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The Concordia sank after its incompetent captain
ran aground on well marked rocky shoals.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life's tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treacherous shoal.
Chart and compass come from Thee:
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
Hymn #649
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Matthew 8:26
Author: Edward Hopper, 1871
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John 14 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
This verb troubled is used twice in describing Jesus' reaction to the death of His good friend Lazarus. We are inclined to overlook His humanity, knowing that His friend and everyone else went through so much to signal the beginning of the Passion. It was Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead that brought crowds following Him from Bethany and coming out to meet Him in Jerusalem. The same miracle inflamed the Roman and Jewish leaders to kill Jesus and Lazarus, who came with Him and served as evidence that this was indeed the Son of God, the Messiah and Savior.
Although Jesus trembled and shuddered in reaction to the people weeping and at seeing the grave itself - so much like His future grave - He said, "Let not your heart be troubled."
Like the rest of this doctrinal Gospel, this passage emphasizes the close relationship between the Father and the Son. The Jewish people believed in the coming Messiah, but they were not completely aware of His divinity. So Jesus teaches them that believing in the Father includes believing in Him.
How anyone could read this chapter once and denigrate faith is beyond my capacity to comprehend stupidity, obstinancy, and spiritual blindness. But there it is - UOJ versus this chapter.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
This is a great Promise, not only as a place for every believer, but for the constancy of Jesus, that He is always with us.
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
As we see in many other places in John, Jesus' teaching sets up a dialogue where someone's lack of understanding sets up even clearer statements of His mission and role. This is another passage where we can see that "I am" is not merely identification (I am He, or It's Me in the Surfer Dude Living Paraphrase), but naming Himself the I AM of the Burning Bush, which symbolizes the Two Natures of Christ. Invoking His Name, He excludes any other path of salvation by saying "No one comes to the Father except through Me."
Contrast that with the thimble-brained head of Higher Things - Georgie One Note - shouting that Everyone! Everyone! is saved.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
So often the Holy Spirit speaks in a fisherman's visit - very plain, plenty of content pushed together at once, not at all elegant, but easy to remember. That is what inspires the false teachers to dance, Arabesque, Grande Jeté, and Pirouette - dazzling us with their moves away from the Word of God.
Jesus repeatedly teaches in John that He and the Father work together in all things, that He listens to the Father and repeats His Word, that He fulfills the will of His Father, making Him the Face and Voice of the Father. So He has already shown them the Father.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Faith in Christ means trusting that He is in the Father, the Father in Him. At least believe in Jesus because of His divine works. How bizarre to have CFW Walther idolaters menace us about the dangers of faith in Him. Throughout the Fourth Gospel is an intense concentration on faith in Him, righteousness only through faith in Him, and the blessings of faith in Him.
But UOJ follows Pietistic rationalism in saying "Universal forgiveness and salvation are first. Faith is merely grasping this truth that everyone is already forgiven and saved." How twisted - denying faith and redefining faith by rejecting the importance and the righteousness of faith.
But the synodicals say, "Believe in Walther. If you believe in Walther, you believe in us: blessings and grants will fall upon your head."
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
This is another great Promise for those genuinely involved in evangelism and missions. Our mission is to apostate Lutherans.
Greater than Jesus' work? Yes, this has been accomplished because God gave believers the authority to work in the Name of His Son, so a local group became the world religion of Christ and His Gospel.
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
God glorifies His Son by answering prayers in the Name of Jesus. I write out prayers for people on Facebook and in the classroom, always closing in the Name of Jesus. God glorifies His Son by answering them.
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Loving Jesus does not go with making up dogma against Him. As one super-apostate said, "We talk about Jesus all the time," smirking. Sure he never stopped quenching faith in the Savior, trust in the Word.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
This is the beginning of Promises about the Holy Spirit. Ignoring and teaching against the Holy Spirit really promoted the growth of Pentecostalism and the charismatic movement. As one Methodist minister told me, "The district supervisor wrote about prayer, so that is a good sign."
As others have said, Comforter is a difficult word to translate. It is used in the sense of an advocate in court who speaks for someone. I find it significant that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit "another Comforter." Jesus is our Comforter too, our Advocate who speaks for us and gives us His righteousness through faith.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Jesus built up His disciples before the apparent disaster of the betrayal, trial, torture, and death. The Gospel of John shows us that the disciples were as weak and volatile as we are, but faith kept them together - even in hiding - until the Savior restored them during His post-resurrection sermons.
