Morning Prayer, 24 Mar – John 14:25-31 ~ the peace of Christ

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

Under protection of the King of life, a protection that will not betray us: May the Holy Spirit come upon us; may Christ deliver us, bless us.

Morning reading

John 14:25-31 ESV:

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.”

Reflections:

Holy Spirit

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will teach and remind believers – in union with Jesus and in conformity with Jesus’ character and mission. “Jesus bore God’s name because he was the revelation of God to men; the Spirit is sent in Jesus’ name because he unfolds the meaning of Jesus for men” (Brown).

The Spirit understands all about Jesus and will clarify all that he has taught – he will leave out nothing of what Jesus has taught. Jesus is the fullness of the revelation of the Father. No further revelation is needed, nor would it be possible. What is called for is an understanding of the revelation that has come in Jesus, and this is what the Paraclete will provide.

peace of Christ

The peace Jesus is talking about is not the cessation of hostilities from enemies, but rather the gift of calmness and confidence that comes from union with God and faith in him and his purposes. The world’s idea of peace is something that comes through destroying of enemies and consists of physical and emotional comfort.

The peace that Jesus gives is grounded in God and not in circumstances. It is the peace that Jesus himself has exhibited in this Gospel and is exhibiting in this farewell discourse, even while he knows he is about to be killed. Soon he will speak of the continued trouble his disciples will experience in the world, but they will simply be living out what he himself has already been experiencing. They will share his troubles, but they will also have his peace, for they will share in his own relationship with the Father.

no fear

This word family is always used of fear in a negative sense, as the opposite of courage. Those with a settled disposition of such fear evidence a lack of faith in God and a denial of his presence, his goodness and his power.

Those who experience such fear, which includes virtually all of us to some degree, may take comfort that as God’s life grows within us and as our hearts are healed, we enter into the inheritance of Jesus’ peace, which replaces our sinful fear. Jesus here calls us to receive his peace. The grounds of this peace is the “perfect love” that “drives out fear” (1 Jn 4:18). This love is ultimately a sharing of the relationship between the Father and the Son.

love and joy

Jesus’ announcement that he is departing to the Father should fill them with joy instead of disturbance and fear. If you loved me indicates that Jesus’ view is that they have not done so. So their response shows that they have not yet come to love him in the truest sense. They think they love him, but in fact they are more focused on themselves than on him (Westcott).

Fear in itself is focused on self and circumstances rather than on God. Focus on God is central to all Jesus does and says, as it is here: If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father…. Jesus’ great love and focus is the Father; thus the prospect of returning to him fills Jesus with joy. If the disciples shared this focus and really loved Jesus, that is, willed the best for him, they also would share this joy.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Peanut Gallery: A brief word of explanation – the general format for Morning Prayer is adapted from the Northumbrian Community‘s Daily Office, as found in Celtic Daily Prayer (see online resources here.) The Scripture readings are primarily from the Gospel of John, with the intent to complete the reading by Easter. Other Scriptures which illuminate the Gospel of John will be included along the way.

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 22 Mar – John 14:18-24 ~ separation anxiety

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

O King of Kings, O King of the universe, King who will be, who is, may You forgive us each and every one. Accept my prayer, O King of grace.

Anyone who claims to be in the light, but hates his brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother or sister lives in the light; and there is nothing to make that person stumble.

Morning reading

John 14:18-24 ESV:

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”

Reflections:

new life

With Jesus’ return after the resurrection they will enter into the new kind of life he has been revealing throughout his ministry. The phrase before long comes from the Old Testament, where it is used “to express optimistically the shortness of time before God’s salvation would come” (Brown). When Jesus uses the expression it is indeed only a little while, a matter of a couple of days, until the salvation that is the beginning of the fulfillment of all the hopes will come. This salvation is a matter of life: Because I live, you also will live. They will live because they will be united to him by the Spirit and thus come to share in the life of him who is resurrection and life. All of this is made possible by Jesus’ own death and resurrection.

new intimacy

The intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son has been the subject of Jesus’ revelation. Jesus has called upon the disciples to accept this truth about him in faith, and now he promises that after the resurrection the disciples will come to realize it, they will know it. Like faith, this knowledge is not just an intellectual grasping of a truth. It comes from a participation in the divine reality itself, for it is said they will share in that relationship because they will be in the Son and he in them. Thus, what was just said of the Paraclete is now said of the Son. The Son and the Paraclete will both indwell the disciples.

shared life

This union is not simply a matter of shared ideas or feelings but of shared life. The love is reciprocal: He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. Believers are those who “have entered into the same reciprocity of love that unites the Father and the Son” (Barrett).

love and obey

To obey Jesus’ teaching is to adopt God’s pattern of life. But the condition for such obedience is love for Jesus. The commands of Jesus are not a set of rules like a traffic code; they are a description of a pattern of life that reflects God’s own life trans-posed into human circumstances. Love for Jesus involves both an attachment to him and a oneness with him and his interests, which naturally leads one to obey him and walk as he walked. One obeys what one loves. Indeed, our patterns of obedience reveal what we really love.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

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Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 21 Mar – John 14:15-17 ~ another Helper

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

O King of Kings, O King of the universe, King who will be, who is, may You forgive us each and every one. Accept my prayer, O King of grace…. Lord, let our tongue be no accomplice in the judgement of a brother.

