Participants: Deyvy Rodriguez & Jon Paulien
Series Code: JBOTB
Program Code: JBOTB00019A
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00:20 Hello and welcome again
00:21 to this program "Books of the Book." 00:23 My name is Deyvy Rodriquez 00:24 and I am so happy that you can take this time 00:27 and open the Bible and study the Word of God with us. 00:31 We are studying the Gospel of John 00:33 and today we are in Chapter 13 and starting in verse 31. 00:38 And by this time Jesus has already 00:40 washed the disciple's feet and also Judas has left them. 00:45 And with us is Dr. Jon Paulien, he is a Bible scholar. 00:50 And he is a brilliant scholar, 00:52 especially in this book, the Gospel of John. 00:55 In fact he has written three books 00:57 on the Gospel of John that is. 01:00 And Dr. Jon Paulien, welcome again. 01:02 And I say that you are a brilliant scholar 01:04 because I've been blessed 01:05 with the studies you see or you point out 01:08 all these spiritual lessons from the Gospel of John 01:12 that otherwise I had not seen. 01:14 And I want to thank you again for being with us. 01:17 You are the dean of Religion at Loma Linda University. 01:23 Yeah, we call it the School of Religion. 01:24 The School of Religion. 01:25 I've been there about six years. Six years. 01:27 Before that you were at Andrews, is that correct? 01:30 Yes, I was in a New Testament department 01:32 at Andrews University for something like 25 years. Okay. 01:36 And tell us shortly about your doctorate. 01:41 Well, I actually went to Andrews University for the doctorate 01:45 and in the midst of that program I was teaching some classes 01:51 and I guess the students were bit disruptive, 01:54 so they decide to keep me. 01:57 And by the way, Dr. Paulien says that his, 02:00 the favorite things to do in his free time 02:02 is study and read, right? Some of it. 02:06 When you get into it deeply, you want to do more. All right. 02:09 You said you enjoy it rather than-- 02:10 That's right. That's right. 02:12 Well, where are we here in Chapter 13 and verses 31? 02:16 Well, this is again a transition point. 02:18 Judas has gone out and sometimes 02:22 there's a presence of a person who can be kind of disruptive. 02:26 People won't really speak totally honestly sometimes 02:30 while someone is there. 02:33 When Judas leaves, it seems to free Jesus 02:36 to be really open with His disciples 02:38 at a level He hadn't before. 02:40 And so the first discourse of Jesus here starts in 13:31 02:45 goes to the end of Chapter 14. 02:48 And starting here is what scholars called 02:52 the farewell discourse of Jesus. 02:56 He is saying goodbye to His disciples. 02:58 He knows that He is going to the cross. 03:00 He knows He is not going to be with them for much longer 03:03 and here He gives some information 03:06 that will prepare them for how to live in His absence. 03:10 So a major theme of this farewell discourses, 03:15 which goes all the way up through 16 is the Holy Spirit 03:19 because in a real sense, the Holy Spirit replaces Jesus 03:23 and does for the disciples what Jesus Himself was gonna do. 03:28 But there is a second theme here 03:30 and that is in a real sense the disciples themselves 03:33 replace Jesus on this earth. 03:36 So through the Holy Spirit, the disciples are enabled 03:40 to do the work that Jesus had been doing 03:42 on earth throughout the world. 03:44 And Jesus even says, it's better if I go away 03:48 because I am only one but through My disciples 03:51 the world can be impacted even more deeply 03:54 and more extensively than otherwise. 03:58 So farewell discourses are pretty common. 04:03 In the Old Testament you can think of Joshua, 04:07 who gave a farewell discourse, Jacob in Genesis 49, 04:12 David in 1 Chronicles 28 and 29. 04:16 You have a number of people who give a farewell 04:19 when they are about to die or about to leave 04:23 and Jesus picks up on this and does it. 04:27 Now the theme of the first part is love 04:30 and He picks up really on Chapter 13:1. 04:34 Why don't you read that again? 04:36 "Now before the feast of the Passover, 04:38 when Jesus knew that His hour had come 04:40 that He should depart from this world to the Father, 04:43 having loved his own who were in the world, 04:46 He loved them to the end." All right. 