An Overcoming and Life Changing Love
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Illustration: Saying Goodbye
No doubt each of us here this morning, as well as those who may be watching online, has experienced the occasion of saying farewell. Farewells come in all varieties, from the innocuous examples exemplified by the termination of time spent together during a Sunday afternoon meal, to those more significant departures illustrated by the closure of time spent with family and loved ones during holidays, especially if those occasions are experienced infrequently due to distance, to the most significant of all farewells: that of saying a final farewell to one whose departure from this life is imminent. Jesus’ farewell was no less difficult for his disciples who had come to depend on his comforting presence. He had become a source of stability in a world that was often characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability, and this absence would leave a void or hole in their lives. Yet Jesus’ departure was a necessary event in the fulfillment of God’s plan to bring humanity into a new relationship with the Lord that would allow us to know him in a completely new capacity, a completely new way.
As we learned last week, Judas had already conspired to betray Jesus and Jesus exhorted him by stating in verse 27, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” With Judas’ departure, the events soon to culminate in Jesus’ crucifixion are put into motion, so that the Lord, beginning in verse 31, will begin what has become known as his farewell discourse. This morning we will look at the initial portion of this exhortation and attempt to better understand the implications of Jesus’ words for us today. To that end, let’s begin by reading our text.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
As we begin, it’s important that we remember, it can be challenging and difficult to say goodbye, even under the best of circumstances, depending on the context within which a farewell occurs. This truth is fresh in our minds because we’ve experienced the recent departure of a friend and loved one, our brother Robert Williams. And so, we have to exercise care regarding how we process the pain of loss, lest our grief overwhelm us, and we lose sight of the fact that we are promised at the resurrection we will behold his face and he will wipe away all our tears. The first thing, then, that the Lord would have us understand and remind ourselves is that he deeply cares and understands how difficult departures are. This is so because Hebrews 4:15 tells us that, “we do not have a[n interceding] high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus has experienced every pain we will ever endured in this life, and he is able to comfort us in our sorrow. As we proceed, his comforting ability will be fully displayed to bring us hope.
I. An Impending Departure - vs. 31-33.
I. An Impending Departure - vs. 31-33.
As part of the backdrop to our passage, we recall that the chapter opens with the familiar scene of the Last Supper and the occasion of Jesus’ washing of his disciple’s feet, an act that carries both significance and implication in light of his impending departure - which is his crucifixion. The act of foot washing, as the disciples will eventually come to recognize, carries profound implications, in light of what Jesus says. We also get an opportunity to witness Peter’s impetuousness on display once again. Jesus’ earlier exhortation, in verses 6-8, regarding Peter’s need of cleansing, takes on greater significance as we consider Jesus’ impending departure and exhortation toward love.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.
The Father is glorified through the agency of his Son.
The Greek word here translated “glorified” is a passive verb but it lacks a direct object. This fact demonstrates that Jesus’ actions are inseparable from that of his Father, because the Father and Son share the same agency, which means they share the same power and authority, and by doing so, they act as one. Essentially, Jesus is providing us a glimpse into the inner life of the Trinity, revealing how triune members work together, in what is referred to as inseparable operations, to accomplish human redemption. Jesus never acts alone, rather each member of the Trinity is active in every aspect of Christ’s earthly ministry to accomplish human redemption. This truth is instructional and should cause us to ask the following question: Is the Lord active in all that we do? Do we look to, and rely on, his presence in our lives in all of our activities so that our lives bring glory to him. Only through his agency in our lives can our life have and accomplish anything of eternal worth.
33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
The Greek word translated “little children” pictures an extremely or unusually small child. It’s similar to using of the word “kitten” in describing a very small cat, and it was used to convey an affectionate, and gentle, appeal.
You will seek me.
This is fulfilled, at least in part, in the occasion of visiting the empty tomb and discovering that he is absent. In John 20 Mary weeping over the supposed theft of his body encounters the risen Lord, who she assumes is the gardener, and asks him what he has done with the body, pleading for it so that she may take it. Their seeking will be the result from a sense of loss and yearning for his presence. His absence will be profound, and they will long for his presence. We can relate to what they will feel by considering occasions in our own lives when we have reflected on a departed loved one, reminiscing on time spent together, in essence trying to recapture fading memories, and in our own way seeking a departed loved one.
“Where I am going you cannot come” - They are unable to come because only he is able to accomplish what they so desperately require: their redemption.
There is no participating in their own redemption. This is the profound truth regarding Jesus’ crucifixion: it’s necessary, because nothing else can repair the damage done to us, and we can have no part in it, other than embracing it in faith. Even in this, he must first enable us to embrace in faith what his death and resurrection has accomplished and secured on hour behalf. They can not come, but he can give them a preview into what his death and resurrection will accomplish for them: the ability and capacity to love in a totally new way.
II. A New Commandment - vs. 34 - 35.
II. A New Commandment - vs. 34 - 35.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Upon notifying the disciples that he is preparing to depart and that they will be unable to follow him at this time, he shifts the focus of his exhortation to the obligations of the new covenant he will be inaugurating.
The commandment sounds familiar, so in what sense is this a new commandment?
As we are accustomed to seeing him do, Jesus will elevate the expectations of the law and breath new life, literally, into the commandments they are already familiar with, giving them new emphasis, and in so doing really making them something new. For example, we find in Matthew 5:21-24, Jesus exhorting:
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Or in Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus elevates the concept of faithfulness and fidelity to ones spouse.