Three overlapping circles only begin to describe the relationships - Jesus is in the Father, believers are in Jesus, and Jesus is in us.
Loving Jesus and keeping His commandments are twin actions that cannot be separated. This is an antidote to cure the poison of Antinomianism (anti-law) - "I know that I am forgiven so I know I can do anything I want.
Loving Jesus means being loved by the Father. God the Father is angry and hateful? That is just as wrong as saying there are many paths of salvation. Jesus teaches clearly here that faith in Him means being loved by the Son and the Father.
I will manifest Myself to him - The Word itself does this, because the Word conveys the Savior to us, showing us what He is really like. Every believer knows Jesus better than all the Biblical scholars rolled into one. The great and wise do not like the fisherman's voice of the Spirit, so they concoct elegant phrases and beautiful new dogmas to enchant their audiences.
If you want to spend an hour talking with Jesus while sitting on a park bench, as the common questions states - Who would you spend an hour with on the park bench - if you could? Anyone who has a Gospel can do this. The Word is the instrument by which God brings the grace of Christ to people.
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
Judas not-Iscariot seems to be saying, "Why not show yourself to the whole world, so they know we are on the winning side?" No, Jesus lets us bear the cross and be identified as losers, crazy, peculiar, burdened with troubles. That holy and blessed cross is good for us and not to be shunned. The Spirit blinds and hardens obstinate unbelievers, so they cannot see anything good in the Savior or His followers.
But loving Jesus means guarding His teaching. The result is that the Father will love him. The Father and the Son will come to him and make their dwelling place with him. This is a major but overlooked theme in the Fourth Gospel - dwelling and abiding. The Savior is never absent from believers, even though there are times when we imagine such an abandonment. Abiding with Jesus means bearing fruit, being forgiven, and bearing even more fruit. Not believing means drying up and being cast off.
Not loving and not guarding His teaching - those actions go together. No false teacher is excused from this terrible decree, no matter how charming, intelligent, and appealing he is.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The life of the Christian and the work of the true Church are clearly taught in these later chapters of John. So much has been neglected, even though clearly stated. Perhaps because the statements are so plain and simple, and yet staggering in their meaning.
How can we trust the Gospels and the New Testament? The Holy Spirit brought to mind what the apostles needed to convey to us, first in their spoken sermons, then in the Gospels and Epistles. Therefore, the Word that we hear, read, or remember is effective in bringing the Savior to us.
Another Promise - Jesus gives us peace, not the peace of the world, from lotteries, honors, titles, and recognition. It is the peace of complete forgiveness. Therefore, we should not be troubled - Jesus was troubled and killed for us - and we should never be afraid.
Believing and confessing the truth also go together throughout the Gospel. Fear makes us silence ourselves. We would speak the truth, but that might have negative consequences - or it is the wrong moment (because - bad reactions). So we silence ourselves until there is nothing left we can say. Loving the Savior means trusting the Word to accomplish His will, not our will. And that confessed truth may bring us slaps and kicks, but they are nothing compared to what was done for us in the Atonement.
28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.
Faith in Jesus must be a very good thing, surpassing the ability to debate the history of the Synodical Conference. Jesus always commends faith in the New Testament, but the false teachers warn against it. "Faith in Jesus is nothing," they warn us - "Trust in CFW Walther and Edward Preuss instead."
All things considered, Jesus is the ultimate authority, rather than the enforcer of an abusive and self-designated bishop. The Savior took on the lowliest title of all, as the shepherd, the common laborer, and elevated it by His works to the Good Shepherd, the Shepherd above all shepherds. He did not do this with dazzling speeches but with clear and compelling words.
Jesus predicted His Ascension so the Ascension itself would promote faith in Him. No wonder the rationalists and busy mission-builders neglect the Ascension in worship, because worldly accomplishments mean so much more to them than the teachings of Christ.
30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
These two verses are the start of the Passion of Christ. The tyrant of the world is Satan, provoked into final action by the raising of Lazarus, stirring up fears in the religious leaders - "We will lose everything!" and the local Roman leaders - "Caesar will kill us all!" But Satan has no real power over Jesus, who will allow Himself to be the bait on the hook. Satan will seize His life and thereby end his dominance over sin and death.
Jesus leaves to face His torture and death to show the world that He loves the Father and obeys the Father - an example for us.