04:49 So here Jesus indicates that His focus now 04:53 is going to be on the love that He has for them 04:56 and the whole foot washing is all about that love. 04:59 When you get to verse 31, 05:01 the translation doesn't reflect it but just read that verse. 05:04 "So when he had gone out, Jesus said, 05:07 'Now the Son of Man is glorified, 05:09 and God is glorified in him.'" 05:11 Its' clear that translators didn't really know 05:14 what to do with the Greek here, 05:16 that's the same as true 05:17 with the translation I have in my hand. 05:20 The Greek word is therefore. 05:22 Judas leaves and then therefore. 05:26 Therefore, you don't start a new paragraph. 05:29 You don't start a new chapter with therefore. 05:32 Clearly what happens from verse 31 on 05:35 is designed to explain to some degree what happened before, 05:40 the foot washing, Judas leaving etcetera. 05:43 Jesus, now, that Judas is gone opens Himself up. 05:48 You know, it's hard to talk about spiritual things 05:50 when somebody is around 05:52 who is just dismissive or disrespectful. 05:55 Judas has gone, now Jesus goes 05:58 heart to heart with the disciples. 06:01 I would suggest you read 06:03 verses 31 to the end of the chapter. 06:05 It's one of the most famous parts of all the four gospels. 06:09 We will pick up on 32 then, "If God is glorified in Him, 06:13 God will also glorify Him in Himself, 06:16 and glorify Him immediately. 06:18 Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. 06:23 You will seek Me, and I've said to the Jews, 06:26 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' 06:28 so now I say to you. 06:30 A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, 06:34 as I have loved you, you also love one another. 06:37 By this all will know that you are My disciples, 06:40 if you have love for one another. 06:42 Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, where are You going?' 06:46 Jesus answered him, 06:47 'Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, 06:50 but you shall follow Me afterward.' 06:52 Peter said to Him, 06:53 'Lord, why can I not follow You now? 06:56 I will lay down my life for Your sake.' 06:58 Jesus answered him, 07:00 'Will you lay down your life for My sake? 07:02 Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow 07:06 till you have denied Me three times.'" 07:09 Couple things dynamics happening in this passage. 07:12 First of all it's stating a theme that's constantly 07:16 throughout this farewell discourse, 07:18 that is Jesus is saying, "I am going away, 07:21 and where I am going you cannot follow." 07:25 He elaborates that later on to say, 07:26 "I am going away and where I am going you can't follow now 07:32 but you will follow later." 07:34 So He is alluding here that He is going to His death 07:37 but in the broader sense, 07:39 he is also alluding to His ascension. 07:41 After the death Jesus comes back but not to stay. 07:44 He comes back to ascend to heaven. 07:47 So He lets them know, He is going away 07:49 and disciples get very depressed about this 07:52 and you will see the impact of that 07:55 as we go through these chapters. 07:57 The other theme of the section is love 08:01 and in verses 34 and 35 Jesus says, 08:05 "A new command I give you, 08:07 love one another as I have loved you. 08:11 So you must love one another." 08:12 What's the key to that kind of love? 08:15 I think it was illustrated in the foot washing service. 08:18 The only way you can have deep long lasting love 08:23 is through daily, hourly forgiveness. 08:29 In my marriage, you know, 08:31 we, two people living together, working together, 08:35 trying to develop a relationship, 08:37 we've been together 39 years. 08:39 I can tell you that the best times 08:42 have been since we truly grasp this 08:45 that you can't be in an intimate relationship 08:49 year after, year after year without forgiveness. 08:52 We all say stuff, do stuff that irritates the other person. 08:56 If you focus on the irritations, 08:58 the relationship just grinds to halt. 09:01 But if you have the self sacrificing spirit of Jesus, 09:07 one can go into that relationship 09:09 with the intent of forgiveness. Everyday forgive. 09:14 You know, we sometimes let irritations pile up. 09:19 You know, years of them, decades of them 09:22 and people get snippier and snippier with each other. 09:25 And then comes the time when you realize I need to forgive, 09:30 get that whole load out of the way 09:32 and then forgive everyday. 