"I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come."
Where was Jesus going? Cleary even the Pharisees understood it had something to do with his death. But the eventual death of the Pharisees would not bring them to the same place if they did not repent and died in their sin. They still belonged to what was below, to the world, and by implication to the "ruler of this world" (see John 12:31).
The disciples of Jesus, by contrast, did not belong to this world but to what was above, because they chose to belong to Jesus himself, the one who came from above and was therefore above all (see John 3:31). But to belong to Jesus required first believing that he was who he claimed to be.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.
This belief in Jesus was the prerequisite that would allow the disciples to be born again from above in baptism, to cut ties with the world under the power of darkness, and indeed to become victors over that world.
Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (see First John 5:5).
By responding to the word of Jesus in love the disciples opened themselves so that that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit came and made their home with them (see John 14:23). That union, the union with God that believers experience and deepen in this life is meant to be a preparation for the life to come.
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (see John 17:24).
This place that Jesus was going was what he wanted to share with his disciples. It was the mansion he went ahead to prepare for all who would respond to his invitation (see John 14:2). He did not wish that any would perish in sin, and had not abandoned hope that even the Pharisees would repent and come to faith.
So Jesus said to them,
"When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM
There was something so undeniably true and beautiful about the cross of Christ that it had the potential to break even hardened hearts. It was a demonstration that Jesus was not seeking his own glory. But neither did it reveal him as powerless. It revealed his ability to perfectly love and offer his life as a response to his Father's plan, sustained by his Father's presence.
The one who sent me is with me.
Jesus does not want anyone to die in sin, to become permanently unable to follow him to the Father's house. He does not want to meet anyone at the gate and say, "I never knew you" and does everything possible short of circumventing freewill in order avoid that eventuality. But those who belong to what is below cannot be transformed into those who belong to what is above without the mediation of Christ himself. This may happen implicitly for those with an invincible ignorance about Jesus. But we should never take such ignorance for granted. In any case, it is always better to begin to belong to what is above sooner rather than later, to begin to share in the life that is to come even here and now by faith.
"Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!"
Let us also do our best to ensure that we remain thankful for the life God has given to us, and to avoid complaining. Complaining can become poison saraph serpents in our midst, to the extent that they can even endanger our spiritual lives. The antidote to this is clear from our texts today: We must look to the cross! We must see the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father and allow ourselves to be drawn into that love. It is that love alone which can ensure that we follow Jesus after our own death. It is that love alone that lasts forever, that is itself meant to be our eternal home.
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