Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of The Daily gospel
exegesis podcast. We're all about doing a really
in-depth, look at scripture, helping you understand, the
literal sense of the Gospel reading that you'll hear it
today's mass. So we're giving Catholics and
Christians and anyone who listens we're giving you the
tools to Stand, what the text meant in its original context
and it's easy to forget to do that.
But as Catholics, that's where we have to start.
If we want to understand the Bible, we have to start with the
literal sense of the text. So today, we're looking at quite
a rich text, there's a lot, you can say about this one, so John
chapter, 14 verses 15 to 21. Jesus said to his disciples, if
you love me you will keep my Commandments.
I shall ask the father and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you forever that Spirit of Truth whom the world
can never receive since it neither sees him nor knows him
but you know him because he is with you, he is in you, I will
not leave you orphans, I will come back to you.
In a short time, the world will no longer see me, but you will
see me because I live and you will live on that day.
You will understand that I am in my father, and you in me and I
in you Anybody who receives my Commandments and keeps them will
be one who loves me and anybody who loves me Will Be Loved by my
father and I shall love him and show myself to him.
So that's our text today. It's incredibly deep.
There's a lot of trinitarian language here and there's some
quite deep spiritual theology in here as well.
So we're right in the middle of the farewell discourse, his
Jesus just prior to. This has said, you will perform
Greater Works than I have and you can hear that text on
Saturday of week, 4 of Easter. So the farewell discourse is
actually right at various times in the year.
It's broken up into smaller sections and the part we have
today is actually never read as a A weekday reading.
It's only red once every three years on the sixth Sunday of
Easter in year a. So you may not hear this reading
all that often. So starting in verse 15,
remember Jesus is speaking to his Apostles at the Last Supper
on Easter Thursday. If you love me, you will keep my
Commandments. Now, this actually very
important line in understanding. According To Jesus, how one
achieves salvation and what it means to be a Christian.
If you love me, you will keep my Commandments.
This is going to be developed later in the farewell discourse.
So we won't say too much about it now.
But the main point is that Jesus teaches that it's Not enough to
Simply know him or even to know his Commandments.
One has to follow him, you have to keep the Commandments rather
than just knowing them. So, and this turns out to be
equivalent to remaining in Jesus when Jesus, says, remain in me
or abide in me, what he actually means by that, and we'll see
that as we go through the discourse is abiding, me equals
keep my Commandments if you want to abide in Jesus, if you want
to abide in the life of the Trinity, you need to keep Jesus
Commandments. That's Jesus teaching all the
way through here. Verse 16.
I shall ask the father. So Jesus now is going to tell
the apostles about a promise, he's going to give them.
He says, I shall ask the father so the father is the source of
all gifts and he will give you another advocate.
So the word here for advocate in the Greek is parakletos, and
that can be translated counselor.
So Jesus, he says, I will give you another Advocate or
counselor. In Jesus Culture, that was
actually a technical legal term which referred to a person's
defense counsel in court. So it literally Jesus is saying,
I'm going to give you a defense lawyer.
This Advocate is going to be someone who will assist the
apostles and will plead on their behalf to the judge and defend
them from the prosecutor. So it's really interesting
imagery here. That Jesus uses to talk about
the Christian Life. Jesus gives is going to give the
defense counselor after he's gone.
The judge is essentially Picked it as God and the prosecutor is
Satan. This is actually picked up later
in the Book of Revelation as well, where Satan is called, the
accuser of the Brethren. Whereas the holy spirit is their
defense counselor. So Jesus gives the apostles a
promise, and he's going to give them a counselor, parakletos
notice it. He says I will give you another
counselor, so they already have one, which is Jesus, but he's
going away. So he's promising that even
though he won't be with them, a different one will be the.
Holy It will be their Advocate. After Jesus is gone.
We often don't think about this aspect of the Holy Spirit taking
Jesus Place. Essentially Jesus goes on.
I will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.
