Monday, May 12, 2025  

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Today's Scripture
John 14:1–17

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." (NRSV)

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Reflection

Don’t leave! We are not ready! Where are you going? Wait! These cries must have come from the disciples on the night Jesus was to die. I just reread the chapter from John’s Gospel, creating the scene in my head of Jesus being peppered with these frantic questions. Perhaps the disciples never considered that their Messiah would leave them so soon. They had spent almost every day with Jesus for more than three years, and suddenly he was leaving them.  

“Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus encouraged.

“Where are you going?” said the disciples.  

“I am going to my Father,” said Jesus. 

“How will we know the way?” cried the disciples.  

“I am the way,” said Jesus.

“Show us the Father,” demanded Philip. 

“I am in the Father, and the Father is in me,” replied Jesus.

Even though the disciples trusted Jesus when he was with them in the flesh, they couldn’t conceive of a world without him being physically in it. They were demonstrating just how difficult it is to rely on, and communicate with, someone you can’t see. Now they would have to rely on an unseen savior. I guess this is the same reason I panic when I try to rely on God. Just when I think that God’s plan and my plan are one in the same, God’s plan takes a hard left.

Jesus said many things that night (most of which the disciples did not hear). The Father sent him, and he was now to return to the Father. This had been the plan all along. If we are able to believe and to live into the teachings of Christ, then God the Father will live in us, as we do in him. God would also give us another advocate to help us and be with us forever — a sweeter deal, I could not ask for.

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Prayer
Dear God, I am grateful for the Gospel writers’ accounts of Jesus’ life on earth. I am grateful for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who will always be with me. Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. Amen.

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Written by Katy Sinclair, Associate Director of Music for Children and Youth

Reflection and Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church

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