All Things Seen & Unseen

John 14, is overshadowed by Jesus', "where I am going you cannot come" (13: 33) and then with the issue of Peter's predicted denial. The chapter begins with the promise of Jesus' preparation of a new home in heaven for them, of his coming to take them to himself and of his being himself the very Road to the Father's house. He moves to the idea that the Father is in him and he in the Father. The works of the Son are the works of the Father but then the works of the disciples are going to be greater 'because I go to my Father.' Then comes the wonderful promise of the Holy Spirit, the other Counsellor/ Comforter/ Advocate, who is another, 'just like' (so the Greek) Jesus. This Counsellor will strengthen them when they are brought before tribunals to bear witness to the Resurrection and will be not only with but in them. Jesus then said that he and the Father would love the one who has and keeps Jesus' commandments, which is equated with lovin...

St John 14 (1-14) among other things is Jesus' preparing of his disciples for his going away both at Calvary but also post-Calvary. With regard to the first, they have just heard the distressing news that Peter will betray the Lord three times before the cock crows. No wonder their hearts are troubled! However, St John, by the Holy Spirit, is also telling his readers more about the uniqueness of Jesus, the 'road' to God. In a sense, this theme has dominated his work from chapter 1. "No one has seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known" (v 18). Our Lord directs their faith, not to Peter's predicted failure but to God and himself, to the road He will travel in order to go and prepare a place for them. Beautifully the writer transitions from this going with the theme of Himself as the Road, the unique Road to God. First, Jesus tells them to their consternation I suspect that they know this way he is about...

I found it interesting that in Eastertide we have Shepherd Sunday (John 10. 1-18). One compelling reason is that the Shepherd discourse brings to the fore the qualities of our Saviour as the One who suffers for his sheep and lays down his life for his sheep. This is the Easter message in the context of the middle-eastern shepherd who lies across the doorway of the sheepfold, who puts his body 'on the line'. By being the One who lies in the doorway, He is able to say, 'I am the door to the sheepfold' and 'I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture'. But more than that, St John wants to impress upon us that Jesus is unique as the door in that this shepherd not only lays down his life for the sheep but then is able by the authority vested in Him by the Father to take that life up again. No one took his life away from him. He voluntarily laid it down so that he might take it up again for all his sheep. Was t...

Hearing the Emmaus story read again today, I became aware of the graphic picture it presents of the Christ ministering to us in all our troubles, griefs, sicknesses and problems: the Christ we see but do not recognise!! And the fact that we do not recognise Him does not make his ministry to us any less potent. The Lord seemed content to minister to Cleopas and his companion without their knowing who He was. So often in life, we only realise much later that it was the Lord serving us, upholding us, supporting us and teaching us at a particularly dark time. Perhaps the Emmaus story, along with many other of its facets, reminds us that our Lord is always with us because He has purposes to perform in our lives that will be achieved despite our spiritual blindness and sometime lack of zeal.

Thomas wanted to see as the fellow disciples of Jesus had seen. I don't think we can blame Thomas for his wish and in so wishing/acting he demonstrated the true bodiliness of the crucified, now risen Jesus. (An important theme for the Spirit speaking through St John.) However, Thomas missed out on something less tangible but most important for all who would come later. Thomas missed out on being the one of the disciples who would believe without having seen and hence become -even if for the short time - one of the fathers (St John being the other) of all those that have not seen and yet have believed. This not-seeing state of faith is the one we live within for this time as expressed by J. R. Peacey (1896-1971) in these words: O Lord, we long to see your face, to know you risen from the grave; But we have missed the joy and grace of seeing you, as others have. Yet in your company we'll wait, ...

During this Easter week , among other stories of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, we have heard the account of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-27). For me, this drama-narrative can be understood in two acts. Act 1, Sorrowfully Not Seeing and Act 11, Ardently Coming To See . The two disciples are walking along conversing and debating about what had happened to Jesus animated by a spirit of defeat, crushed hopes and puzzlement. "We had thought that our Lord would be the redemption of Israel but he was crucified, dead and buried. Now some who visited his tomb say they found it empty and saw angels declaring that Jesus is alive. But, these women didn't actually see him." Jesus joins these sorrowing disciples who are mourning the loss of their Lord but their eyes 'are holden [held or restrained] that they should not know him' (KJV). T hey cannot see what is before their eyes. Their eyes are prevented from seeing and knowing Jesus. I'm s...