John 14:15-21 (NRSV)
Read John 14:15-21 on biblegateway.com
Verse 15"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Verse 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. Verse 17This 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.
Verse 18"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. Verse 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. Verse 20On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Verse 21They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."
Devotion
Jesus comforts his disciples with words of promise. Once they no longer see Jesus in physical form, he will always be with his disciples through their faith. Jesus’ address in the original Greek is in the plural, meaning that he is encouraging his disciples of every age as a community, to know they will never be alone. Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit will be with them always. “You will know that I am in my father, and you in me, and I in you.” This is a comfort to all of us who are challenged with the struggles in this world. For we have that divine presence in us as well. In Richard Rohr’s The Divine Dance, he writes of perichoresis, a Greek term used by theologians to describe the continuous, dynamic indwelling of the three Persons of the Trinity. We who share faith in Jesus Christ are assured of being welcomed into this continual ever flowing dance with the divine.
Prayer
God of ever-flowing dance, may we join in your dance of the Divine. We seek to feel your indwelling presence within us as we live each day, encouraging us, loving us, guiding us forward. Amen.
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