
I have told you now before it happens,
so that when it does happen you will believe.
v.
30,31 (the enemy is coming
so the world will see my obedience) I
will not say much more to you, for 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.