So even though Jesus will be with them for a short time
longer, a very short time. Actually, he says the Holy
Spirit which is the advocate will remain with Jesus
followers. Always Forever is what he says.
The holy spirit will be with you forever.
This is a promise for the The church Jesus knows that he won't
always be able to be present on Earth, but he promises that the
holy spirit will be present in a special way in the church.
This is actually the first of five promises that Jesus is
going to make about the holy spirit.
So this whole section here is going to be about the Holy
Spirit. Jesus calls him in verse 17,
that Spirit of Truth. So, the spirit, the holy spirit
is the one who reveals God's will earlier in the Gospel of
John. We learnt that the Is God's
will. So the holy spirit is the one
who reveals God's Will and makes it possible to follow.
God's will the holy spirit gives knowledge and also gives the
ability to follow that knowledge.
Jesus says that Spirit of Truth whom the world can never
receive. Now this is interesting because
in a sense the Holy Spirit does have a general work in the
world. But Jesus here says that,
there's a special sense in which the world cannot receive the
Holy Spirit. There's Special blessings that
the holy spirit gives the church not to the world.
And when Jesus uses the term the world, he means Humanity in
general. That's in Rebellion against God,
Humanity, in Rebellion, against God, who refuses to accept Jesus
and the New Covenant, they cannot accept the spirit of
Truth. Jesus goes on the world can
never receive him since it neither sees him nor knows him.
So Jesus says that unbelievers in the world cannot receive the
holy spirit because they don't perceive it and they don't
understand it. Jesus is going to develop this
further. He's going to say the world
rejects Jesus himself in the same way.
So just as the world rejects Jesus they'll also reject the
Holy Spirit and in fact they'll also reject the apostles as well
perceiving Jesus and perceiving the Holy Spirit go together.
The catechism talks about this. Actually sometimes you might
hear Catholics or Christians say that they understand Jesus or
they prefer Jesus but not the Holy Spirit or you might hear
some other religions. Say they believe in the The
spirit, but they don't follow Jesus.
Well, Jesus teaching is, you can't separate them.
You're either perceive both of them or you perceive neither of
them. So Jesus says, since the world
near the Seas, nor knows him but you know him.
So Jesus says to the apostles, you know, the Holy Spirit
already. Now certainly they don't fully
understand it yet. There's been several times when
they haven't understood what's going on but Jesus says, you do
already know the holy spirit. So this is a verse that Is that
only Believers can access and perceive the Holy Spirit at
least, to an extent. Notice the personal pronoun,
which is associated with the Holy Spirit, Jesus uses the
pronoun, him all the way through here.
Jesus says, the holy spirit, is a person, he goes on because he
is with you, he is in you. So before this Jesus says, you
know, him and as we just said, they don't fully understand him.
But Jesus says, the way in which the apostles know the Holy
Spirit already, Is that he is with you, he is in you.
Now there's different translations here and Scholars
debate, what the best way of looking at this phrases.
L lectionary has it as because he is with you, he is in you.
But other translations, put it this way he dwells with you and
he will be in you. So there's a question here about
is Jesus. Making an extra promise of a
future tense promise he will be in you.
So depending on which translation you take Jesus seems
to be saying that the Holy Spirit It is already in their
midst and that would make sense, given that Jesus himself.
Already has the Holy Spirit, he received the Holy Spirit at his
own baptism, but he also makes an additional promise he is with
you and he will be in you. So, there's a deeper filling of
the holy spirit that the apostles will receive, but it
hasn't happened yet. We know that that happens at
Pentecost. So Jesus is foreshadowing, a
special outpouring of the spirit Other scholars, believe though
that when Jesus says he is with you, that will refer to the
general dwelling of the holy spirit in the whole church.
And when Jesus says, he will be in you maybe that refers to the
Holy Spirit, indwelling individual Believers.
So some Scholars think that maybe we can translate this as a
collective and then a personal so it's a general promise and
then a personal promise. So for that reason we can say
that both the church and individual Believers can be
considered to be temples of the holy spirit.
