Dear Friends,
We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Richard Giesken, Associate Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Missiology, for writing this devotional.
You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!
John 14: 8-17, 25-27 (NRSV)
8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 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”? 10 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. 11 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. 12 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. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
15 ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. 17 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.
25 ‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Devotional
“If you love me…”
At first glance, this may sound like a conditional statement: Prove that you love me by doing the checklist. But that doesn’t quite sound like Jesus, does it? We know that grace is freely poured out, and that we are saved by grace through faith—not as a result of works (Eph. 2:8–9).
So what is Jesus saying? The context of this passage is the night before Jesus was crucified. It was an intense moment of intimacy with his inner circle. This was not a test; it was a preparation for what was to come. The preparation was not just for the following day, but for that time when Jesus would no longer be with them in the flesh. We may be tempted to think that it was so easy for the disciples because they had Jesus right there in front of them – if only we could have Jesus as our pastor!
Yet Jesus tells his followers, “…the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…” I don’t know that many of us would think of the things that we do as “greater works” than Jesus. Yet, as a community of faith we participate in a movement of God that expresses the very nature of God in this world. We might not be walking on water, but we are caring for the poor, healing the sick, and bringing new life to those who felt lost or forgotten. This is the heart of the mission of God, and at its best, the heart of the Church.
“If you love me…” is not a condition - it is a prediction. Love for Jesus is not infatuation. It is a relationship—a deep and transforming communion that restores us into the people God created us to be. It is an invitation into the intimacy shared between Jesus and the Father—a relationship into which we are drawn by the promised Spirit, who “abides with you, and will be in you” (v.17). From this place of shared life with God, we receive healing, meaning, and purpose.
And as love overflows from our hearts, we find ourselves empowered to keep Jesus’ command—to love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34). This is Pentecost - the Holy Spirit forming a holy people whose obedience is not duty-driven, but love-shaped.
Prayer
Loving God,
Teach us to love like You.
Shape our lives through Your Spirit
into Christlike obedience that overflows
toward friend and foe, neighbour and stranger.
May our love welcome others into fellowship with You,
through Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Grace and peace,
Richard Giesken
Associate lecturer (Biblical Studies and Missiology)