I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you…
There is a sense of urgency in the words that Jesus shares this last night on earth. He needs to share information quickly.
There is also a sense that things are changing. The reason for the urgency is that Jesus is going away. When he was with the disciples, certain things were not allowed to happen. The disciples were protected. Now that he is going away, the true nature of the world will be revealed. The disciples and followers of Jesus will come in for a dose of the world’s wrath.
You’ve been warned, Jesus says. He also told them why. He doesn’t want any of His followers to “fall away.”
He has introduced something new into the world. The love of God has taken human form and is about to be sacrificed for the sins of all mankind. Love and light are here. The world is not pleased.
They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.
Do you know the Father? Do you know Jesus? How does knowing God affect your thinking? What Jesus says in this verse puts a finger on what might be called, “The Great Divide.” The Great Divide is the gulf between how people who know God see the world and how those who do not know God see the world.
Those who know the Father know that there is more to life than this world. They also know that there will be an accounting for what we do and say and believe in this life. Knowing this affects the decisions we make, the things we do and what we say.
Those who do not know the Father only know this world. There is nothing beyond this life. They have no hope, and more importantly, they have no sense of eternal accountability. Such people are bound only by what they think is best. God’s will for them is not part of their thinking.
If you find the world frightening, it is because of people who have no fear of the eternal consequences of what they do and say. If some people ignore the law, it is because they decide for themselves what is best. Those who do not know the Father or Jesus act very differently than those who do.
… in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.
What is your service to God? Is it to mete out justice? Is it your job to avenge bad behavior or insults thrown your way? Does God want you to go out and kill people who disrespect him?
Our God is a God of patience, kindness, and understanding. Our God is a God of love.
So how do we reconcile that with the portrait of God we see in the Old Testament?
One of the things we see in John’s gospel is that Jesus talks funny. No, he is not making jokes, but it is clear from the way he talks that he is not from around these parts. Anywhere around these parts. Not even from earth. He speaks from a perspective outside of time and space. He speaks from an eternal perspective.
The worldly view is to see life as all there is. Death is the end of the game, the worst that can happen. From God’s perspective, death is not the worst that can happen. The real “worst that can happen” is not being in a relationship with our Creator. While this life on earth is a gift, it is not all there is. It is not even a tiny bit of all there is. Life with God is your happiest moment on earth magnified by infinity and stretched out forever.
If a person foregoes their relationship with God and there is no hope of reconciliation, then why live? There is no reason for God to give them more years on earth. Old Testament judgment is not the end of existence for those people. It is merely the end of one part of their existence.
Today, every person has hope of reconciliation with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, it is to our benefit to be allowed to live as long as possible. God’s hope is that we might all come to life in Him through Jesus. For those of us who know our God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, life on earth is just a small part of what real Life is all about. When a believer is killed, even when the person doing the killing thinks they are serving God, they know they are eternally safe. Safe in the arms of Jesus.
I want to take a moment and focus on the first eight words of verse two: “They will put you out of the synagogue…”
What does that mean? How bad could that be? The answer is that it is a pretty serious threat. In Jewish culture, the synagogue was the center of their world. If God is the center of everything, the synagogue was the doorway to God. Once shut out of the synagogue a person is both shut away from God and shut out of everything important about society.
In our current culture, we take a measure of rebellion for granted. Youth will rebel. Counter culture people are… well… counter culture. Social norms are being challenged from all directions. Belonging is no longer as simple as conforming to the “status quo.” There is no status quo and there hasn’t been one for a long time. Yet we still hunger for social acceptance.
Whatever our “group” is, we have a need to be accepted. Being isolated from those we respect and admire is a lonely experience. This gives the “group” power over the individual. We strive to conform. Even today, the threat of being “put out of the [synagogue equivalent]” is something to be considered.
The disciples were being told that they would be asked to stand up to the crowd. They would risk being pointed to, called up before the leaders, accused of hateful things. In modern terms, they would be de-friended by everyone who was anyone, doxxed by those in the know, and angrily ridiculed and “flamed” by everyone on the internet. On a modern university campus, they might be the cause of a riot, protested, accused of being “haters” and threatened with physical violence.
It is easy to gloss over these eight words because we Christians do not have synagogues, but we do have lives. Jesus seems to be saying that we should expect our lives as Christians to be … unsettled. At least as far as our connection with the world goes.
Let’s Discuss: How do you apply this idea of being “put out” to being a Christian in today’s world?
All this I have told you so that you will not fall away.
Jesus continues to give the disciples his last minute instructions. In the last ten verses of chapter 15, Jesus begins to explain about the world’s hate for God and everything associated with Him. At the time Jesus is saying this the Jewish leaders are the biggest threat that the disciples can see. Yet these words of Jesus are prophetic. They apply to anyone who is of the world. They all hate God and anyone who is of God. His words apply to all time.
The disciples (and us) are being told this for a reason. Why? So that we will not “fall away.”
What does he mean?
One of my summer jobs during college was selling books door to door. It was a hard job. If the company I worked for had just handed me a sales kit and sent me out into the field, I wouldn’t have lasted a week. I would have fallen away. Instead, they gave me and the other salesmen an entire week of very intensive training.