09:35 You see the big forgiveness is baptism, 09:39 the little forgiveness is foot washing. 09:42 So foot washing represents those daily little irritations 09:46 that we need to just lay aside. 09:48 And if we forgive them, 09:49 then they can't get in the way of the relationship 09:52 and to just keep forgiving. 09:53 And Jesus says in verse 35, "This is how men will know 09:59 that you are My disciples because of the love 10:03 that you have for one another." 10:05 A challenge I might throw out to our viewers. 10:09 The church where you attend, 10:10 the religious community that you are part of, 10:12 is it known in the community for its love 10:17 or is it known for other things? 10:20 Jesus says, "People will know that you know Me 10:26 by the love you have for each other" 10:29 because that love is a miracle. 10:32 Genuine Jesus type love isn't something you can manufacture. 10:37 It isn't something you can get up in the morning and say, 10:38 I am going to love today, you know, no. 10:41 That genuine love is a miracle whenever it happens 10:44 and forgiveness, true genuine forgiveness 10:47 is a miracle whenever it happens. 10:50 And so Jesus points this out. 10:53 The miracle that truly demonstrates that God is real 10:59 and that this community is following Him, 11:01 that miracle is the way that they treat each other. 11:04 And as we treat each other that will be the miracle 11:08 that secular people, atheist, non-Christians 11:12 that are out there looking and say, 11:13 "I've never seen that before. That is amazing." 11:17 But if they look at a Christian community 11:19 and see people that are snipping at each other, 11:22 see people that are acting 11:23 just like anybody in the world would act. 11:25 They will look and say, he's not doing anything, 11:28 he's not changing anything. 11:29 This isn't significant, this isn't helpful. 11:33 So he says by this everyone will know that you are My disciples. 11:38 You love one another 11:39 because disciples do what the Master does. 11:42 They wash feet just like the Master did. 11:45 If you do what Jesus did, people will say, 11:47 that's different, that's amazing. 11:50 And forgiveness and love 11:51 are very connected to one another. Absolutely. 11:54 I cannot love if I don't have the spirit of forgiveness. 11:59 If I am not willing to forgive you, 12:00 if I don't forgive how can I allow 12:02 that bitterness in my heart to go 12:05 and at the same time wanting to love. 12:09 And the gospel writer of John in 1 John as well, 12:14 he talk so much of love, the God is love 12:17 and that if we don't forgive-- 12:19 we can't forgive others how can we love God. That's right. 12:24 How can you love God whom you've never seen, 12:27 if you can't love people that you can see? 12:28 And the love that Jesus is talking about 12:31 is to love people when it hurts, 12:34 to love people when it's inconvenient, 12:36 to love people even when other people are mocking you. 12:40 That kind of love can't be taught. 12:43 It's a miracle when it happens. 12:45 And those who wish to follow Jesus, 12:48 given themselves to Him, allow Him to transform them 12:52 into that kind of love. 12:54 Well, that sounds like a wonderful discourse to give 12:57 just before you leave a farewell, 12:59 as we say a farewell discourse on love. 13:02 And so where else is Jesus taking the disciples 13:06 as far as His discourse? 13:08 Well, in Chapter 14, He takes them in another direction. 13:11 And He speaks again to this idea, 13:14 He is going away but He is going to come back. 13:17 John 14:1-3. 13:20 "Let not your heart be troubled 13:22 you believe in God, believe also in me. 13:24 In my Father's house are many mansions 13:27 if it were not so, I would have told you. 13:29 I go to prepare a place for you. 13:32 And if I go and prepare a place for you, 13:34 I will come again, and receive you to myself, 13:37 that where I am, there you may be also be." 13:41 So the disciples are alarmed that Jesus is going away 13:47 but the first comfort He gives them, 13:49 He says, "Look, I am going away 13:51 but there's a purpose in my going away. 13:53 I am going to be preparing a place for you 13:55 and you will join me there later on." 13:59 So the first point of comfort is that when He goes away, 14:03 they can be assured that He will come back. 14:06 So I think at this point we should go to a break 14:09 but let's come back to these three verses when we return. |
Revised 2014-12-17