So you see how rich this theology is here and really,
what? Only scratching the surface
Verse 18. Jesus says, I will not leave you
orphans or another translation is, I will not leave you
desolate now that will be quite comforting for the apostles
because the apostles were probably thinking, based on
everything Jesus has said about, I'm going away, they probably
quite worried that Jesus their Master is going away and he's
never going to return. That's probably something
they're really concerned about. But Jesus says, I will not leave
you orphans. He goes on, I will come back to
you. Now, in context, this is a
reference to the resurrection. It can sometimes be hard to
discern because there's a few times in the Gospel of John.
When Jesus says, I'm going away and going to the father and that
seems to be a reference to the Ascension, but sometimes he
talks about going away, is in, I'm going to die.
And that seems to be what he's talking about here.
He says, I will come back to you, so he's thinking of the
resurrection and then he clarifies it in verse 19 in a
short time, the world will no longer see me.
So, after the crucifixion, even after the resurrection, Jesus
appeared to the apostles, but he doesn't appear to the whole
world. We sometimes forget this Jesus
preached to the apostles after his resurrection, but he doesn't
preach to the world anymore. The World At Large does not see
Jesus after his death. Jesus goes on but you will see
me because I Live Now. Jesus is speaking in the present
tense so it gets a bit complicated here because I live.
It probably means something like I am alive always even after my
death. So I am the one that lives he
says because I live you will live.
So he speaking to the apostles here and gives them a promise,
what does it mean by you will live.
You can take this to mean physical life.
As in you'll be resurrected on Judgement Day.
It could be spiritual life. And certainly the gospels often
talk about being saved as having eternal life, as, in
participating in the Divine Life Of God.
It could mean either one of those, probably Jesus.
Here is referring to the apostles own Resurrection at the
end of time. So Jesus, he says, because I
live as in because he will be bodily resurrected, you will
live. You also will be bodily
resurrected Jesus death. And Resurrection is what makes
it possible for all other believers to be.
In the future. Verse 20 on that day.
You will understand that I am in my father and you and me and I
in you. So, we have this deep, mystical
Union language on that day. So, on the day of the
Resurrection, you will understand these things at the
time, Jesus says, this stuff at the Last Supper, The Apostles
don't yet grasped, the Deep, mystical Union between the
Father, the Son, and the disciples, but after the
resurrection, they will come to understand that more clearly
That's what Jesus says, you will understand that I am in my
father and you and me, and I in you.
So, there's this deep, mystical Union between the Father, the
Son, and the apostles. And indeed, all Christians are
invited to be part of this deep. Trinitarian Union of love.
Jesus says that, on that day, they will come to understand
those things more clearly. And indeed after the
resurrection they do particularly after Pentecost
their radically transformed in the apostles, understand the
things of God much deeper. Verse 21, anybody who receives
my Commandments and keeps them. So, what does he mean here by my
Commandments? That's a good question.
Some have taken this to mean, the whole of the Old Testament
is in God's Commandments in context.
Jesus seems to mean the Commandments, he's given
throughout his ministry. My Commandments is the one that
the ones that he's been giving as part of the New Covenant,
during his ministry and Jesus Commandments are basically
instructions on how to live as God wants them, he's been
revealing to them what it means. Means to follow the truth.
What it means to follow the will of God.
Jesus says, anybody who receives my Commandments and keeps them
notice that receiving them in itself is not enough, they have
to receive the Commandments and keep them one has to willingly
choose to keep them in order to get the the benefits of This
Promise notice he says anybody. So this part applies to anyone
who's willing any Christian who's willing, anybody who
receives my Commandments, and keeps them will be one who loves
me. So, Jesus says that, in order
for someone to love Jesus, they must keep his Commandments.
Those are interesting words, if you commit, keep my
Commandments, then you will love me.
