those who have deeply welcomed me will attend to my utterings.”
John 14:23-29
23Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.
25“I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27Peace, I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 28You heard me say to you, `I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.”
Grace and Peace from the mystery in whom we live move and have our being
As a teacher, preacher and mentor, it is honoring and humbling to hear your words repeated by those you’ve mentored. It indicates things they’ve heard have been vital to their personal growth. I think other teachers and mentors would tell you the same.
Jesus said, “those who love me will keep my word…” The Greek used for love is agapao, welcoming love, and the Greek translation for ‘my word’ is my utterings or sayings. So, it could be translated “those who have deeply welcomed me will attend to my utterings.”
Jesus said, if a person possesses a welcoming love for God, God will abide in that person. To abide means to take residence, to dwell. When someone is truly welcomed, they feel at home.
What do we say when we really want somebody to feel welcomed? We say, “please, make yourself at home!” It is one of the most warm and welcoming phrases a visitor can hear. Make yourself at home.
Jesus welcomed others into himself. He did not have a house. He was their home. When this kind of welcoming is offered by Jesus, why wouldn’t his disciples be drawn to his utterances? For example, the sermon on the mount and the two all-encompassing commands to love God and love others, etc.
Sometimes, people are so fervent in their religious piety it appears God is not a welcomed member of their home but is rather being held hostage by their theology.
If keeping Gods word is about keeping a pious life, I doubt there is room for Spirit to fill and empower. It’s as if God is being held hostage and forced to take on our image of God we’ve created.
This can happen even in our relationships. We’ve all known marriages that resemble a mutual hostage taking. Both live together in the same dwelling, yet neither is taking residence in the other’s heart.
It would take great humility for one to welcome the other into their heart emotionally. Intimacy, like church going, seems only to occur on special occasions like Easter and Christmas.
I’ve known Parents who withhold agapao, welcoming love, from their children. I was guest preaching in a church where I said, “It is not ok to withhold love from someone for fear of condoning behaviors.”
After the service, a mother of her gay adult child told me she hadn’t had their son and his boyfriend to their home because they were afraid of “condoning” their lifestyle. It had been a year since they saw him.
I asked the mother, “what would you really like to do. She said, “I want to have them over, but I’m afraid to go against God.” I encouraged the mom to do what she felt was the most loving thing she could do to honor her heart.”
A year later I was guest preaching at the same church. The same woman approached me after the service to give me an update. She said she’d had them over for dinner and was so glad she reached out. She was tortured by holding love/God hostage from her son.
She said, “I feel as free as my son must have felt when he first came out to us!”
Perhaps Jesus is talking about creating a safe place for Spirit to reside. Jesus told the disciples he would not be with them anymore, but the Spirit would lead them and guide them. From the home of their hearts.
I have been asked to officiate marriage ceremonies where 1 Corinthians 13 was chosen to be read during the ceremony. In my planning session with them, I encourage them to rethink the reading.
While it is a beautiful chapter on love, it is not telling us how to love, but how impossible it is for us to love this way. The chapter tells us what pure love is. Pure love is God, and these are God’s pure expressions. If they are seen as mandates for a bride and groom, the two may be scared right off the altar!
I imagine hearing these as commands to the couple.
“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoice in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
What’s important is what form of love this chapter is about. It is agape love. God’s unconditional love. This kind of love can only emanate from God. Pure love. We are incapable of pure unadulterated love. But we can welcome this love and open the way for agape to flow in and through us.
Isn’t this what Paul means when he says, “It is no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me.” How beautiful to admit my love limitations and welcome God’s love to flow through me.
Back in the 80’s, I heard someone say he loved the writings of New Testament scholar James Stewart. He was on a vacation and went to a city in Scotland where Stewart lived. He got a phone book and started calling all the James Stewarts in the phone book to get coffee with him.
After many failed calls he found the right James Stewart. Stewart graciously invited the man and he his wife over. In their conversation the man asked Stewart the one thing that has helped him live a life devoted to following Jesus. Stewart paused and then said.
It is not I who lives, but Christ who lives in me.
It is not I who loves but Christ who loves through me.
It is not I who weeps but Christ who weeps with me.
And he went on.
This is what it means to love God in John 14. When we do this, our limited capacity for love joins with the pure love of God that has taken residence in us.
The two at the altar don’t have to run from their ceremony. They can boldly proclaim, “We cannot live this divine way of loving in 1 Corinthians 13. But we desire this love to take residence in us, to abide in us.
When we lovingly welcome the God who loves us perfectly, we can abide in this love and attend to spirits teaching. We will find ourselves reflecting on this pure love that has taken residence in us. The word and the words of God will be repeated and reflect our master teacher. We allow the abiding love of God to take residence in our imperfection.
The implications of cohabitating in God’s abiding love are endless. Jesus said to his disciples., “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”
Amen
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Henry Rojas, spiritual director at Spirit in the Desert.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud.
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