(ii) ‘So I send you’—discourse B (15:1–16:33)
[15:1] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. [3] Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. [5] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. [7] If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. [9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. [10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17] These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
[18] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. [22] If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. [23] Whoever hates me hates my Father also. [24] If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. [25] But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
[26] “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. [27] And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
[16:1] “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. [2] They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. [3] And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. [4] But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. [5] But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ [6] But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. [7] Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. [8] And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; [11] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
[12] “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. [13] When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. [14] He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [15] All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
[16] “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” [17] So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” [18] So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” [19] Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? [20] Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. [21] When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. [22] So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. [23] In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. [24] Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
[25] “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. [26] In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; [27] for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. [28] I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
[29] His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! [30] Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” [31] Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? [32] Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. [33] I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
(John 15-16 ESV)
Jesus’ second upper-room discourse is the last major teaching section in the gospel. The opening paragraph has been particularly popular with expositors over the centuries due to its arresting imagery. This very fascination awakens the danger of detaching it from its larger context, a danger which arises for these discourses in their entirety. The context, the post-Easter mission of the disciples, gives an impressive unity to this whole body of ‘upper-room’ teaching. Discourse A, which is primarily concerned with allaying the disciples’ fears, lays the foundation for their education in mission, the explicit centre in discourse B. Within discourse B Jesus does three things. First, he confronts the disciples (and ourselves) with the cruciality of mission, and some of the basic principles of its effective pursuance (15:1–17). Secondly, he warns about the cost of mission (15:18–16:4). Thirdly, he points to the resources available in the work of mission (16:5–33). This framework will not enclose all the strands in these chapters, but it does allow the major themes to be clearly expressed and creates a helpful unity overall.
[John, Page 219]
1. The cruciality of mission and principles of effective mission (15:1–17).
[15:1] “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. [3] Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. [5] I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. [7] If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. [8] By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. [9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. [10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. [11] These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
[12] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. [16] You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17] These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
[18] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. [22] If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. [23] Whoever hates me hates my Father also. [24] If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. [25] But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
[26] “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. [27] And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
The earliest indication of the coming ‘disciple mission’ was noted at 13:20. Its full statement occurs in 17:18 and 20:21. Its centrality for this discourse is signalled at 14:31. Dodd notes that in normal Greek usage this phrase implied, ‘Let us go to meet the advancing enemy,’49 a meaning exactly right for this setting. Jesus has just asserted that ‘the prince of this world is coming’. They now go to engage him. It is a call to arms. ‘The gracious indwelling of God with his people is not an invitation to settle down and forget the rest of the world: it is a summons to mission, for the Lord who dwells with his people is the one who goes before them in the pillar of fire and cloud.’50
The image of the vine serves the ‘mission’ theme in two important ways. In the first place, it was the supreme symbol of Israel. A great golden vine trailed over the temple porch, and the coinage minted in Israel during the revolt against Rome (AD 68–70) also bore a vine symbol. The Old Testament has many pertinent allusions.51 Possibly the most important in connection with Jesus’ claim, I am the true vine (1), is Psalm 80, which blends talk of Israel as ‘the vine out of Egypt’ (Ps. 80:8) with ‘the son of man you have raised up for yourself’ (Ps. 80:17).
But the vine ‘is burned with fire’ (Ps. 80:16). Israel has failed God in the long-term role she was called to fulfil, that of being ‘a light for the Gentiles’ (Is. 49:6), to bring God’s salvation ‘to the ends of the earth’. ‘The election of Israel coincides with God’s promise of blessing for the nations’ (H. H. Rowley). Israel, however, was more attracted by the gods of the surrounding nations than by her potential for penetrating them as a missionary. Her centuries-long declension from God’s purpose now reaches its nadir in the rejection and crucifying of the Messiah and the repudiation of the kingship of God (19:15). But God’s purpose, from which Israel turns in final apostasy, does not fall to the ground. It is grasped anew by the one who stands in the midst of Israel, and among the disciples. In contrast to the vine which has destroyed itself by disobedience, Jesus is ‘the true vine’. He is the obedient Son through whose sacrifice and consequent mission the age-old purpose of Israel would find fulfilment, the nations would be reached, and ‘all the families of the earth shall bless themselves’ (Gn. 12:3).
The image of the vine has a second, less theological, pointer to mission. The vine is an essentially utilitarian plant; it exists to bear [John, Page 220] fruit. Temple eloquently portrays the fruit-bearing function of the vine. ‘The vine lives to give its life-blood. Its flower is small, its fruit abundant, and when that fruit is mature and the vine has become, for a moment, glorious, the treasure of the grapes is torn down and the vine is cut right back to the stem.’52 This function is reflected in Jesus’ stress on fruit-bearing (explicitly in verses 2, 4–5, 8, 16). We should therefore beware of interpretations of this passage which concentrate solely on our inward relationship with the Lord. Its real thrust is the renewal of the mission of Israel through Jesus the Messiah and the disciple community. While more ‘subjective’ aspects are not entirely absent (cf. Jesus’ references to ‘love’ and ‘obedience’ to his commands; 10, 12, 17), the primary focus remains bracingly objective and missionary. Jesus by his exaltation in death and resurrection will be removed tangibly from the world. The disciples are sent into the world, as was Jesus, to carry on the task in his ‘absence’. That is the principal implication of Jesus’ saying, I am the vine; you are the branches (5).
