Easter 6 – 2026
John 14:15-21
Marian Free
In the name of God who never leaves us to face our fears alone. Amen.
As is usual for the gospel of John, this short passage is dense and the symbolism within it is far from consistent. There are a number of themes contained in these six verses – love, keeping the commandments and Jesus’ words (which are not his but the Father’s), another Advocate, being in Jesus and in the Father, and being loved by the Father to mention just a few. Added to these is the confusing message that Jesus – who is going, is coming, and the Father will send another Advocate who, we will discover, will not come if Jesus does not go (15:7).
Of course, the author of this gospel does necessarily not want us to untangle these themes, but rather (at least as I see it) wants the ideas to seep into our consciousness where they will somehow create a coherent message – a message of Jesus’ deep love for his disciples (and for all who will follow in their footsteps). That love will empower us to behave in ways consistent with Jesus’ commandments, the primary one being love of one another.
In this passage, as throughout chapters 14-17, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. (This is one of the reasons that many scholars believe that at least some of the content is Jesus’ speaking after the resurrection.) He is alerting the disciples to the fact that his risen presence will not remain with them, at least in the way that they are experiencing in the present. He will return to the Father from whom he came, but the disciples need not despair because the Father will send the Spirit who will be with them forever.
The relationship between the Father, and Jesus will extend to include the disciples – and all who love Jesus. Indeed, given that the Spirit will abide in the disciples, believers are assured that they are somehow caught up in the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit – that the Trinitarian[1] God abides in them and they in the threefold God.
We will learn much more about the Spirit in the following chapters – the Spirit of truth who will testify on Jesus’ behalf and who will guide the disciples into all the truth – but a key focus of this passage is Jesus’ assurance that the disciples will not be left alone. “Jesus will not leave them orphaned.”
“I will not leave you orphaned.” In the nineteenth century William Chatterton Dix incorporated these words into a hymn – “Hallelujah! not as orphans.”
I could probably take you to the exact place where I was when these words engraved themselves into my memory and deepest being. The words are so evocative they touched me in a way that I cannot explain, so haunting that I have carried them with me since that time when I was about nine or ten years old. They, and that verse of the hymn, come to me from time to time and with them an inexplicable sense of assurance and comfort. They came to me when I was on the ordination retreat before my Diaconate and have been a refrain throughout my ministry. “Hallelujah! not as orphans are we left in sorrow now.”
In full the verse reads:
Hallelujah! not as orphans,
are we left in sorrow now;
hallelujah! he is near us,
faith believes, nor questions how;
though the cloud from sight received him
when the forty days were o’er,
shall our hearts forget his promise,
‘I am with you evermore’?[2]
It would be decades before I realised that Dix took these words directly from John’s gospel.
In today’s gospel, Jesus, as I have said is speaking to his disciples. We can tell from the responses of Thomas, Phillip and Judas (not Iscariot) that they are confused and anxious. After three intense years following Jesus, they are about to be without him. They have to face not only their grief but their uncertainty. What will they do? How are they to behave? Where will they find the strength?
In this, his farewell speech, Jesus prepares the disciples for life without him. Above all Jesus assures them that they need not be afraid because even though he will be physically absent from them they will still be aware of his presence. More than that, they will be sent the Holy Spirit who will equip and teach them and never leave them. Even better still, as the Father abides in the Son, so the Father and the Son will abide in those who believe – the union between the Father and Son will be replicated in them.
John’s gospel is not meant to be linear or to make “logical” sense. Rather it is intended to touch our souls, to bind us together in love and to assure us that the presence of God – Father, Son and Spirit – lives in and with us so that we will know the truth and we will never, ever be alone.
May you know Jesus abiding in you and you in Jesus.
Questions for reflection:
How has the gospel of John touched you? Which are the words that have been absorbed into your deepest being? Which give you comfort and assurance? Are you confident that you are never alone?
[1] Of course, at this time the language of Trinity did not exist, but it is clear from this passage that the three-fold nature of God was very much a part of the experience of early believers.
[2][2] William Chatterton Dix, 1837-98, in Together in Song, 517.
Swallowsrest 