"The Gospel of Peace for a Troubled Heart"

John 14:1-6, 26-28

14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

Big Idea of the Message

The desire for peace is something God has planted within all of our hearts, but there is much more to peace than an absence of conflict. Through the gospel we learn about God’s heart for peace in his creation.

Application Point

God’s peace is about the complete restoration of our souls rather than the removal of all obstacles; he calls us to partner with him in it. The key to finding peace and security in this life and the next is perfectly summed up in Jesus’s words to his disciples at the Last Supper. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1). These were meant not just to calm the minds of the men who’d learned Jesus had been betrayed by one of their own; they are words of power and authority that guide and direct us to this day.

“World Peace”

In the film Miss Congeniality, less-than-graceful FBI agent Gracie Hartis sent undercover as a contestant in a beauty pageant to prevent a bomb threat from being carried out. During the pageant, each contestant is asked the same question: “What is the one most important thing our society needs?” Unsurprisingly, the answer each contestant gives is the same: world peace (directed by Donald Petrie [Warner Bros., 2000], 1:04:42–1:05:17). Though the predictable scene is meant as a joke, there is a note of truth that rings through that idealistic dream. When one year slips into another, the wish for peace on earth is on many people’s minds. But more than world peace, most of us long for peace in our own lives. When we think of peace, we tend to think of lack of conflict, but in the gospel we discover that it means something much more fulfilling. #PeaceInTheMidst

Context of the Scripture

John 12–21 2. The Great Issue of Loneliness and Anxiety for the Community—Part I (14:1–14)

In contrast to a number of scholars, including Segovia, Beasley-Murray, and Carson, who view 13:31–14:31 as a unit, I regard chap. 14 as clearly divisible after 14:14. As I indicated above, I consider 13:31–38 to be a major summation or conclusion of the first part of the Farewell Cycle (13:1–38), but I also think that it serves as a preface to the discourses that follow. Since Jesus was going away and since Peter and his colleagues could not follow, at least for the present (13:36), the stage was set for a critical separation of Jesus from the disciples.

Separation naturally raises a sense of loneliness, and all sorts of questions flood the minds of those who are left behind. People experiencing the loss of a loved one and the bereavement that ensues often have difficulty integrating their state of loss with their questioning sense of what comes next. The disciples are pictured in these verses as being very human. Thus the words of Jesus that John indicates were intended to calm their anxieties turned out for the disciples to be difficult to synthesize with their earlier experience of relating to Jesus as the expected King (cf. 1:49; etc.).

It is not very different for us humans who have difficulty imagining living life on planet Earth without those who mean most to us. How do we go on in life without them? We humans do not even like to talk about death. Many people, who know better, even shy away from setting up their testamentary documents and making their wills. But death does not go away, and the potential of loneliness does not delay simply because we resist discussing it. Death is a reality we must face forthrightly because this world is not the ultimate reality.

The Farewell Cycle is intended in part to deal with our anxiety concerning such loneliness. Indeed, 14:1–14 confronts this issue squarely. As a result there is scarcely a Christian funeral conducted without some reference to John 14. The fourteen verses in this segment break naturally into three subsections: (1) preparation for the ultimate reality (14:1–3), (2) perplexing questions concerning getting there (14:4–11), and (3) the power of believing in Jesus for our life of discipleship now (14:12–14).

God prepares us for peace when we trust him with our heart trouble- The Father’s House

Jesus instructing his disciples to not have a troubled heart was not a suggestion, it was a prohibition for them and Christians today. This was very strong language from Christ, who is preparing his disciples for his impending death at the hands of the Romans driven by Jewish hate. Why would Jesus tell his followers not to fret about his own death? Jesus claimed he was the Son of God, then, in the disciples’ mind they wondered how could “God” die. Jesus did tell his disciples before now that he would be betrayed and denied by friends, tried and accused by the church and crucified by the the Romans. This kind of news is unsettling, akin but not the same as this portion of Martin Luther King Jr’s speech “I’ve Been to the Mountain” and I quote:

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land! And so I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

On April 4, 1968 on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Dr. Martin Luther was killed by an assassin’s bullet…was his speech prophetic?