The purpose of this fruit-bearing function is stated—this is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit (8). This links with 13:31, the statement which is the ‘text’ of these entire discourses: ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him.’ The ultimate purpose of the coming of Jesus, viz. the glorifying of the Father (12:28; 17:4; etc.), is realized primarily through the effective mission of the disciple community. ‘The fruitfulness of believers is part and parcel of the way the Son glorifies the Father.’53 To seek the glory of God will therefore imply a commitment to mission, and, not least, world mission. As elsewhere in the New Testament, worship and evangelism become one.54 Further, it is by involvement in mission and becoming ‘fruit-bearers’ that we show ourselves to be authentic disciples (8). ‘True grace is never idle.’55
Having clarified the centrality of mission, Jesus identifies the secrets of effective mission.
‘Pruning’ by the Father (2) is the first secret. The ministry of the Father as the vine-dresser is a double one. ‘The vine-dresser does two things to ensure that there will be as much fruit as possible—in the winter, he cuts off the dry and withered branches and in the spring he removes the rank and useless growths from the branches.’56 The Greek actually plays on similar-sounding verbs for the two functions. Newbigin suggests that some branches he ‘clears off’, and some he ‘cleans up’ (p. 197).
The more drastic case is referred to again in verse 6: branches [John, Page 221] which do not remain in me and end up in the fire. Jesus may have in mind the tragic case of Judas, who had appeared as a branch indistinguishable from the others, but the coming of the winter frosts of temptation exposed him as a withered and dead branch, fit only to be ‘thrown away’. Within every disciple community there are probably those who at the last will be exposed as dead branches. Let each one make his or her ‘calling and election sure’ (2 Pet. 1:10).
The Father’s other, positive function is to prune the branches to make them more fruitful (2). The following verse (3) refers to the cleansing, purging effect of Christ’s word. That word now embedded in the corpus of Scripture is God’s primary means of pruning disciples’ lives. As that word works in us we become in a new way attractive and authentic in our Christian living and witness.
In his pruning the Father also uses hard circumstances and trials. None of these appear ‘pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest’ (Heb. 12:11). ‘Pain produces’ is one of the primary laws of spiritual growth. It is a commonplace both of horticulture and of Christian experience that the harder the pruning, the greater the fragrance and beauty which will later be released. Our heavenly Father is hungry for fruit from his vine, and in order to produce it will often in his pruning cut deeper than we should ever have chosen. At the harvest, however, both ‘the sower and the reaper may be glad together’! (4:36).
The second secret of effective mission is to remain in me, the Son (4, 5). Jesus had earlier encouraged the disciples by speaking of the wonderful new relationship with him which will be theirs through the agency of the Holy Spirit after his exaltation (14:20). Here he teaches them that their relationship with him is also fundamental to fruit-bearing. Indeed, no branch can bear fruit by itself (4). Fruit-bearing for God is not a human possibility; it is Christ’s work through us. The alternatives are starkly expressed: separate from Christ, ‘no fruit’; united to Christ, much fruit (5). A continual dependence upon a living Saviour, ‘communing’ with him through the Holy Spirit, and submission to him in all things—these are the characteristics of a life in which God is glorified through the bearing of fruit to his praise.
Jesus makes clear, however, that this relationship is a moral one (cf. 10, if you obey my commands, you will remain in my love). Jesus here draws a parallel between our ‘remaining’ in him and his ‘remaining in the Father’, a relationship characterized in his case by obedience. ‘Remaining’ is conditional upon ‘obeying’. ‘Abiding (or remaining) in Christ’ must not be reduced to a subjective, mystical, inner state. The mark of an abiding heart is not only, or even principally, a sense of inward serenity, but a ‘conscience clear [John, Page 222] before God and man’ (Acts 24:16). It is allowing Jesus’ words to remain in us (7).
This obedience is not, however, a grim, forbidding thing, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (11). To submit to Christ is no hardship. Rather is it the road to liberation. It therefore brings joy, the joy of Christ’s presence welling up in our hearts (1 Pet. 1:8). The reference to joy in the context of the vine image is appropriate, for, as Newbigin observes, ‘the “fruit of the vine” is celebrated in the Psalms as that which God has given “to gladden the heart of man”.’57 But again it is joy with a moral basis, the joy of submission and wholehearted obedience. The connection with fruit-bearing is obvious, for the joy of the Lord in the lives of his people is supremely attractive to the non-Christian world.
In emphasing the missionary perspective of this section, however, we must not over-press this application. ‘Fruit-bearing’ is primarily here the winning of the lost, but it is not exclusively so. In Isaiah chapter 5 the same imagery is applied to social justice (Is. 5:7). Nor can we forget Paul’s employment of it in Galatians 5:22: ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. The fruit-bearing which glorifies the Father, and is the product of ‘pruning’ and ‘remaining’, is finally inclusive of all the works, graces and ministries of the living Lord in his people. Wherever the Son is seen the harvest has ripened and the Father is glorified.
