John 14

The Gospel text used in the Commentary is John McKinnon's own translation of Luke's Gospel.

Quotations from the Old Testament are taken from the NRSV text.

Should you wish to compare the author's Gospel translation with the NRSV translation, you can access the NRSV text on the Link to Oremus Bible for Luke Chapter 14 << here.

Prefacing the Final Discourse

Before his death, the historical Jesus was limited to a particular place and a particular time. The disciples could relate to him only as they could relate to any human person. They could share something of their inner worlds; they could reach out to each other in love. But there were limits to how much they could know each other, to how close they could draw to each other, and to the times they could simply be with each other.

Jesus’ resurrection opened up totally different and deeper ways of their being in relationship. Jesus was no longer present as one constricted by issues of space and time. Yet the disciples’ historical relationship with the risen Jesus was coloured significantly by their unique acquaintance with him. Their personal experience enabled them to understand and to interpret their immeasurably deeper but mysterious relationships with him as the Risen One.

The narrative addressed the challenge of interpreting the presence and action of the Risen Christ to the later community of disciples for whom it was written. The Beloved Disciple, who had intimately known the historical Jesus, and who, by the time he wrote the Gospel, had many years of mystical experience of the Risen Jesus, was in the ideal position to rise to the challenge.

To achieve his purpose the Disciple interwove two scenarios. He set up the Farewell Discourses, sometimes as a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples, sometimes as a monologue addressed to the disciples. The Jesus who spoke did so as both the historical Jesus and the Risen One. The setting was the shared meal with the historical disciples; the content was the message of the Risen Lord to disciples of all times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Gospel text used in the commentary is John McKinnon's own translation of John's Gospel.

Quotations from the Old Testament are taken from the NRSV text.

Should you wish to compare the author's translation with the NRSV translation, you can access the text on the Link to Oremus Bible for John Chapter 14 << here.