Morning reading

John 14:15-17 ESV:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

Reflections:

love and obey

This statement is a definition of love itself. Jesus is referring not only to his ethical instructions, which are very few in this Gospel, but to the whole of his teaching, including his way of life. Accordingly, John will instruct his disciples later, saying, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 Jn 2:6). Now the hallmark of Jesus’ “ways,” his “walk,” was complete dependence on and obedience to the Father, only doing and speaking what he received from the Father. Such a life is itself an expression of love, since love, for John, is the laying down of one’s life (1 Jn 3:16). Thus Jesus himself has modeled the life of love he describes here in terms of obedience. Love, like faith, is the engagement of the whole person, especially the person’s will.

another Helper

The Paraclete [another Helper], like the Son, comes from the Father as a gift of the Father, for Jesus says the Father will give them the Paraclete at the Son’s request. In contrast to Jesus, who is now departing, the Paraclete will be with them forever. It is only Jesus’ visible presence that will be absent from them; Jesus himself will remain in union with them. Thus both Jesus and the Paraclete will be with the believers. Further connection with Jesus is evident when he refers to the Paraclete as the Spirit of truth, since Jesus is the truth, as he has just affirmed. The Paraclete’s relation to the world is like Jesus’, since the world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him, as has been the case with Jesus.

new intimacy

Jesus contrasts the disciples to the world. Although Jesus says this Paraclete will be in you, he already remains among them. The Spirit is not absent before the glorification. Indeed, he is present “without limit” in Jesus (Burge) and must be at work in the disciples in order for them to have the faith and love that Jesus mentions (Augustine). But the Paraclete has not yet been sent to the disciples and received by them in the new way Jesus is opening up. Both Jesus and this Paraclete have been present to the disciples already, even though the coming level of intimacy with both will be so much deeper that it is the difference between death and life.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

__________

Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 20 Mar – John 14:12-14 ~ ask me anything

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

O King of Kings, O King of the universe, King who will be, who is, may You forgive us each and every one. Accept my prayer, O King of grace…. Lord, let our heart provide no harbour for hatred of another.

Morning reading

John 14:12-14 ESV:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Reflections:

greater things

What are these greater things of which Jesus speaks – made possible because I am going to the Father? Jesus’ greatest work has yet to occur: his death, resurrection and ascension. After he is glorified, the Spirit will be given, and believers can then receive the full benefits of the salvation Jesus has accomplished through the union that comes through the Spirit. The disciples’ works are greater in that they are “the conveying to people of the spiritual realities of which the works of Jesus are `signs'” (Beasley-Murray). So greater things refer to our having a deeper understanding of God and sharing in his own life through actual union with him, which is now possible as a result of Jesus’ completed work. It is a matter of a qualitatively new reality in which the disciples share.

ask me anything

Praying “in Jesus’ name” does not refer to some magic formula added to the end of a prayer. It means to pray in keeping with his character and concerns and, indeed, in union with him. The disciples, through their union with Christ, are taken up into his agenda. This agenda, as throughout his ministry, is to bring glory to the Father. The promise is made to those who will pray in Jesus’ name and for the glory of the Father. As such it is a great promise for the advance of God’s purposes in oneself, in the church and in the world.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

__________

Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

Morning Prayer, 19 Mar – John 14:8-11 ~ identity check

Morning Prayer

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences – Cuthbert of Northumbria (635-87)

O King of Kings, O King of the universe, King who will be, who is, may You forgive us each and every one. Accept my prayer, O King of grace…. Lord, let our memory provide no shelter for grievance against another.

Morning reading

John 14:8-11 ESV:

"The Last Supper of Jesus" André Derain, 1911 — “The Last Supper of Jesus”
André Derain, 1911

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

Reflections:

vision of God

Here is the great desire of people throughout the ages — the vision of God. Philip’s request focuses on what has been central to Jesus all the way through, namely, the Father. Philip’s request echoes that of Moses when he said to God, “Show me your glory,” or “Show me yourself” (Ex 33:18). The Old Testament has accounts of people who have seen God, yet also warns that such a vision would bring death. Philip seems to have in mind an experience such as Moses or Isaiah had. He has a very exalted view of Jesus since he thinks Jesus can enable such an experience. But his view is not nearly exalted enough, as Jesus makes clear.

look at me

Philip has not really known Jesus because at the center of Jesus’ identity is his relation to the Father, a relation of such intimacy that Jesus can say anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Jesus describes this relationship as a mutual indwelling: I am in the Father, and . . . the Father is in me. He does not simply represent the Father, he presents him. Such complete union means that Jesus’ words and deeds have their source in the Father. Jesus may be the Father’s agent, but the Father is also the agent at work through Jesus. Jesus does not say, however, that he is the Father. Throughout the gospel Jesus maintains a careful distinction between his oneness with God and his distinctness from him.

believing is seeing

Physical sight is involved in observing Jesus, but this form of seeing is the least significant element, since even the opponents had that. Intellectual insight is important, because Philip is supposed to draw out the implications of what he has seen and heard in Jesus. But again this is not enough, for even the opponents have seen the implications but have rejected them. The third type of sight is needed, that which comes through faith.

Jesus asks Philip whether he believes that the Father and the Son dwell within one another. Then he addresses all the disciples, saying, Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. They should trust his claim or, if need be, go to the evidence of the deeds he has done. These deeds have manifested “his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”.

“The faith at issue is the faith that man really encounters God in his encounter with Jesus, that Jesus and the Father are one” (Bultmann). Until they grasp this aspect of Jesus’ identity they cannot really understand anything else about him.

The IVP New Testament Commentary Series

__________

Canticle:

Christ, as a light… illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield… overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

_____________________________________

Reflections from various saints will be included as their memorial days occur during the calendar year.

On Sundays, I’ll return to the USCCB readings (see online resources here) and various liturgical resources in order to reflect the Church’s worship and concerns throughout the world.

Photo illustrations and music videos, available online, are included as they illustrate or illuminate the readings. I will try to give credit and link to sources as best I can.

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