Love First!

We’re relying on John – the Son of Thunder – for what we know about that evening with Jesus in the Upstairs Room.

There’s one sentence that seems almost unlike Christ at first. “If you love me you will keep my commands … show it by doing what I’ve told you.” At first it sounds like a complaint. Maybe a disappointed Mother whose rebellious son has caused her embarrassment; or whose Student Daughter hasn’t called as frequently as she’d asked her to when she went off to College. But that’s not Jesus.

After some closer consideration we see He might be saying, “Your obedience will prove your love.” The problem with that is that it puts performance before matters of the heart. Jesus Himself said that there would be lots of – many – people who, in the end, claim to have done things important to Him; things like “healing sick folk;” “exorcising devils;” people He doesn’t even know. They did what they did for reasons other than a relationship with Him obviously. One of His Followers – one He called later – wrote, “The letter kills; the Spirit gives life.”

No. The way of Christ is not the way of regulation and compliance. Christ’s path; all the way to this Passover evening, has followed a course of love; love for His father; love for His people; love which gave rise to a life of “Grace and Truth.” What you would expect of the Father’s Son?

“If you love me” …

The “love” matters most.

Such “love” stirs in anyone’s heart a desire to please the beloved. Passionate acts of admiration; even reverence; devotion; intimate understanding of the beloved’s desires and dreams. When you “love,” someone this way you “prefer” Him. There is, literally, nothing you wouldn’t do for Him. But no amount of religious rigor, no superior will-power, no regimen regardless of how precisely it’s followed will develop such love. It emerges from a re-made heart; a “right” spirit; a life born “of the Spirit.”

In that same Upstairs room, earlier in the conversation, He’d said, “By this will all people know that you are my Followers; by the love you have for each other.” And here, now, we see the same applying to our love for Him. Genuine “Christ Love,” stirred and active in the Spirit energized heart, will demonstrate the very character and way of life which, seen in Christ, was “Good News;” hope of “pardon;” “Light in darkness;” “Liberty;” assurance of “God’s High Favor.”

Love Him like you’ve never loved anyone or anything before. You’ll be amazed at how genuine; how strong it grows.

And you’ll be like Him; more and more loving … more and more lovable … the devil’s worst nightmare!

We've Got Connections!

This conversation Jesus is having with His Friends is most important. He said the wine He shared with them earlier was the last they’d enjoy together ‘til they reached the “Kingdom.” Quite likely they’ll not be talking this way until then either.

Crucial Matters

These matters He’s bringing up are crucial. These men simply must grasp them. They’ll not understand why He’s called them and lead them here if they don’t. They’ll be inept in the use of what He’s taught them. His ways of doing things have to be learned. Tonight is the final chance He’ll have to once more review and “drive Home” who He is and how what they’ve watched Him do is actually done.

Supreme Unity

He’s already been as clear as ever about His relationship with His Father. “To see me is to see the Father.” Now, He presses the point. “The words that I speak to you aren’t mere words. I

don’t make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a Divine act.”

Not only is this about a Father/Son resemblance. To see one is to see the other. Jesus’ words are the Father’s words. He “crafts” them. He “crafts” each of them into action. Christ’s “walk” is the “talk” of the Father; ongoing, unmistakably Divine actions. They, Father and Son, are “One,” their “words” are shared; their “works” are mutually devised and performed.

Mission Supernatural

With that emphatically restated Jesus abruptly turns to His Friends and brings them into this amazing relationship. “The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even

greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it.”

Anyone who trusts Christ will do the Father’s work just as Jesus has. They’ll even do the “will” of the Father to greater extents than He has. This will be their Mission. These are their orders. It’s what their lives will be about forever. “You can count on it,” He insisted.

Supplies on Request

To assure them that they’d be able to accomplish this “Divine” Mission, He promised, “From

now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it. That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son. I mean it. Whatever you request in this way, I'll do.”

The trusting Christ-follower will be living proof of the Father/Son Unity. “The Son of Man seen for who He is … God seen in Him.” It is a “DIVINE” Mission. “God crafted” words, and “whatever” else is needed, will be available. The Master repeated His promise. “Whatever your request in this way, I’ll do.”

Re-united

Father, Son, Disciple in partnership. Jesus of Nazareth – the Son of Man – is “on (the) way to the Father.” They’ll soon be united forever. The “Son of God,” the Second Person of the Trinity, will be re-united with the Father and the Spirit as He resumes His place on the Eternal Throne. But now, as “Son of God/Son of Man.” God and humanity re-united as “in the beginning.” Partners in Supremacy over all Creation. From the Heavenly Kingdom Father, Son, and Spirit will watch and dispatch “whatever (we) request along the lines of who (they) are and what (they’re) doing;” whatever our Mission requires.

