3 The Father & the Son: John 13:31—14:11
3
The Father & the Son
John 13:31—14:11
Our normal days are filled with a gnat-like cloud of details, most of them about as important as gnats. Take care of this, see to that. We talk about mundane things as life chugs along in its ordinary routine.
Then a crisis hits! Suddenly there’s no luxury of time for inconsequential things. We forget insignificant details and talk about what’s vital to us. Jesus and his disciples, at their final meal together, talked far into the night about the most important issues.
GROUP DISCUSSION. God cannot be seen by human eyes. That’s mysterious, sort of scary, certainly hard to grasp. How can someone absolutely real also be invisible? Have some fun with the concept of invisibility by spending a few minutes completing this sentence: “If I were invisible, I would . . .” (Include “I would not . . .”)
PERSONAL REFLECTION. What are some of the difficulties you experience in relating to an unseen God?
This study comes very near the end of Jesus’ earthly life, on the night he ate the Last Supper with his disciples. Read John 13:31—14:11. (“When he was gone” refers to Judas, who had left to go meet Jesus’ enemies and secretly lead them to him by night.)
1. On the eve of a coming crisis, a “calm before the storm” for Jesus and his disciples, what was uppermost in Jesus’ mind?
2. What specific questions did the disciples ask, and how did Jesus both answer and not fully answer them?
3. Suppose you had been with Jesus for three years and had placed all your hopes in him. How would you respond mentally and emotionally to his statement in 13:33?
4. To what extent can you identify with Peter’s response (13:36-38)?
5. When this conversation took place, there was of course no chapter break or new heading between 13:38 and 14:1. What would be the impact of Jesus saying “Do not let your hearts be troubled” immediately after saying that Peter would disown him three times?
6. Consider the remarkable statement in 14:6. How have you experienced Jesus as the way, the truth and the life?
7. After Jesus said that the disciples had seen the Father, Philip still asked to see the Father (14:7-8). What had Philip failed to grasp (14:9-11)?
8. What is the relationship of the Father and the Son (14:6-11)?
9. In the preceding study, Moses was unable to receive a full revelation of God. (God said, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live,” Exodus 33:20) How has Christ overcome this barrier between God and humanity?
10. In what senses have you “seen” the Father in and through Jesus Christ?
11. How has this study enlarged your understanding and appreciation of Christ?
Pray for a deeper knowledge of God in Christ. Pray for any whose “hearts are troubled,” that knowing Christ will bring them peace.
Now or Later
Compare this Scripture passage with John 8:12-30. Here is an earlier instance of Jesus talking about his relationship with his Father. Jesus was talking with his enemies the Pharisees and with a larger crowd of skeptics, rather than in an intimate setting with his disciples. Yet, as in John 13:31—14:11, he said that to know him was to know the Father (v. 19) and that he was going away and they could not follow, though for a different reason (v. 21).