The third secret of mission is praying in Jesus’ name (7, 16). The range of the promise is remarkable: whatever you wish (7), whatever you ask (16). At first sight this seems a surprising relinquishment of responsibility on the part of the Lord of the mission. But there is a condition—if you remain in me (7). When we ‘remain in Christ’ we are in such harmony with God’s purpose that the yearning of our hearts accords with his divine concerns and so prayer is answered ‘according to his will’ (1 Jn. 5:14).
Prayer is crucial to the effective mission of the people of God. Sadly, the truth of many churches is expressed in a penetrating sentence in James 4:2, ‘You do not have, because you do not ask God.’ Not that prayer is a talisman which in itself ensures successful, fruit-bearing mission. There is prayer and prayer. Jesus acknowledges elsewhere the possibility of ‘vain repetition’ (Mt. 6:7, AV). But where hearts are set to conform to his will, and open to share his yearning for the world, prayer’s potential is limitless. In the work of mission, the church advances on its knees.
[John, Page 223]
A fourth secret is love for fellow disciples (9–10; 12–17).58 A Christ-like love between Christians is a further fundamental of effective mission. We noted that ‘only Christ can draw others to Christ’, but Christ is revealed when his people love one another. The meaning of love is again spelled out. We are to love as I have loved you. The verb here is surprisingly in the aorist tense, implying a completed action. ‘So imminently does the cross stand in view.’59 His love is demonstrated in his laying down his life for his friends (13). Hence, by implication, ‘we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers’ (and sisters; 1 Jn. 3:16).
No greater dignity could be conferred upon us, or greater evidence of love shown us, than Christ’s dying for us. Indeed, we are no longer servants but friends (15). The proof of this divine friendship is not only the cross on which he died, but the truth which he has revealed. I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you (15). His truth shared is an evidence of his love given. Never were friends so generously provided for, or so signally honoured. ‘There is nobody so rich, so strong, so independent, so well off, so thoroughly provided for, as the person of whom Christ says, “This is my friend.” ’60 Nor is this remote from the work of mission, for when the dignity of our status as the friends of Jesus is imprinted on our hearts, we shall be more effective ambassadors for our Lord and Master. And what better inducement to share the gospel with others than the recognition that he offers them also the supreme honour of becoming the friends of Jesus (14).
Lest all this should create an undue self-importance, Jesus reminds the disciples of their election. You did not choose me, but I chose you (16). Their standing and relationship with him is a matter of grace. Therein, however, lies the ultimate encouragement in mission. We go, not because we are worthy, or equipped, or attractive, or skilled, or experienced, or in any way suitable and appropriate. We go because we have been summoned and sent. Since he has called us he will equip and enable us for our witness. As with Israel his choice is with a view to service. We are chosen to go and bear fruit.
Their being chosen is followed by their being ‘set apart’ (16). NIV omits this, seeing the verb for ‘set apart’ as simply a repetition of ‘choose’. This is unfortunate as the verb is clearly distinct. It is used in verse 13 for Jesus’ ‘setting apart’ his life for us. It has other New Testament usage in the context of people being set apart for special service within the church (Acts 13:46–47; 1 Tim. 1:12). [John, Page 224] Formal ‘ordination’ need not be exclusively in mind, although Jesus does appear to be thinking of a specific occasion when God’s choice results in acknowledgment and submission. During times of testing which inevitably arise in the course of mission, and which Jesus warns about in the following paragraph, such ‘ordination’ moments have a ministry of reassurance.
The quality of the fruit should also be noted: fruit that will last (16). Such fruit honours God. It is a mark of a worldly church and of a worldly discipleship when we are content with short-lived ‘fruit’ that feeds the fallen appetite for praise, but effects no long-term changes. That there are those who respond with a sudden burst of enthusiasm and then die away is, as Jesus himself acknowledges, a regrettable fact of human nature and missionary experience (Mt. 13:20–21; cf. Jn. 6:66). The fruit that honours God is the fruit that will last, and bring glory to the Father and the Son on the coming harvest day. For such fruit we need have no hesitation to pray (16).
2. The opposition to mission (15:18–16:4).
[18] “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. [22] If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. [23] Whoever hates me hates my Father also. [24] If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. [25] But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
[26] “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. [27] And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
[16:1] “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. [2] They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. [3] And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. [4] But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
(John 15:18-16:4 ESV)
Jesus now focuses on the context in which the disciples’ mission must be conducted—the identical context to his own, viz. the world. In its rebellion against God, the world has rejected Jesus, and because their mission is the continuation of his, they can expect no different treatment. The context of mission is opposition. ‘Mission sooner or later leads into passion … Every form of mission leads to some form of cross … the very shape of mission is cruciform. We can understand it only in terms of the Cross.… ’61
Jesus says at least four things about this opposition to the disciples’ mission.