Mission Accomplished

Jesus knew there was a cross yet to be carried … a crucifixion accomplished. But He couldn’t leave these protégés without making it perfectly clear that the highest purposes of God and a ransomed race were about to be raised to a whole new level!

This Man is God!

The private conversation going on in the upstairs room where Jesus and His Followers are eating the Seder Meal continues.

Jesus has made a pointed and confusing statement. “No one gets to the Father apart from Me.” His listeners were Jews. Passover Pilgrims since Childhood; trained in Galilean Synagogues. They knew the “Father” Jesus was talking about was Yahweh; the Great “I AM”! Since Moses the only one “getting to the Father” was the High Priest. And he could only go near the Holy God by complex religious regimen and ritual. But Jesus is now smashing their religious paradigms again. He’s saying, without hesitation; no qualification; He is the only One by which a person can “get to the Father.” Now He goes from bold to brazen. “If you really knew Me, your would know my father as well. From now on, you do know Him. You’ve even seen Him.”

Philip speaks. You’d think, from what he said, that he hadn’t been paying attention. “Master, show us the Father, then we’ll be content.” Didn’t Jesus just say, speaking of His Father, “You’ve even seen Him.”? Where has Philip been?

What Jesus says next is criminal in Judaism. “You've been with me all this time, Philip, and you

still don't understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, ‘Where is the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words. I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act. Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me.” (John 14: 9-14)

A claim immeasurably colossal! A boast no mere human could make credibly. A declaration which would become the central Creed of His Followers, the Church. Some 60 or so years later John – the Son of Thunder, who’s telling us about this upstairs conversation – would write, “In

the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. …

The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. … So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

… No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.” (John 1: 1 – 18)

This Man – the Christ – is also God. Everything He is. All that He thinks and feels. What He wills. What pleases Him. What He does. What is the Man Christ Jesus He shares with Father God. They are “One.” This, “Son of Man” has the heart of Father God. Do you wonder what God thinks of us? Listen to Jesus. Would you like to know what He expects of us? Watch Jesus. Where is God right now? What’s on His mind? Where’s Jesus? What’s on His mind?

This “upstairs conversation,” as it continues, will answer that question. You will “see the Father,” “TRUTH”fully!

No One Gets to the Father Apart from Me!

The Departure

After Jesus had washed His Followers’ feet He said, “Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. Where I go, you are not able to come.”

Where is He Going?

A little later Peter “asked, ‘Master just where are you going’” A short time later Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where You’re going.” Jesus words were unsettling to these men and likely their fellows. His answer didn’t seem to address the question. “I am the Road,” He said. I am “also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.” His Friends had no idea where He was going. They didn’t know, at least ‘til now, He was going anywhere. So “Roads,” weren’t on their agenda. Not at for the moment at least. The “Truth,” and “Life, ?” Well that seemed quite irrelevant too in light of the disturbing news. The Teacher they loved was leaving and they’d not be able to follow Him wherever He was going. Where are you going? How do we get there? Can you answer that? These were uncertain times. They were troubling times. It was hard to think straight. The obvious escaped them as it often does in crisis times. Jesus mention of getting “to the Father,” held their answer. Sadly they didn’t hear it. John wrote that, in those very moments, “Jesus knew the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father.” His return, “to the Father,” would be the most significant event in human history since the first two of our kind disobeyed and ran from God. A human, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, would enter the Throne of God and restore the Divine/Human partnership originally established in Creation. But He would go alone. No other human would be “able to” accompany Him.

Separated

It is then that the “Road,” matters. Someone would be “able to come” else there’d be no need of a road. Once Jesus, “gets to the Father,” whether a “Road’s” there or not, is immaterial. Isn’t it? He will have gotten there. No one else will be “able to come.” But He’s the one talking about it. And He is the “Road.” It does matter. “Getting to the Father,” had been a problem since the “disobedience.” These confused men He’d been teaching for 3 years knew the history of their people. They’d been well schooled. Jesus, Himself, had enriched their understanding of the goings on among men and their God. They knew that when the first humans disobeyed God they were evicted from Eden. Separated from God. They knew that God Most High, Himself, set “Cherubim” and a “flaming sword at the entrance of the Garden. They were banned from their Paradise and the “Tree of Life.” They knew that while God continued to pursue reconciliation with these recalcitrant creatures the distance between Him and them remained. They knew that people periodically sought Him as well. They knew that when God established their Nation, the Children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, special arrangements were made for the conduct of their newly decreed relationship. They were aware of the fact that human nature and the person of God were incompatible. Their peoples’ very early history recorded that in the Tent where Priests met with God there was a place called the “Holiest Place,” veiled off from human view, and forbidden to anyone but the High Priest. Even he would die if he hadn’t prepared carefully to enter the presence of the “Mighty God,” the “Great I AM!” These men also knew that such a “Holiest Place” occupied every temple built from the time of Solomon to their time. The temple in Jerusalem had such a place. The vast chasm between God and Humanity couldn’t be bridged.

