John 14:27-31a
Chapter 14
27
Peace be with you! My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid!
28
You heard me say, ‘I am going away, but I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
29
I have told you this now before it takes place, so that when it does happen, you may believe.
30
There is very little left for me to tell you, for the ruler of this world is at hand, although he has no power over me.
31
But see, the world must know that I love the Father and that I do what the Father has taught me to do. Come now, let us go.”
Commentaries
Jesus, the Way to the Father
This chapter explores a mysterious pattern of Jesus going and returning: going to the Father only to reappear to his disciples and stay with them forever. The text in the Fourth Gospel reveals that Jesus never truly leaves or disappears; his going to the Father symbolizes a fuller return to his followers. Verse 23 is the chapter’s central point. God’s dwelling among his people, which the Old Testament describes in a cultic way (Ex 25:8; 29:45; Lv 26:11), was promised for the end times (Ezk 37:26ff; Zec 2:14; Rev 21:3, 22ff), and is now fulfilled within the community. It is the presence of the Holy Trinity in the heart of the Christian, who is transformed into a living temple of God! Amidst the desert and the exodus of our history, God truly dwells in the tent and temple of the believer.