Opposition is, first, inevitable (18–25). Jesus does not want disciples under false pretensions (4). As a teacher who is the embodiment of integrity he wants every disciple to be clear about the cost of bearing Jesus’ name in a sinful world. The opposition has three sources.
One is the disciples’ new nature (19). Christ died for the world and the Father still loves it, but it remains in a state of spiritual rebellion against him. If we were still of the world we would be ‘loved’ by it because the world, not surprisingly, loves its own kind (19). But we have been chosen … out of the world (19) and are not part of the opposition. We are from a different place and are going to a different place and so we are ‘hated’ rather than loved (19).
A second source of opposition is our association with Jesus (21). [John, Page 225] As disciples we share his life. Hence the way the world treats Jesus will be the way it treats us. He cites again the principle stated in 13:16, No servant is greater than his master.… Earlier it had meant being committed to humble service one of another. Here it means being ready to be persecuted. True, some did submit to Jesus’ words, and we too will have some positive response (20), but in general the results will be no different. Being identified with Jesus makes opposition inevitable. ‘God has called you to Christ’s side, and the wind is now in Christ’s face in this land; and since you are with him you cannot expect the sheltered or the sunny side of the hill.’62 Jesus is implying that the opposition comes not because people do not recognize Christ in us but precisely because, intuitively, they do. The world still crucifies Jesus.
A third source of opposition is our exposure of evil. Jesus disclosed evil during his ministry by his words (22) and his works, including his miracles (24). He is the light of the world by whose coming the shameful deeds of darkness are exposed (3:19–20). As Christians we are called to be ‘the light of the world’ (Mt. 5:14–16). If we are living consistent lives our ‘works’ and ‘words’ will regularly contradict the lifestyles of those around us. By our code of practice in the workplace, by our attitudes to work, by our personal ethical standards, by our life-goals and values, we shall inevitably, without consciously setting out to do so, expose the unfruitful works of darkness (Eph. 5:11). Like our Master, the integrity of our speech, our unwillingness to spread slander, our words of kindness and forgiveness, will at times provoke opposition. Shakespeare’s Iago says of Cassio, ‘He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly.’ It can be a short step from that to hatred.
The world’s reaction to Jesus and his disciples is its judgment. In the coming of the light the darkness is opened to view. Here is disclosed the irrationality of evil, its foul perversity. The only perfect life of love ever lived ends on a gibbet. They have no excuse (22). In words of Ignatius of Antioch, writing a few decades after John, ‘Christianity is not a matter of persuasiveness, but of true greatness when it is hated by the world.’
Secondly, Jesus teaches that opposition to the disciples’ mission may be terrible (16:2). Since the treatment of Jesus is the standard for the treatment of his disciples the opposition may take the form of murder. The first-century Christians to whom John wrote had already experienced that. During the succeeding years of the Roman empire, men, women and even children would at different times be hounded, abused, beaten, tortured in the most appalling ways [John, Page 226] and slaughtered by the thousand, at times with a refinement of cruelty which numbs the mind.
Martyrdom for Christ, however, is not confined to the first century. Indeed, by any estimate the supreme century of the martyrs for Jesus has been our own one. It is estimated that in the twentieth century to date somewhere in the region of 26 million Christians have lost their lives for Christ’s sake, in places like China, the Soviet bloc, Cambodia, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia and Uganda.63 Faced with Jesus’ teaching and these contemporary realities, those who profess Christ’s name in the comfortable West need to hear the words of Yugoslavian evangelical leader Peter Kusmic. ‘So much popular Western evangelical religiosity is so shallow and selfish. It promises so much and demands so little. It offers success, personal happiness, peace of mind, material prosperity; but it hardly speaks of repentance, sacrifice, self-denial, holy lifestyle and willingness to die for Christ.’64 Every reader of this commentary, along with its author, needs to face the question soberly—am I ready to die for Christ? It is not a theoretical question: Jesus has the clear right to ask it of us, and he gives no guarantee that he will not. Following Jesus is not a game.
[John, Page 227]
Jesus teaches further that opposition to the disciples’ mission may be respectable (16:2). He recognizes a variety of motives in those who will oppose the Christian mission. One is religion. Jesus is referring to official Jewish opposition in particular. Rabbinic citations from the first century show that his assessment was well founded; cf. ‘everyone who pours out the blood of the godless is like one who offers a sacrifice.’65 By the time John wrote, his readers, if they were Jews by upbringing, were faced with expulsion from the synagogue and possibly worse if they committed themselves to Jesus Christ. In our own time Muslim fundamentalists among others have authorized persecution of Christians, which is motivated by a concern for God’s name. Sadly, in the centuries which followed the writing of this gospel, Christians, or at least those nominally identified with Christ, were to repay the persecution at the hands of the Jews with interest many times over.
The principle, however, needs to be recognized. Not all who oppose the missionary witnesses of Jesus are depraved, half-crazed persecutors brandishing machine guns. They may be outwardly fine people, upright, high-minded and with religious scruples, like a Jewish Pharisee in the first century named Saul from Tarsus. But they are nonetheless enemies of Christ until they, like Paul, find mercy (cf. 1 Tim. 1:13–16).