Symbols Full of Answers

Unsettling as the night was the confusion of these Followers of Jesus had blinded them to some other very important things. They’d been eating Seder with their Master. The Passover Meal was a dramatic Event. Much of their history as the people of Yahweh made up its script. That night the meaning of it all was played out before them like never before. If they’d been thinking at all the sacrifice of the Lamb would have exploded with new meaning. They'd have remembered John the Baptist’s introduction of Jesus just beyond the Jordan River. “Behold!” the “Second Elijah” cried out. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World!” They’d have made the connection.

Since John does not provide much detail about the Seder that night we’ll need to turn to the Story told by another of the writers to see what they were missing. Luke describes the meal this way,

“When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, ‘You've no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.’ Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, ‘Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I'll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives’ Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.’ He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.’” (Luke 22: 14 – 20)

A meal so filled with symbolism caught the attention and gripped the attentive participant. The bread Jesus broke was the “afikoman,” “Hidden bread.” As one Jewish believer in Jesus, as Messiah, notes, “the afikoman matzah glowed with a special aura … because it symbolized the expected Messiah. When He said ‘take, eat; this is my body,’ He was in effect saying: ‘this broken and hidden matzah, which has for our people symbolized the Messiah, is fulfilled in me. I myself am the Afikoman – the Coming One – whom you expect.” The second cup of wine Jesus offered was the third of four cups served at Seder. This third cup is the “Cup of Redemption.” As another Jewish Follower of Christ writes, “This cup … symbolizes God’s promise of redemption from slavery. It was this cup… Yeshua raised and said, ‘This cup is the New Covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.’ He died to give us atonement from sin, and new life with God, just as the Passover Lamb was sacrificed to bring us redemption, … forgiving our sins because of Yeshua’s sacrifice.”

Clashing Kingdoms

These men had eaten Seder as many times as they were years old. But this time they’re reclining at the sacred Table with the “Coming One,” Himself. And they’re not really recognizing Him.

The Prophets of long ago prophesied of Messiah’s suffering. And they couldn’t make the connection. Oh yes! They’d confessed Jesus to be the “Christ.” But they weren’t “connecting the dots.”

“He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence … Justice miscarried, and he was led off — and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. They buried him with the wicked … Even though he'd never hurt a soul or said one word that wasn't true.

Still, it's what God had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he'd see life come from it—life, life, and more life.

And God's plan will deeply prosper through him. Out of that terrible travail of soul, he'll see that it's worth it and be glad he did it. Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant, will make many ‘righteous ones,’ as he himself carries the burden of their sins.” (Isaiah 53:7- 12)

“I'll deal with the family of David and those who live in Jerusalem. I'll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them. They'll then be able to recognize me as the One they so grievously wounded—that piercing spear-thrust! And they'll weep—oh, how they'll weep! Deep mourning as of a parent grieving the loss of the firstborn child.” (Zechariah 12: 10)

Still His troubled Followers cannot accept the fact that He must suffer this way and die. He was smashing their paradigms and they could not accept it. Their confusion comes from their earthbound attachment to a Messianic Emperor. A King among Earth Kings. Supreme; Sovereign; Supernaturally powerful. Themselves? His warriors and Satraps. Their hearts were broken as much about the loss of a longed for dynasty as they were about His departure. They needed no “Road” if it were to take them from their lifelong hope. Truth that contradicted their visions of power, and special privilege was not truth. How could life be anything but a living death if it meant a dark and desperate destiny like that of a Parent who knows his “firstborn child” will be lost.

He’d told them that the Messianic Empire was not His intent. “It's not going to be that way with you,” He said.

“Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.” (Matthew 20: 26 – 28)

Can You Bear to Hear It?

But they weren’t ready to hear it. The thought tore at their hearts, leaving them in despair. A despair as much about themselves as their Master doomed to unimaginable “travail of soul.” They could not “drink of the cup which He would drink.” Not then. But perhaps sometime later … Perhaps … He said they would.” There may be Hope!

“ Oh Simon, Simon,

do you know that Satan has asked to have you all to sift like wheat?

—but I have prayed for you that you may not lose your faith.

Yes, when you have turned back to me, you must strengthen these brothers of yours.”