RBWords

     The "Farewell Discourse" at the Last Supper in the Gospel of John stretches across part or all of five chapters (13:33 - 17:26).  It is as if the evangelist took several parts of several familiar talks, put them in a container, shook them up, and then drew them out and wrote them down in the sequence in which they were drawn!  The result is more like a collage than a logically constructed speech.  Looking at the collage as precisely that - a collage - will enable us to shape our expectations of these chapters.  This is especially true if we know at the outset that we are going to see familiar faces or events or ideas.  It is much like a class reunion where someone has taken pictures of everyone and put them into a collage on the wall.  A stranger to the event (a spouse or child) might find the collage interesting but not very meaningful.  An alumnus would be looking for various persons or events!  The Farewell Discourse is aimed at the disciples to help them understand the events of Jesus' death and resurrection.  Over the next few days we will be looking at various sections of this collage and attempting to recognize the familiar things and perhaps making "connections" here and there.

     Today we are looking at one part of the collage and there are some familiar things.  There is the consistent "misunderstanding" theme featured in Philip's question.  There is the important theme that Jesus is the revelation of God.  There is the assurance that Jesus will be with the disciples and through their faith in him they will do great things.  The tone of the whole discourse(s) is much more peaceful than the earlier part of the gospel.  We are being asked now to take a deep breath and just look and listen and try to understand.   AMEN