In these four chapters we encounter Jesus issuing his final instructions to his disciples. As I read through these few pages, I got a sense of the urgency in Jesus words. He knew that the end was coming soon, that his time on earth was almost past, and that the hardest part lay just ahead. I can hardly imagine what the disciples must have been thinking and I wonder, what would I have thought to hear so plainly the voice of God?
As Jesus speaks, John lets his words absolutely fill these pages with scarcely any commentary or interruption. The disciples sat in utter silence as Jesus tells them of betrayal, denial and an end to all they’ve known. On that night Jesus spoke with a certainty that the disciples had not heard before. No more parables, no more mysteries. Essentially, he was saying if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God. The disciples had been following Jesus for almost three years so it’s fairly obvious that they believed in His message but to hear it stated so definitively. That must have been pretty difficult to digest.
I think it is the clarity of these chapters that really amazes me. So often I have trouble hearing God’s voice and I envy the disciples that they were there on that night. But I also remember that even then the full message was hard to understand. It wouldn’t be until after Jesus had left that his words would fully sink in.
Sometimes it’s hard to know if you are hearing the voice of God at all and other times he’s speaking so plainly that you overlook such an obvious message. Either way it’s important to pay attention, hang on his every word and trust that while you may not understand it now God’s divine plan will make sense in the end.
Aaron
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