Finally, Jesus urges that opposition to the disciples’ mission is nonetheless endurable. It is so for at least three reasons. The first is because God remains Lord in spite of it. That is the force of the citation of Scripture in verse 25. Centuries before, the Word of God had anticipated this very opposition. It is ‘to fulfil what is written in their Law’, i.e. the very Scriptures which the Jews revere and profess to follow prophesied their rejection.
Opposition is also endurable because in the midst of it we experience ‘the fellowship of [Christ’s] sufferings’ (Phil. 3:10, cf. 19). ‘The implacable hatred of the world for the friends of Jesus is the sign of the verity of that friendship.’66 In our experience of persecution, however slight, we are assured of Christ’s presence. The mission is his through us and hence to suffer for him is in the end to suffer with him. This is the clear implication of Jesus’ words to Saul on the Damascus road (Acts 9:4), ‘why do you persecute me?’ (my italics). ‘The persecution of Christians is not only patterned after the persecution of Jesus, but the persecution of Christians is the persecution of Jesus.’67 Such has been the testimony of those who have suffered for Christ in every generation. Let Yosif Bondarenko speak for many. He was imprisoned by the Soviet [John, Page 228] authorities for nine years in Riga, Latvia, for preaching Christ. During a moment of deep personal crisis in his confinement cell, he recalls that ‘suddenly I saw a light in the darkness of my cell, and in the light two hands reaching out to me; I saw they were the hands of Jesus.’
Again, opposition is endurable because our being opposed is a confirmation of our belonging to Christ (19). The attitude of the world to the Christian disciple is evidence that we have indeed been ‘chosen out of the world’ to belong to him. ‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven’ (Mt. 5:11–12).
Moreover, we are able to endure because the Holy Spirit also testifies with us (26). Jesus will teach more fully about the resource of the Holy Spirit in the following paragraph. Here we note that our witness to Jesus in the world is not the primary one. The Spirit’s witness precedes ours (26). Our witness to an individual is neither the first witness borne to them nor the most important. It is not ‘all up to us’. This is not an argument for reneging on Christ’s command to be his witnesses, you also must testify (27), but it is to recognize, particularly when we are being opposed, and when our witness seems dismissed out of hand, that God the Holy Spirit is the great senior partner in the work. Not only can he sustain us in face of the opposition, but he can work in the heart even of persecutors like Saul of Tarsus, and turn them to Christ. He can do it even if our witness, like that of Stephen, has apparently been fruitless and ineffectual (Acts 7:54–58; 22:20).
This leadership of the Spirit needs to be underlined. ‘The Spirit is not the Church’s auxiliary. The promise made here is not to a Church which is powerful and “successful” in a worldly sense. It is made to a Church which shares the tribulation and humiliation of Jesus, a tribulation which arises from faithfulness to the truth in a world which is dominated by the lie. The promise is that, exactly in this tribulation and humiliation, the mighty Spirit of God will bear his own witness to the crucified Jesus as Lord and Giver of life.’68
[16:1] “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. [2] They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. [3] And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. [4] But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
“I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. [5] But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ [6] But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. [7] Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. [8] And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; [10] concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; [11] concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
[12] “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. [13] When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. [14] He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. [15] All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
[16] “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” [17] So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” [18] So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” [19] Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? [20] Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. [21] When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. [22] So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. [23] In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. [24] Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
[25] “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. [26] In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; [27] for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. [28] I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
[29] His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! [30] Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” [31] Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? [32] Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. [33] I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
(John 15-16 ESV)
3. The resources which God makes available for the work of mission (16:5–33). In view of the enormous challenge identified in these last verses the disciples are again in urgent need of encouragement. Their deepest concern continues to be the prospect of Jesus’ departure (5–6), re-awakened no doubt by his warnings about coming opposition from the world. Jesus therefore concludes his discourse with an exposition of the resources available to them in his service. We can broadly distinguish two aspects as far as [John, Page 229] resources are concerned, though the two are inseparable. They are the Spirit (5–15) and the Son (16–33).
First, the gift of the Spirit (16:5–15). The essence of the disciples’ mission is to ‘do the work of an evangelist’, to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the world.69 In this task the disciples will not be alone. The Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, will also be at work ‘testifying’ to Jesus (15:26–27). He will in fact be the real evangelist; he is ‘God the Evangelist’.70 Jesus now expounds the evangelistic ministry of the Spirit. It encloses three basic elements: preaching (5–7); counselling (8–11); and discipling (12–16).
Preaching (5–7). Jesus has chided the disciples for not asking him about his destination (5). In a sense they have already done so, of course (cf. 13:36), so we must presume either that the earlier query had been only cursory, or, more probably, that it is now obliterated from their minds due to their personal anxiety about Jesus being taken from them. Either way, they need to stop focusing on themselves and consider what Jesus’ going away will mean for him. Immediately they do so they will find encouragement because his going away will permit the coming of the Holy Spirit (7).