Some of the training was about how to sell the products. A great deal of the training was similar to the training Jesus is giving his disciples. It was about what to expect.
Expect to feel sorry for yourself. When those feelings come remember they are just feelings.
Expect people to say no. Not everyone is going to want what you are selling.
Expect that some people will be having a bad day. That happened more than once!
Expect it to be hard, but it will be worth it.
The goal of sales training was to get the people who were selling to focus on what was important. Ignore the distractions. Stay focused on the goal. When it comes to being a follower of Jesus our goal is to be with Him in heaven.
And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
Who is Jesus talking to? What does he mean by “testify?” Why does he want them to testify?
Jesus is talking to his inner circle of disciples. The circle was purged of the devil when Judas left. The night is late. They have eaten the Passover meal and Jesus has washed their feet. Jesus has been preparing them for what is to come. In yesterday’s verse, he tells them that they will receive the Spirit of truth and that this spirit will testify about Jesus. Now he tells them that they must testify as well.
This concept of giving testimony is worth considering. When one testifies in court, they are serving as evidence. The person giving testimony becomes evidence in the case. This is much different than simply talking about something that happened, or telling a story. There is a weight on the one who gives testimony. It is the burden of truth. This is why a person’s character is so important when it comes to determining what is true. A person who cannot be trusted with the truth gives false evidence or testimony. The person who is trustworthy gives reliable testimony. Whether we believe a person or not is itself a testimony on the character of the person we are listening to.
When Jesus tells his disciples that they must testify, he is also telling them that they must be worthy of being believed. He does not expect them to have the power to do this on their own. He knows that they will continue to need Him. And so he promises to send them the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. When they testify, they must not be afraid. There can be no backing down. They are not allowed to give false testimony.
They have been with Jesus from the beginning of his ministry. They know who and what He is. They have seen what he has done and listened to his words. Now has come the time for them to testify to what they have seen and heard.
Let’s Discuss: Have you ever given evidence in court? What is different about giving testimony?
When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.
We live in interesting times. We live in a time when the Spirit of God has been poured out among us. God Himself comes to us and testifies about Jesus. God points the way to the means of salvation and reconciliation with Him.
The Greek word for this Spirit is “paraklētos.” In English, a Paraclete. The NIV translates this word, paraklētos, as “Advocate,” however there are many ways to translate it. The Amplified Bible provides a cornucopia of insight into this Spirit with these names: Helper, Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counselor, Strengthener, Standby.
Somehow God Himself is shared with us through what we call His Holy Spirit. The first thing that Jesus tells us about this Spirit is that He will testify about Jesus. What a glorious mission! To point the way to the reason we can be part of God’s family.
As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’
Have you ever had a good reason to hate someone? I mean a really good reason? Hate is an interesting emotion. In an abstract sense, it is the opposite of love. Jesus is all about love, but when he comes to earth to visit his creation he is greeted by hate. Why?
Hate goes to a level inside a person that is grounded in who the person is. Not everyone hates. Some people seem to swim in hate. One doesn’t hate another person because they accidentally stepped on their toe. If they do lash out in hate, then stepping on the toe was an excuse, not the cause of the hate.
The people who hated Jesus hated him “without reason.” Oh sure, we know that they will make up a reason. In John 11:50 Caiaphas says, “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” The excuse was that if Jesus is not killed the whole nation of Israel would perish. Jesus is right in saying that this is not a reason because Caiaphas is not God. He cannot predict the future any more than you or I can. He is making his fears into a prediction so that they can be used as a faux reason.
If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin.
Once again Jesus tells us about the cost of rejecting Him. He came down from heaven and was born a man. He walked among God’s chosen people. The people of God knew God’s laws, but they did not know God and they did not recognize his son when he walked among them.
Jesus did not just “claim” to be God’s son. In fact, if that is all he had done, I suspect that the Jewish leaders would have ignored him as a crank. But Jesus could not be ignored because he did more than just make claims about his divinity. He demonstrated the power of God again and again.
No one has ever done the works he did. No one will ever do anything that compares to what Jesus did until He comes again. The signs Jesus gave were unmistakable. There could be no question of what and who they pointed to.
When the Jewish leaders rejected Jesus, they were not just turning their back on a crackpot. Instead, they were angry that people were turning to Jesus to be healed. They resented Jesus forgiving sins. They were especially angered because Jesus did not submit to their man-made rules about the Sabbath. In their frustration and their rage, they were blinded to the truth about who it was they were plotting to kill.
It was as if the presence of Jesus was like a giant spotlight that illuminated their sin.
Jesus has spent a lot of time teaching the disciples about the connection between Himself and His Father. Now he approaches the same concept from the opposite direction.
The Strong’s Concordance describes the definition of the Greek word for hate, miseo, as “detest” or “persecute.” Certainly, this describes the attitude of the Jewish leaders towards Jesus. I think miseo also describes the attitude of natural man towards Jesus.
Jesus is amazingly clear on this point:
I and the Father are one… (John 10: 30)
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. (John 14: 7)
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me… (John 14: 11)
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father… (John 14: 20)
One cannot hate Jesus and love the Father. There is more than a connection between them. As John tells us in John 10:30, Jesus and the Father are one.
