You Will See

Created using ChatGPT

19 "Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 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.” 22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 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. 24 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." (John 14:19-24)

One of the, simultaneously, beautiful and challenging aspects of humanity is our ability to have the same experience yet come away with different interpretations, and draw different conclusions, from it. Anything we experience together can have a vastly different effect on each of us. Judas (not the one who betrayed Jesus) had difficulty understanding Jesus' statement that, although Jesus' disciples would continue to see Jesus, the time was approaching when the world would no longer be able to see him. Judas thought this was a purposeful decision on Jesus' part, but Jesus explained that the ability to see Jesus rests on the choices of each person. Those who choose to obey Jesus' teachings will experience Jesus' presence, and those who do not will not.

Often we long for a selfish kind of unity - not for the solidarity it can produce, but for confirmation of our rightness. The greater the number of those who agree with us, the more convinced we are of our beliefs. And, the more convinced we are that we are right, the more certain we are that others are wrong. But Jesus wasn't striving to create an "in" crowd. He had spent his ministry breaking down walls that had created outcasts. He simply wanted his disciples to understand that not everyone saw and understood Jesus and his ministry the same way they did. He knew that his death and resurrection would widen the chasm that his ministry was creating, and he didn't want a lack of consensus to break the faith of his followers. He hoped to encourage them that his presence would be the reward for clinging to the love of God that he had shown them. Perhaps our focus should be less on convincing others to believe what we believe, and more on abiding in the love of Christ by obediently

loving all of those he came to save.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 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. 27 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. 28 “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. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me. (John 14:25-31)