Love means doing what's good for the other and this is very much
tied up with Covenant faithfulness to be a Christian,
According To Jesus means to have Covenant faithfulness to Jesus,
which is to follow his Commandments.
And to be a good representative of him in the world.
Jesus goes on anybody who loves me Will Be Loved by my father.
So notice the flow-on effect here, anyone who follows, Jesus
Commandments Will Be Loved by Jesus and they'll be loved by
the father as well. Notice the intimate link there
between the father and the son. Now, when Jesus here says, if
you do these things, the father will love you.
This is not a denial that God loves everyone.
He certainly does love everyone, he loves everything that exists
but it does teach here Jesus teaches that God has a special
favor, especially Special Covenant, faithfulness to those
who follow Jesus Commandments. Jesus goes on anyone who loves
me Will Be Loved by my father and I shall love him.
So not only will faithful disciples be loved by the father
they'll be loved by the Sun as well.
Notice how all these things keep kind of circling back on both
the father and the son. Jesus goes on, I shall love him
and show myself to him. Now that part gets explained a
bit more in the coming versus the show, myself part is
explained in verses 22 to 26. And if you want to hear that
next section, it's red on Monday of week, 5 of Easter.
So you might like to go through the podcast archives, to find
that one Monday of week, 5 of Easter.
So really quite an amazing text and I hope that exegesis has
helped you understand it a bit better.
If you turn to the catechism of the Catholic Church, there's a
whole stack of places which talked about this verse.
So we're just going to read out a few of them and will include
as many of these, as we can in the episode description
paragraph, seven to nine about Christ.
Jesus only, when their hour has arrived for his glorification,
choose does Jesus Promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, since
his death and Resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the
father's the spirit of Truth. The other paraclete will be Even
by the father in answer to Jesus prayer, he will be sent by the
father in Jesus name and Jesus will send him from The Father's
Side since he comes from the Father.
The holy spirit will come and we shall know him.
He will be with us forever. He will remain with us, the
spirit will teach us everything. Remind us of all the Christ said
to us and bear witness to him. The holy spirit will lead us
into all truth and will glorify Christ.
He will prove the world wrong. Our sin righteousness and
judgment. So there we have the catechism,
basically summarizing all the promises that Jesus gives about
the Holy Spirit paragraph. 69 to, this is about the Holy
Spirit. Again, when he proclaims and
Promises the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him, the
paraclete literally, he who is called to one side advocaat has
paraclete is commonly translated by consoler and Jesus is the
first consoler. The Lord also, Call the Holy
Spirit, the spirit of truth. Then in paragraph 2, for 3
before his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of another
paraclete Advocate the Holy Spirit at work since creation.
Having previously spoken through the prophets, the spirit will
now be with and in the disciples to teach them.
And to guide them into all the truth.
The holy spirit is thus revealed as another Divine person with
Jesus and the father Paragraph, 687, the spirit of Truth, who
unveils Christ who us will not speak on his own such properly.
Divine self-effacement explains why the world cannot receive
him? Because it neither sees him nor
knows him while those who believe in Christ.
No, the spirit because he dwells with them.
So that's an interesting interpretation there.
The catechism cubes. So Jesus says, the world cannot
see him or know him. And the catechism reminds us
that one of the reasons for that is the Spirit sort of is very
humble. He doesn't speak of himself, he
speaks of Jesus and the father. So in that sense, the world
might find it hard to see the holy spirit because he's quite
humble and doesn't speak about himself.
So, really, the gateway to the holy spirit in a sense is
through the father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit reinforces,
all that is known about the father and the son.
Paragraph. 788. This is about the Church in
communion with Jesus. When his visible presence was
taken from them. Jesus did not leave his
Apostles, orphans, he promised to remain with them until the
end of time. He sent them his Spirit as a
result communion with Jesus has become in a way more intense.
By communicating his Spirit Christ mystically constitutes as
his body, those Brothers of his who are called together from
every nation. So that's a good place to
finish. I hope you have learned
something new today. If you're enjoying this podcast,
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