Unless I go away, the Counsellor (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you (7) is a crucial saying for an understanding of the Spirit’s work. Jesus is not implying that the two persons of the Godhead cannot be co-present. The triunity of God means that both (all three) persons are always co-present. The crucial phrase is go away. This is not so much a spatial movement as a spiritual exaltation. Jesus will now ‘go away’ through death and resurrection to the glory of the Father’s presence! It is this going away which will make the ministry of the Spirit possible, and, in default of this going away, the Spirit’s ministry is rendered impossible. The ministry of the Spirit is accordingly not a vague impartation of spiritual energy, but the specific ministry of proclaiming, and applying to the disciple community, the triumphant procession of Jesus through death and resurrection to the right hand of the Father. The ministry of the Spirit is the unleashing of the powers of the promised kingdom of God in the world. The effects of the kingdom’s coming are clear in the Old Testament.71 These realities will now be actualized through them in the world. It therefore is for your good that Jesus departs, since his departure will obtain these promised blessings.
Like John the Baptist ‘who was sent … as a witness to testify concerning that light’ (1:6), the Holy Spirit will testify to the good [John, Page 230] news of the death and resurrection of Jesus, proclaiming it like a preacher (14). Unlike John the Baptist, however, he will not only point to Jesus but will bring him to them (17–33). He will not only proclaim the coming of the kingdom but actually impart it. The Spirit’s preaching will be incomparable, like that of Jesus, whose ‘word was with power’ (Lk. 4:32, AV).
Counselling (8–11). This ‘evangelist’ is unique. As we have noted, he imparts as well as proclaims. He does not remain in a pulpit or behind a podium, but comes down among the congregation. This ‘coming down’ is the Spirit’s ministry in the world, i.e. in the hearts of the listening, and in this case, unbelieving, congregation (8f.). He is an evangelist who also does the counselling, by applying his message personally to his hearers. Specifically, the Spirit will convict the world of guilt (8). The verb literally means ‘to show someone his sin and summon him to repentance’.72 ‘Expose’ is probably the best single term. The force is caught in 3:20, ‘Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed’ (my emphasis).
This exposure will be with reference to three realities: sin, righteousness and judgment (8). In relation to sin, the Spirit will expose guilt, because men do not believe in me (9; cf. 1:11; 3:19; 15:22). The guilt which the Spirit exposes is that hidden guilt which we refuse to own up to, even to the point of crucifying God’s Son rather than admitting it (because they do not believe in me). This ‘exposing’ ministry of the Spirit occurred classically at Pentecost. ‘Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God … as you yourselves know’, and ‘they were cut to the heart’ (Acts 2:22, 37). The Holy Spirit, working through the preaching of Peter, brought to the surface their suppressed resistance to the light of the world, the rebellious refusal to trust in him as Saviour and Lord. Sin, at root, is a refusal of grace, the proud titanic assertion that we can atone for ourselves.
In relation to righteousness the Holy Spirit will expose the guilt of the human heart, because I am going to the Father (10). The death and resurrection of Jesus (by which he goes to the Father) vindicate Jesus as the Righteous One of God. The Jewish authorities claimed that executing Jesus would be a ‘righteous’ act. ‘It is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish’ (11:50). It was ‘better’ since it preserved the nation, and with it the temple worship and the sacred law. It was therefore a ‘righteous act’, even ‘offering a service to God’ (2). But all the while, their hearts spoke another language.
The Holy Spirit will expose this suppressed guilt, as he did at [John, Page 231] Pentecost: ‘you … put him to death … But God raised him from the dead,’ and ‘God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ’ (Acts 2:24, 36). ‘They were cut to the heart’ (Acts 2:37). Jesus’ going to the Father, a journey proved by the resurrection, exposed their guilt in having him crucified. Thus their flimsy claim to ‘righteousness’ is torn aside, as are all standards of ‘righteousness’ which rationalize our guilty rebellion against God, and our refusal to acknowledge Jesus as the Righteous One, the embodiment of everlasting righteousness.
The Spirit exposes the guilt of the human heart in respect of judgment (11), because the prince of this world now stands condemned. The Jews submitted Jesus to the process of a legal tribunal and sought to pass judgment upon him. The Spirit in testifying to the gospel shows that the one judged on the cross was Satan, and with him all who are his children and slaves (8:42–47). The devil ‘has no hold’ on Jesus (14:30) and so was ‘driven out’ (12:31) by the perfect obedience of Jesus. He now stands condemned, anticipating his final ‘driving out’ at the last judgment (Rev. 20:10).
Thus at Pentecost they who accused (Acts 2:23, 36) now accuse themselves (Acts 2:37), and can only ask in despair, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ (37). The cross for them, as for the devil, was the decisive moment of judgment. They now have no standing with God and no means of atonement. They are under judgment and without hope. To them the Spirit brings the answer of the sheer grace of God, unearned and unsought, ‘Repent and be baptised,… in the name of Jesus Christ’ (Acts 2:38).
