Conversation Points for John 14:8-17

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• The work the disciples are to do is linked to the work Jesus did. The disciples’ work is dependent on Jesus’ return to the Father, because only by returning to the Father will Jesus’ work be completed. The disciples’ work will be greater than the work of Jesus because it happens after Jesus’ work is completed. So the disciples’ work is to reveal the full story of the Word made flesh. The disciples’ work is greater because Jesus’ work is finished.
• The works that the disciples will do are really Jesus’ works done through them. They will be powered by the love that fuels Jesus’ own works.
• Verse 15 is not a conditional clause, “if you love me, you will keep my commandments.” It is two parallel clauses, to love Jesus is to keep his commandments, to keep his commandments is to love Jesus, the two cannot be separated from each other.
• Verse 16 is the first use of the word paracletos in John. The word has a wide range of meanings, and in various translations is translated as “Comforter,” “Counselor,” “Friend,” “Guide,” “Advocate,” and “Spirit.” All of these resonances are in the sense of the word. Some translations use the word Paraclete here, to allow for the depth of meaning that favoring any one English word would not.
• The use of the word “another” in verse 16 seems to suggest that Jesus thought of himself also as a Paraclete. Paraclete then seems to be not just another name for the Spirit, but a particular way of describing the functions of the Spirit, functions which Jesus also held. Though Jesus would be gone in the flesh, the work of Jesus would remain in the presence of the Spirit.

Works Sourced:
O’Day, Gail. “The Gospel of John.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.