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
While more examples could be used, these two examples suffice to demonstrate that Jesus’ emphasizes is that while our actions are important, they really originate within the disposition of our heart. It’s within the incubator of our heart that attitudes become precursors to the actions that develop and follow from them. While somethings may sound familiar, they will take on a new dimension with additional focus and emphasis. This sounds familiar because they’ve heard something similar in the Mosaic Law.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Jesus’ command is different because the referent in Leviticus is the individual for the purpose of maintaining civil order in a burgeoning nation. The neighbor was a fellow Israelite, a member of the covenantal community. However, here in verse 34, Jesus says they are to love one another, as he has loved them. In a sense, what he is asking of them is impossible. The context of his love is his self-sacrifice for their redemption. They cannot love one another as he does, because they can’t die in the same sense he will. While there are many implications of this verse, at least one of them is that there is a weakness in the law, one that he is correcting, and which was noted by Paul in Romans 8:3-4.
3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
His death and resurrection make possible what before was impossible. How so? First of all, Leviticus 19:18 is part of a larger body of exhortations and expectations that are established as part of the liberating act of God in freeing his people from bondage. The Lord knew that statutes and regulations codified in external laws written on stone tablets, coupled with a self-referent example, would be insufficient to produce genuine concern for the well-being and prosperity of others. By nature, we’re simply too self-centered, with a propensity toward ignoring others if we see no personal benefit in our own benevolence. But Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection will usher in a new covenant, and its laws and precepts will not be external, but will be written on the heart, giving the members of this covenantal community the ability and capacity to love in a completely new way. Jeremiah 31:31-34 predicted what life in this new covenantal community would look like.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Are we aware of the depth of our own depravity, sinfulness, and inability to live up to God’s expectations in our own strength? Are we tired of our self-centeredness, our shortness with others, our judgmental attitudes? Do we long to really care for the genuine well-being of others without any pretense or aim toward self-gratification? If so, there is a new community we can become members of. If we are already part of this new community, can others see the laws written on our hearts? If not, take courage, for the Lord tells us in Hebrews 13:21 that he has:
21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
What about the times we experience failure; what promise do we have that his love is sufficient to remove any stain of guilt and restore us in his favor? We find an example beginning in verse 36.
III. An Impending Denial - vs. 36-38.
III. An Impending Denial - vs. 36-38.
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
Jesus predicts Peter’s own death, not in the sense of a redemptive death, but in the sense that at his death others will be able to look back on it and see that he brought glory to Jesus and the Father. Is that the testimony we long for when we depart this life?
37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus had made an even more emphatic prediction in Matthew 26:31-35
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” 33 Peter answered him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” 34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!” And all the disciples said the same.
Peter’s pride and boastfulness would bring him to the lowest point of his life.
38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
Is there any significance to the number three in relation to Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s impending denial? While obvious care must be exercised to avoid unbiblical or heretical interpretations, numbers are frequently use in scripture for symbolism or for emphasis. For example, the number six is often associated with humanity, because it was on the sixth day that God creates humanity. In contrast, seven is often associated the idea of completion or perfection, and with the end of the Lord’s creative activity in Genesis 2. The number three may also carry significance regarding completeness or perfection. If so, Jesus may be emphasizing the totality or completeness of Peter’s denial. There would be no opportunity to go back and correct what had been done, no opportunity to return and apologize. In a very real and profound sense, there would be no undoing of this type of betrayal, no remedy to remove the sting inflicted by Peter’s actions. The sense of finality will be overwhelming. Luke provides a more abbreviated account, but he also includes a significant detail that is lacking in John’s account, that emphasizes this fact.
Luke 22:54-62
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
Illustration: An Amputated Spirit
In the film, Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino portrays highly decorated Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a Vietnam era military veteran who had been force-ably discharged from active service and forced into an unwelcomed retirement due to an injury that has left him blind. The film’s climactic end culminates in a disciplinary hearing convened by the school’s headmaster in an effort to force a confession from a young preparatory school student named Charlie Sims, played by Chris O’Donnell. Frank comes to Charlie’s defense at the conclusion of the hearing as Charlie is about to be expelled and utters one of the films most memorable and impassioned dialogues in which Frank pleads, “I’ve been around you know. There was a time I could see - and I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these. There arms torn out, the legs ripped off; but there is nothing like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that.”
Peter’s denial leaves him with an amputated spirit. Peter’s weeping results from how his betrayal weighs on him. There is nothing to fix what he’s done. No going back to undo it. But don’t miss this important truth: as devastating as the offense is, his future restoration will eclipse the offense, repair and restore the shattered relationship, and bind him in unbreakable bonds of love. John later will recount Peter’s restoration in John 21:15-17
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Notice that Jesus responds to Peter’s 3-fold betrayal, with a 3-fold restoration, reinforcing his love and acceptance. What Peter could not repair, Jesus overcomes.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, what John here reveals to us is a love that overcomes betrayal, enables genuine love and obedience, and provides us assurance and hope. Though goodbyes may be hard, Jesus redeems them by redeeming us. When we experience hurt in this life, his love and acceptance remind us that one day we will be with him, because he left to prepare a place for us that where he is, we also may be. On that day, all loved ones that have gone before us will welcome us home for good.