Jesus’ declaration to his disciples seemed inappropriate considering the circumstances of the conversation that Jesus was having with them. I could imagine that this first sentence caught the remaining disciples(Judas was dismissed by this time) as prohibits them from being troubled. The Greek phrase is me parassestho, meaning “Do not let your hearts be overcome with turmoil, or “Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by the situation.” Jesus knew that his little band could and would be shaken not only by his words concerning his departure but also by the fact that he would soon become the crucified Lamb.

Jesus did not ask his disciples not to trust not in the power evident in the world but in God and in himself (Psalm 146:3-5). This direct linkage between God and Jesus has been a fundamental assertion of John, since he identified the Word with God (1:1–2) and later Jesus with the Father. The force of this verse is, in fact, a call to the disciples to follow the pattern of “trust” exhibited by Jesus (cf. Phil 2:5), who faced hostility and, indeed, abandonment by the disciples including Peter (18:17, 25, 27), though the beloved disciple does not ever seem to come in for criticism. The familiar cry of dereliction that is a climactic point in Mark (15:34; cf. Matt 27:46) is not present in John. Instead, there is a serenity in Jesus’ words “It is finished” (John 19:30) similar to Jesus’ dying declaration in Luke (23:46). πιστεύω (pisteuō). vb. to believe, trust; entrust. Describes the act of believing or trusting something on the basis of its truthfulness and reliability. “We trust people based on their actions. We trust God based on his Word.”

The reason the disciples should be able to evidence trust is because Jesus was going to provide preparation for them. That preparation is outlined in the metaphor of the “Father’s house” (oikia), which undoubtedly refers to the domain of God. That domain is described as being subdivided into many monai. The Greek word monai was rendered in the Vulgate by the Latin mansiones, which came down through the Tyndale version to the KJV as “mansions.” The use of the word “mansions” here is unfortunate because it has become infused into popular Christian culture so that one can hear some Christians speaking about the fact that they have “a mansion just over the hilltop.” Such a concept, unfortunately, supports the Western economic notion that following Jesus will lead to economic prosperity either in this life or in the life to come, especially if one must suffer in this life. But such a concept fails for several reasons. First, God does not promise economic prosperity. Second, the idea is a typical Semitic word picture describing a relationship of God with the people of God like the picture of heaven in Revelation 21–22. Third, and most importantly, monai does not mean a castle-like home anymore than mansiones in the Vulgate is to be interpreted in that manner. The word is derived from the Greek verb menein, “to remain,” and monai means “dwelling” or “abiding” places. So if the monai are in God’s house, the NIV’s “rooms,” or perhaps “apartments” or “flats,” would be much closer to the meaning of the text here. But in spite of the portrayal of God dwelling in a “house,” one must take great care not to visualize God in some earthlike “place.” Moreover, since we are bound by space-time limitations in all our thinking, we must not limit our concept of God’s domain to something like our idea of a three-story universe where heaven as the dwelling place of God is “up.”

God’s domain has plenty of room, and the preparation of Jesus for our entrance into that domain was through his “departure” or death on the cross. Carson is surely correct when he says concerning Jesus that arriving on the scene after his departure is not the point when Jesus “begins to prepare the place,” but “it is the going itself, via the cross and resurrection” that is the act of preparation. The Gospel of John is not trying to portray Jesus as being in the construction business of building or renovating rooms. Rather, Jesus was in the business of leading people to God. This preparation by Jesus is to be taken seriously because John pictures Jesus as here firmly asserting the point of his mission. And to make this point Jesus virtually uses a Jewish type of oath when he says “if it were not so, I would have told you.” Like God, Jesus needed no one else to support his assertions of truth, except to refer to himself. Employing 14:23 as a key, Gundry also connects the idea of “we will come to him” with the idea of Jesus coming in the Spirit. Moreover, he thinks it is possible to connect the idea of rooms (monai) with the idea of coming to “dwell” (monēn) with them in 14:23. Although these are the only two uses of monēn/monai in the New Testament, it should be noted that the concept of dwelling is actually focused in two different directions: in the first the disciples are to gain their dwelling in the divine domain, and in the second the persons of the Godhead come to dwell in the disciples.

