We do not know, until after the event, if we have fulfilled all we have promised. Our claim, promise or boast is always tested by experience. Peter started off by boasting about his loyalty but ended by weeping about his disloyalty (Mark 14:72). Jesus was briefing His disciples for the separation they would experience. His mission was a solitary role; nobody else could be the substitute sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Bad news can stir up our hearts with fear. Jesus had told His disciples that He would leave them, and they knew it meant trouble. So the Lord took command of their hearts. ‘Do not allow your hearts to be stirred into fear’, He said. He then commanded them to put their trust in God and in Himself – a clear statement about His divinity. Then He set their minds on the future. The cross was not the end of their close fellowship with Him, because He would see them after the resurrection; He pointed them further forward to His ascension and to His second coming.
Mountaineers love new climbs, but always take a local guide. These people know how to get to the summit and back again because they have done it before. They are safe guides. Jesus had already used that analogy about Himself in John 3:13: “No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.” Thomas had forgotten where Jesus was going and therefore was baffled about how the disciples might follow Him.
Jesus claimed the He was ‘in the Father’ and ‘the Father is in me’. However that was difficult for the disciples to understand. How could a human being have the same personality as God? Philip was eager to see what God was like and Jesus told him that he already knew! The disciples had been with Jesus, and knew Him well, but had not grasped who He was. They had no idea that the man who walked with them was God: the Father was in His human body and He was in the Father.
Jesus challenged His disciples to believe in Him. Of course, they had lived with Him and worked with Him but they did not know who He was. As Jesus explained the intimacy of His relationship with the Father He presented His deity as a simple choice: ‘Believe what I say or look at what I’ve done and ask if anybody other than God could have done it’.
Although Jesus would return to the Father, He promised that His powerful presence on earth would continue. Those who believed in Him were given the right to declare the authority of Jesus over corruption and evil; and Jesus promised to answer such prayers powerfully. From one Master and twelve disciples, the world would soon see thousands of God-glorifying believers whose prayers would demonstrate that Jesus is still Lord.
For Jesus, it was unthinkable that He would love His Father and also disobey Him. Pleasing the person you love is the essence of relationship. And so Jesus used the same test of the disciples: if they loved Him they would obey Him; and if they failed to obey, they would reveal their lack of love. Judas Iscariot had just walked out of the conversation (John 13:30), but those who stayed, listening to God’s Word, were given a very special promise.
Although Jesus would leave His disciples when He was crucified, and leave them again when He went back to heaven, He assured them that He would see them again. He wanted them to anticipate that the relationship they had enjoyed together would continue, and even more closely than before. After His death, Jesus would be raised to life and the disciples would see Him (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).
The Last Supper was a special private time for Jesus and His disciples. These were His last hours before being arrested, falsely tried and cruelly crucified. Judas Iscariot, the traitor, had already left the Upper Room to do his wicked work of betraying the Son of God. There were no crowds to teach or sick people to heal. It was Jesus’ last opportunity to be fully open with His remaining disciples about their ongoing relationship with Himself, the Father and the Spirit.
The disciples were worried by the thought that Jesus would go away, so He reassured them that the Holy Spirit’s presence would be just like having Him with them all the time. They rightly looked to Jesus as their teacher, and maybe wondered how they would be able to remember all the wonderful things He said: but the problem was already solved.
