John 14:23-31
June 8, 2025
A few weeks ago our 4 year-old, half-day, preschool class had their “graduation ceremony” as the children will start kindergarten in the fall. It was a fun experience for the children and their families as the children proudly sang their favorite songs about Jesus, they recited some Bible verses they learned from memory, they were excited to show their parents some of their artwork, and most of them did not want to leave when it was over as they were having fun with their friends. The excitement and confidence in the students is quite a contrast from the beginning of the school year when many of them are very shy and cling to mom or dad. More than a few tears are shed by both children and parents during those first few days. I’ll hear parents saying to their child, “It’s alright. You’re going to have fun. Look at all of the other children who are here. I’ll be back in a few hours to pick you up.” While the child still has a hard time letting go, the parents know that if the child doesn’t let go, they will miss out on learning, playing, making friends, and many other good things.
While Jesus’ disciples were not clinging to Him after His resurrection like a preschool child to his/her parents, they were having a difficult time letting Him go. Now that He had risen from the dead, couldn’t He just stay with them? But like a preschool parent, Jesus knew that if He did not leave, the disciples would miss out on many good things. In the verses leading up to this text, Jesus reminded His disciples that He did not come to stay here on earth or to bring heaven to earth. He was returning to heaven in order to bring people from earth to join Him in heaven someday. In John 14:2-3, Jesus said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back to take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
So to prepare them and all of us to join Him in heaven someday, Jesus begins our Gospel lesson by talking about love, our love for Him, saying, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” It’s important to understand when Jesus uses the word, “if,” He’s not making a demand that suggests “If we really love him, then we need do the following things.” A better way for us to understand what He’s saying would be to replace the word “if” with the word “whenever,” so that it reads, “Whenever anyone loves me, he/she will keep my word.” In other words, Jesus is not telling us something we have to do, but something we just naturally will do out of love for Him. Consider for a moment why you obey Jesus. Do you obey Jesus because you are looking forward to the reward of heaven? Do you obey Jesus because you are afraid of being punished? Or do you obey Jesus simply because you love Him? Ever since our baptism, where God gave us His Holy Spirit, forgave our sins, and promised us eternal life with Him, loving Jesus should be a natural thing that God enables us to do, but the problem is sin often gets in the way.
So what will we do as loving Christians? Jesus says we will “keep his word.” The word “keep” in this text actually has 3 different meanings – to hold, to guard, and to obey. When someone gives you something to hold or to guard, it depends what it is as to how we will keep it. When my dad died I received his pocket watch. My dad got it from his dad, when he died, and my dad kept it in a box for many years on a shelf. Now I have it in a box at my house. But we don’t keep all of our gifts in the same way. When we give our children a birthday gift to keep, such as a bicycle, we don’t expect them to display it on a shelf; we expect them to use it. Part of keeping it means using it.
Jesus gave us His Word and He told us to keep it. So how do you keep it? James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Jesus wants us to read all about what He did for us. He wants us to understand that the only way to everlasting life in heaven is by faith through His grace. He wants us to know how to live our lives, love our spouses, and treat our children. Therefore, keeping God’s word involves more than just putting it on a shelf. It involves more than just reading it. Keeping God’s Word means using it and putting it in your brain, your heart, on your tongue, your fingers, in your actions, and on your whole life.
Do you ever wonder how Jesus feels when we leave the greatest love story ever told, God’s personal love letter to all of us, the Bible, on the shelf? I think most of us would have to hang our heads in shame at what we’ve done with this prized possession. Even though we profess to love Jesus, we still haven’t read His love letters as we should, we haven’t fully applied His Word to our lives, and we’ve taken His love for granted.
And yet, Jesus still loves us, and in His mercy He provides us with an extra incentive for keeping His word today. In verse 23, after Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,” He goes on to say, “And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” Jesus says that when we keep His Word, He will come and be with us and live in us permanently. But Jesus doesn’t come to be a burden, He comes to be a blessing.
I have known people who, as an adult, have had an aging parent move in with them and it turned out to be a wonderful situation for everyone involved. The aging parent helped with the mortgage, helped take care of the children, and even cleaned the house. In Jesus we have someone who is offering to move in to help keep our lives clean. Jesus knew we wouldn’t be able to keep His Word perfectly, so at our baptism, God sent His Holy Spirit into our hearts to give us the knowledge and strength to follow Jesus through loving obedience to His Word.
As Jesus was encouraging the disciples to keep His Word and promising to live in them, He was also trying to prepare them for His departure. Jesus was about to die on the cross, and while He would rise three days later, He would eventually ascend into heaven. But He would send His Holy Spirit to remain with them, and if they would have understood all of this they would have rejoiced. After all, He was going to die for their sins and He was going to heaven so they could eventually live with Him. So Jesus kept reminding them, “I promise that I will come back. I’ll rise from the dead. Late, I will send my Holy Spirit and He will live in you and remind you of my words. Not only will I walk by your side, I will dwell in your hearts forever. So don’t let your hearts be troubled. Don’t be afraid. Just keep my Word – remember it, learn it, speak it, and live it. When you keep it, you’ll enjoy life even more.”
In the same way, Jesus says to us, “When I move into your life, I will be a joy to live with every day. I will strengthen your marriage. I will help you take care of your children. I will protect and guide you through tough times. Even though you cannot see me, know that I am always there.” The wonderful thing is that even though we don’t keep God’s Word as we should, even though we don’t spend as much time talking and listening to Him as we should, Jesus doesn’t storm out of our lives upset at us. He patiently keeps on shaping, molding, and forgiving us. He keeps on talking with us and living with us. He already died for us, He paid the price to make us His children, so He doesn’t want to leave. He does whatever is possible to stay, because we are His most prized possessions.
What is your most prized possession? Your spouse, your children, your health, your home? If you have ever lost one of your most prized possessions, it can be devastating. But the most devastating thing we could lose is the Word of God – the message of Christ that gives you peace, joy, companionship, and everything we need for our bodies and souls. This Word is more important than anything else, because through it God comes to assure us of His love. Keep God’s Word, use it, and you will truly enjoy life and find peace.
