In Jerusalem, Jesus explains to the people that He's going to die, and it's okay. He tells them that a grain of wheat is just a single grain until it is placed in the earth and dies. Then, in death, it creates food. If you love living too much, you will die, He explains. But if you don't care much what happens, you will live forever. He knows He can't escape death and disobey God. Jesus always takes His Father's advice. Suddenly, God's voice speaks to the group. God tells them that Jesus is right. Everything is going to be fine. The people are a little confused, but Jesus tells them not to worry. God told them exactly what they needed to hear. The light is going out pretty soon, Jesus explains. And people better recognize it before they're plunged into darkness.
It’s just before Passover, and Jesus and His disciples are enjoying their last meal together. Jesus knows that He's going to die and that Judas is going to help Him along. During the meal, Jesus gets up from the table, takes off His robe, and ties a towel around Himself. He pours water into a bowl, washes the disciples' feet, and wipes them with the towel. When He comes to Peter, Peter tells Jesus not to wash his feet. He's not worthy! Jesus tells him. He has to wash Peter's feet, otherwise he's not going to get a good place among the disciples. If that's the case, Peter replies, then wash my hands and face, too. Jesus tells him ok. He's already clean and only needs to wash his feet. In fact, all the disciples are clean… except one, Judas. After Jesus finishes washing the disciples' feet, He gets dressed and sits back down at the table. He tells the disciples that this is a thing now—He washed their feet, so they need to wash each other's, too.
Jesus tells His disciples that one of them is going to betray Him. Just thinking about this is pretty upsetting to Him. Even though He's told them all this before, the disciples are totally in the dark. They look at each other. Who could Jesus be talking about? Peter asks one of the other disciples to question Jesus further. (The gospel tells us that this is the one that Jesus loved—the Beloved Disciple) So, the Beloved Disciple (John) asks the question on everyone's mind: who is it? Jesus tells them that whoever He gives a piece of His bread to is the one. Then, He hands the bread to Judas and tells him to go ahead and do his dirty deed. The other disciples are still kind of confused. Judas holds all their money (and steals from it, too). Did Jesus just send him out on an errand to buy food? Did Jesus just want him to give some money to the poor? Judas leaves.
Now, Jesus begins, He's only going to be around a little bit longer. Then, He's going to a place the disciples can't visit. But Jesus has a new commandment for them: Love one another. Just like Jesus loves them, that's how they should treat each other. That's how people will know they're His disciples, because they'll be filled with love.
Peter—who, again, just does not get it—asks Jesus where He's going. Well, Jesus explains, you can't come just now, but you might be able to join Me there later. Peter wants to know why he can't come. He'd do anything for Jesus—even die for Him. Really, Jesus says. It's funny you should say that because pretty soon, you're going to deny that you know Me. Three times actually. Then you will hear the rooster crow.
Don't worry, Jesus tells the disciples. Just believe in Me and believe in God and things are going to be great. See, God has this amazing house. The house has tons of rooms in it. I'm going there to get a room ready for each of you. You guys know the way to get there, right? Jesus asks the disciples. "I am the way," He tells them. He's also "the truth" and "the life." You need to go through Him to get there, otherwise you'll never find God. Why doesn't Jesus just show them God? Phillip asks. That would be way easier. Haven't I been with you this whole time? Haven't I been talking about this for three years now? If you've seen Me, you've seen God. I thought I made that clear.
Jesus tells them that God is going to send them an Advocate (a.k.a. The Holy Spirit). The world isn't really going to get the Spirit, but the disciples will. He'll be with them always. Jesus promises that He'll come to them, too. If they love Him, He'll be there for them forever. Anyone who loves Jesus will be welcome with God. But anyone who doesn't love Jesus won't be so lucky. Jesus isn't going to be around much longer. He's leaving very soon. But if the disciples really loved Him, they'd be happy to see Him go. After all, He's going back to God. The place we all wanna be.
Jesus tells His disciples that He is like a vine and God is the caretaker of the vineyard. God cuts off all the branches on the vine that don't grow grapes. The branches that do produce grapes, though, He prunes and trims, so that they can make even more beautiful, delicious grapes. Everyone wants to be a delicious grape. Without Jesus, the branches can't grow at all. If people don't believe in Him, their branches will be cut off from the vine and end up dead and withered. Branches like that are usually gathered up and thrown in a fire.
If the disciples listen to Jesus, they'll know what love is. He's got the secret. The greatest love in the whole world is self-sacrificial love—when you lay down your life to save your friends. So, the disciples have some pretty big shoes to fill. Sure, Jesus is the boss, but the disciples are no longer just His underlings. They're His friends. That's why He's going to die to save them.
Jesus tells the disciples that people are going to hate them. The naysayers came after Jesus and they're going to come after the disciples, too. These people are filled with hate and they don't know or understand God.
Jesus tells all the disciples to watch out so they won't trip up along the way. He wants them to have a heads up because the people that hate Him aren't going to stand by and let the disciples just run around worshiping and teaching. Nope, they're going to try to kill them. Some of them will even think that, by killing the disciples, they'll be doing right by God. But, they'll be wrong. Very, very wrong. In case it wasn't clear, we're reminded that Jesus is telling them all this so they don't forget—not much chance of that—and so that when all this stuff happens, they'll remember that Jesus predicted it.
All this talk of endless persecution has got the disciples seriously depressed. Don't worry, Jesus tells them. It's all for the best, really. You'd rather know, than not know, right? When the Holy Spirit comes, things are going to be much better. First, the disciples will be suffering. Then they'll be overjoyed. It's kind of like a mother giving birth. The labor pains are terrible, but once she holds that baby in her arms, it's all forgotten. So it's going to be tough for a little while (when Jesus dies), but then things are going to get way better.
Before, Jesus used all kinds of metaphors to tell the people what He meant. Now He's just going give it to them straight. Jesus came from God. Now, He's going back to God. The end. The disciples are excited. Jesus has finally gotten through to them. No questions, right? And they all believe in Him to boot. Sure, but Jesus reminds them that one day they're going to leave Him all alone. We're thinking this day is coming pretty
soon.
Here is one of my paintings
soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment