(REFLECTIONS ON John 14:15-31)

27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

What is the peace that Jesus gives and why is it different than the peace that world gives? The peace that the world gives is temporary, circumstantial, and shifts with the wind and the waves, while the peace that Jesus gives is forever, relational, and it makes us whole.

What then makes us whole? It is being in relationship withe Jesus, the Son, God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. It is when we are in the Father, through the Son, and filled with the Holy Spirit, that we are at peace, and are whole.

How then do we enter into the Father through the Son and receive the Holy Spirit? We need to love Jesus in order to enter into this relationship. How do we love Jesus? Jesus said,

21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”

It is the one that has Jesus’ commandments, and not only has, but keeps them that is the one who loves Jesus. Yes, it is more than our words or the outward signs that we flash to try to convince people that we love Jesus, but it is having and keeping His commandments.

Again Jesus said,

23 “…If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

If we know and keep His commandments, then we love Him, and His Father, will be our Father, and the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit will make us whole in Him. And just as Jesus always does, what He expects us to do, commands us to do, He has first done.

31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

Why did Jesus tell His disciples, “Get up, let us go from here?” Because He will do as His Father commanded, showing us that He knows and keeps His commandments. Again, just as Jesus first washed His disciples feet before commanding them to do the same, Jesus knows and keeps God commandments as an example for us to follow.

Get up, let us go from here means that we are to do likewise. We are to know and keep His commandments, just as Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for our sins, redeeming us, and bringing us into peace and wholeness with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Get up, let us go from here means that we continue to push forward and move on from just acknowledging, just knowing, just saying, and actually doing what the Lord has commanded us through His Word.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: John 14