In these ways the Holy Spirit, like a personal counsellor, applies the good news of Jesus to the hearts of individuals. ‘Once more we see that the Spirit is not the domesticated auxiliary of the Church, he is the powerful advocate who goes before the Church to bring the world under conviction.’73
These three ideas, sin, righteousness and judgment, belong to the common stock of ethical concepts which jostle in today’s pluralistic society. In the prevailing relativistic atmosphere, ethical absolutes are dismissed. People claim the right to determine for themselves what will count as sin, what will be their standard of righteousness, and where judgment has, or has not, been properly expressed. Jesus, through the Holy Spirit’s witness, challenges this ethical autonomy, uncovers the rebellion against God which underlies it, and confronts the world with the true character of sin, the true meaning of righteousness and the true place of judgment. Through the Spirit of God the human heart is summoned to repentance and then offered the salvation which is life indeed.
[John, Page 232]
Discipling (12–16). Finally, this evangelist is also a discipler, so that the ‘follow-up’ ministry is also engaged. The Holy Spirit as the Spirit of truth will guide into all truth (13). In essence this is a reportorial ministry: he will speak only what he hears. Jesus cannot say everything they need to hear at this point, since they are in no position to receive or grasp it. Later they will be, and the Spirit will share Jesus’ words with them. This promise is made to the apostles as the assurance of a special future ministry of the Spirit, which will bring to completion the truth Jesus wants his disciples in every generation to know. Thus the Spirit will unfold what is yet to come (13), including ‘the total revelatory and redemptive work of Jesus in his ministry, death and resurrection, sending of the Spirit of the Kingdom, and the consummation of life and judgment at the end.’74 In view of subsequent claims to the Spirit’s revelation through church tradition and the like it needs to be clearly recognized that this promise applies primarily and uniquely to the apostles. The ‘you’ of 14:26, as here at 16:13, refers to that special inspiration of the apostles which enabled the composition of the books of the New Testament, not least this Gospel of John.
The Holy Spirit’s ministry as the teacher of his converts today consists essentially in leading them to understand and apply the normative truths of Scripture. Although this ministry is not innovative in the terms of his earlier enlightenment of the apostles, it is nonetheless a glorious and powerful ‘discipling’ function which will bring glory to Jesus by unveiling the greatness and fullness of his salvation (14). The Father has put everything at Jesus’ disposal (5:19–20) and now the Spirit will share that fullness with his disciples (15).
The second resource which God provides for us is the gift of the Son (16:16–33). The work of the Spirit culminates in his glorifying Jesus through ‘taking from what is mine and making it known to you’ (14). In context this refers to the truth of Jesus which the Spirit will share with the disciples after his exaltation. But Jesus teaches that it has another and greater dimension, for the Spirit will share not only Christ’s truth but Christ himself! You will see me (16). Jesus’ absence will be only for a little while. He who is leaving will return! Of all the resources made available to the church in its mission none is comparable to this; Jesus himself is among us!75 The mission is his, not ours. We go forth not so much for him as with him; and that means joy.
[John, Page 233]
In this section we can distinguish three reasons for our joy, which are at the same time ways in which Jesus is our mission resource.
First, we have Jesus’ personal presence (16–22). When a great leader passes from the human scene we are left with a store of memories and the treasured memorials of his or her life (such as desk, books, slippers, or handwriting), to be guarded and displayed, amid the pathos of the leader’s absence. Jesus, the supreme leader, is different; he has not left us! Like the grieving of Mary and Martha, the disciples’ sorrow would turn into joy, for Jesus would come back to them.
Interpreters divide over what he meant when referring to their seeing him (16). We can perhaps be forgiven our uncertainty since clearly the disciples were not a little confused! (17–19). Many, following Augustine and, later, Calvin, see the second little while (16) as a reference to the age of the church, the present period in redemptive history, and hence Jesus’ statement, then … you will see me, refers to his visibility at his glorious return. Many more recent scholars prefer to interpret the saying as a promise of his return to the disciples after the resurrection. It is certainly notable that the little while in the former case (16a) was only a matter of hours, the time between his present speaking with them and their last sight of him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Hence the second little while is arguably also a short time, the two to three days until Easter Sunday evening and their ‘seeing’ him as the risen Lord.
Jesus captures the experience of the disciples in a vivid parable, which has Old Testament echoes—a woman in childbirth whose pain is transformed into joy at the coming forth of her child (21). The clearest Old Testament passage is Isaiah 26:16–21,76 which combines a reference to ‘a little while’ with a clear anticipation of the resurrection of the dead. This transformation from pain into wondering joy is repeated daily around the world in every hospital delivery room, and every home where a baby is safely born. It is an elemental human joy which can be known fully only by those who have endured the pain and experienced the subsequent relief and exultation. This, says Jesus, is the condition of the disciple after the resurrection. ‘In whom … believing, [you] rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory’ (1 Pet. 1:8, AV).