God promises his Spirit within us- The Presence of God

Jesus’ death and ascension would usher in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. The role of the Spirit in this context is spelled out as that of instructor/teacher but clearly not in the sense of a replacement for Jesus. Instead, the Spirit’s role is more like that of a prompter, or one who brings to memory the ideas of Jesus that one should be able to recall. The theme of “memory” or “remembrance” is certainly one reason the Gospel was written, even though the words are not frequently employed in John (hypomnēsei, “remind,” is used only here and mimnēskesthai, “remember,” appears only at 2:17, 22; 12:16). This role of prompter/teacher is crucial for John because the task of the Holy Spirit could be said to be one of confirming and interpreting the message proclaimed and demonstrated by Jesus. In his first epistle John illustrates that role when he says that it is the Spirit of God in humans who confesses or “acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh” (1 John 4:2). Indeed, in his introduction to the epistle John himself makes that very confession (1 John 1:1–4).

Just as Jesus insisted that his teaching was not his own but represented the teaching of God (cf. John 7:17, 28; 8:28), so it is here asserted that the Spirit would interpret the teaching of Jesus. As Schnackenburg has said, “the Paraclete … simply continues Jesus’ revelation, not by providing new teachings, but only by taking what Jesus himself ‘taught’ to a deeper level.”

Throughout the Gospel, Jesus has repeatedly affirmed his dependence on the Father in that he was sent from the Father (e.g., 5:30). Here the double-dependent nature of the Spirit is asserted. In the first Paraclete passage Jesus promised to pray that the Father would send the Spirit (14:16); in the present verse it is said that Father would send the Spirit in Jesus’ name. As I have indicated at 1:12, referring to a name in such a manner actually implies referring to the person’s full nature as evidenced in the way the Old Testament names are used. Thus the references both here and at 14:16 actually speak of the intimacy or unitedness of the Father and the Son in their joint mission of sending the Paraclete.

F. Craddock, in his usual pithy manner, summarizes four realities he sees in this verse. First, he reminds us that the Spirit “is given not ‘gotten.’ ” You cannot buy the Spirit either like Simon the magician (cf. Acts 8:18–19) or in contemporary “step-by-step instruction on how to get the Holy Spirit.” Second and third, having the Spirit does not “qualify one to disregard or reject the historical Jesus” because the Spirit was sent in Jesus’ name and because the Spirit will bring to remembrance what Jesus said. The fourth reality concerns teaching. “New conditions and circumstances call for hearing” in a fresh way the message of Jesus because the old is also new and “indigenous to every time and place.”

God gives us His peace

Relying on the Semitic expression of Greeting and Farewell (shalom), which had come to be associated with the key Aaronic benediction (Num 6:26) and Israel’s messianic expectations (e.g., Isa 9:6–7; 52:7; 57:19; Ezek 37:26), Jesus offered his “farewell” to the disciples, but it is more than a farewell. It is Jesus’ version of messianic hope for his followers because they lived in a world filled with frustration, anger, violence, and death.The Roman Empire achieved its pax Romana of Augustus and his successors by the sword, but here Jesus proclaims a peace far different from the way of the world. As Hoskyns and Davey have succinctly stated, Jesus was proclaiming “the new order,” which “is simply the peace of God in the world.” It was not like the cries of “peace, peace” by Israel when Jeremiah reminded them “there is no peace” (Jer 6:14). This peace was the gift of Jesus which would calm their troubled hearts and ease their fears of his departure. It is the peace that Christians would come to experience in the postresurrection era of the Spirit, when Paul could proclaim a peace of Christ Jesus that goes beyond all human understanding and guards believers “hearts and minds” (Phil 4:7).

Shalem, a Hebrew word that we often translate as “peace” also means “complete,” “safe,” “perfect,” “whole,” and “full,” as well as “at peace” (Blue Letter Bible, s.v. “H8003, shalem [adj.],” https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H8003&t=KJV). As we study the gospel, we discover the very peace we long for is what God longs for as well. He longs for us to be complete in him, safe in him, perfected in him, and at peace with him. This is the reason Jesus Christ came to earth and walked among us: so that we would find a refuge of hope and peace, even while living in a world filled with despair, conflict, and unrest. But unlike earthly refuges which are limited in space and resources, Jesus promises that there is no limit to God’s provision and security (v. 2) and that God is still at work preparing a kingdom into which all who believe in the Father and the