A Peaceful Presence
John 14:1–31
Philip Comfort has translated this passage, which was a poem in the original greek, into modern English verse. Watch the video below then read silently through the poem. After taking time on the video to familiarise yourself with the poem, take time on the second reading, to ponder and notice.
Mutual Indwelling
1 Your troubled hearts need to rest in God.
Trust in him as you would trust in me.
2 There is plenty of room in my father’s house—
I am going away to prepare a place for you.
3 soon I will return to welcome you in this home
so that you may live in God, as I do.
4 You should know that I am the way
to where you are going. Yes, I am the way
6 to the reality of God’s life. You cannot come
to live in God except by living in me.
7 If you had really known me,
you would have also known the Father.
Look at me—see him and know him!
9 Those who have seen me have seen the Father,
for I live in him and he in me.
10 Everything I’ve done and said, I’ve done through him
and he through me, for we indwell each other.
11 The miracles I’ve done with the Father
should convince you of this.
12 And you all will be able to do the same,
if you put your trust in me
13–14 Whatever you ask the Father in my presence—
I will do it for you
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
15 Above all, love me and keep my commands.
16 And I will ask the Father to give you
another partner to be with you forever.
17 He is the Spirit who is real to those who know his presence,
but not to those in this world who do not see him,
or know him. But you know who is—
right at this moment he is living among you
and soon he will be indwelling you.
18 It is I who will come to you when the Spirit comes.
I would never leave you as orphans.
19 In a little while, the world will see me no more.
But you will see me, and you will live because I live.
20 On that day of my resurrection you will know
I live in the Father and you in me and I in you.
21 Those who know my commandments and keep them
are those who love me.
They will be loved by my Father
and I will love them and manifest myself in them.
23 My father and I in the spirit will come
to those who keep my commands and love me—
we will come to make our home with them,
so that they may live in us and we in them.
24 Those who don’t love me don’t keep my commands
or the message I gave you from my Father.
25 I have told you these things while I am still here.
26 Your new partner, the Holy Spirit,
who is none other than my presence given to you
by my Father, will teach you things yet to come,
as well as remind you of what I said before.
27 I will leave my peaceful presence with you,
which is better than any peace the world can give.
28 So don’t be troubled that I am about to leave,
for I am going to the Father who is greater than I.
29 Continue to believe in what I’ve told you,
30 even when the prince of this world comes—
but he has no claim on me,
31 while I am doing what the father has willed.
Then the world will realize the love I have for him!
(Philip Comfort, The Poems and Hymns of the New Testament. Used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers. www.wipfandstock.com)
Have you ever wondered what you would say to those close to you if you knew you only had days to live?
Would you be panicked and therefore pass on a list of things to be done, or be morose and barely speak. Perhaps you’d be angry and speak bitterly or try and pretend it is trivial and avoid any meaningful conversation?
Or would you seek to reassure and pass on important life lessons and wisdom? It is this that Jesus is doing here in this poem.
As with the poems for Joy and Love, the key to Peace is a loving relationship with God. This poem goes further, focusing on a close indwelling relationship with God. The previous two poems were written by Paul and John, reflecting after Jesus had left, but this poem is recalled as spoken by Jesus to his disciples not long before he was going to die, rise from the dead and then leave them. So, knowing this, he wishes to reassure them by reminding them of their relationship with God, who loves them, and the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, after he left. The relationship with God is not one-sided though, it requires us to love God as well, as demonstrated by following his commands.
There is a lot of mirroring in this poem. Jesus points to his relationship with the Father and then explains that is the same with his disciples and him. Though this is stated several times it is slightly different each time with a slightly different focus. The same main concepts echo those found 1 Corinthians (Love) and 1 John (Joy): seeing, knowing and loving. What is different is the concept of living or indwelling, intertwined with knowing and loving.
There is a broad ABA structure in terms of content; Peace, Love and then Peace again – mirrored by the compositional structure of the piano music. You should recognise the hymn section from “Love” in the middle of this piece. The “Peace” theme is new, of course. There is a little opening melodic fragment at the start of Love which represents the Spirit (The Orchard is all about the fruit of the Spirit, so it deserves its own theme!). This melodic fragment is used frequently to represent the promise of the Spirit in this piece and the reassuring presence of Jesus. This is where we find peace.