Because the presence of Christ is rooted in the resurrection, an event which has happened in history and which therefore can never be undone, it is a joy no-one will take away from us (22). No power in heaven, earth, or hell can separate us from the love, and the presence, of the Risen One. ‘You may take away from me my [John, Page 234] life, but you can never take Christ from my heart.’77
This wonderful promise, ‘I will see you,’ is given to those to whom he was shortly to say, ‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’ (20:21). The enjoyment of his presence is bound up with mission in his name. At this point mission merges imperceptibly into celebration. Those who long for a deeper experience of the presence of Christ may find here the road to that blessing, a new commitment to serve the world in his name. He is the Lord of the mission and is to be found still at the frontiers where his people confront and minister to the wounds of the world.
Secondly, we have Jesus’ boundless provision (23–28). Jesus mentions a further source of joy, answered prayer (24). Until this point the disciples have brought their requests directly to Jesus and have been encouraged by his prayers for them to the Father. With his ‘going away’ the entire terms of their relationship with the Father will be changed. By his death and rising he will remove the barrier of sin and establish a new relationship in which they will be able, with utter confidence, to address the Father directly through him (23). On the basis of Jesus’ name, which means a trusting reliance on his sacrifice to cover their unworthiness, and a sincere commitment to seek only those things which would accord with his glory, they can be assured that my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name (23). Here is all that the disciples or ourselves can ever long for; enough for all and for ever.
To experience the meeting of our needs in answer to our prayers in Jesus’ name is also a source of supreme joy, because it assures us that the Father loves us (27). Calvin aptly comments, ‘we have the heart of God as soon as we place before him the name of his Son.’78 It also proves that Jesus truly has prevailed in his death and resurrection, and that he is now the exalted Lord at the right hand of the Father.
It is to be greatly regretted that too often Christians confine prayer either to such vague generalities that it would be difficult to identify any specific answer on the Father’s part, or to specific requests which are so self-centred that to tag ‘Jesus’ name’ on to them shows a failure to understand what that sacred phrase implies. For our encouragement we note that this great promise was first made to a group of very ordinary and fallible disciples who were soon to desert their Master. Like them we may take this promise to ourselves, pray specifically to the Father in Jesus’ name, and discover the joy that he has promised. Observe that the model of [John, Page 235] prayer which Jesus commends here is prayer to the Father through the Son. All Christian prayer should be offered through Jesus Christ. The addition of ‘in Jesus’ name’ is not some pedantic formality. It witnesses to the only basis of all intercession, namely the earthly sacrifice and heavenly intercession of Jesus, by which alone to all eternity we may draw near to ‘the throne of the heavenly grace’. Calvin even asserts that to bypass Christ in our prayers is a ‘profanation of God’s name’.79
Prayer directly to the Son is not excluded in the New Testament (cf. 2 Cor. 12:8, where ‘Lord’ is, surely, the Lord Jesus Christ). It is, however, the exception. Like Paul, the early Christians customarily knelt ‘before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and earth derives its name’ (Eph. 3:14–15). We need to be sensitive to the dangers of an exclusive focus on Christ in worship and prayer which lacks the support of the Scriptures and which, not surprisingly, tends to imbalances in Christian experience.
Thirdly, we see Jesus’ triumphant position (29–33). Jesus summarizes his message to his disciples in the last sentence (28): ‘I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.’ There is an attractive simplicity and directness here to which the disciples respond with acclaim. Now you are speaking clearly … Now we can see that you know all things … This makes us believe that you came from God (29–30). Their enthusiasm is touching, but insecurely based. ‘Like young recruits, they had yet to learn that it is one thing to know the soldier’s drill and to wear the uniform, and quite another thing to be steadfast in battle.’80 Jesus will not allow them the dangerous assumptions of self-confidence. You believe at last! (31) is probably sadly ironical. This ‘faith’ is shortly, like themselves, to be scattered to the four winds (32). Jesus’ prediction of their coming defection echoes Zechariah 13:7 (cf. Mk. 14:50). The Scripture must be fulfilled.
All is not despair, however. His final note is exultant: I have overcome … (33). It is so for two reasons. The first is that his Father is with him (32). Here is his supreme consolation, the secret, inner communion of the Godhead, refined through the experience of the incarnation, the unshakeable ground of his life and mission. It will not fail him through the dark waters which stretch ahead.
The second reason for his exultation is that he will triumph. The last word does not lie with the evil one who draws ever nearer, nor with the tragic, rebellious world in its flight into the darkness. It lies with the Father, and hence with the one who came as the Father’s everlasting Son and Servant. Through his obedience unto [John, Page 236] death, death itself will fall defeated, and with it all the rebellious powers of darkness and sin. But take heart! I have overcome the world! (33).
‘In the end he can say this word, and only he. The victory is wholly his. At the end the triumph song is not “We have overcome”, but “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain” (Rev. 5:12).’81 And say it he does! ‘I have conquered!’ And in this triumph the disciples too will share, and so by grace may we. Their apostasy will be fearfully real, but it will not be the end of them. Their struggle in the mission of Jesus with the evil powers abroad in the world will be long and bloody, and bring most of them to a martyr’s grave. In this world you will have trouble (33). Through it all, however, the victory will be theirs (and ours) in the gift of peace through our union with him who has for ever conquered in the battle (33). But before that final conflict is engaged one more ministry remains to be performed: the holy work of prayer.
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