I will not leave you orphans....

We tend to remember and cherish forever the last words of those we love.  How often do we hear from heartbroken friends, "The last thing he said (or did) was....."  And when someone knows he is dying, the last words or deeds take one even greater import.

The book of John can be divided into two major sections:  The Book of Signs, where Jesus reveals Himself to those who for the most part did not accept Him, and The Book of Glory, wherein Jesus reveals Himself to those who do receive and become intimate with Him.  The Book of Glory encompasses the farewell discourse at the Last Supper, the Passion and Death, and the Resurrection.

At the Last Supper (Chapters 13-17), we find the most loving and intimate words of Jesus, where we see Him in communion with His Father (chapter 17) and with His disciples.  His greatest desire is that the disciples (that's us) be in communion with His Father, even as He is: I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known, in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them (17:26).  These are the very last words Jesus speaks to His (collective)disciples/church before His arrest in the garden.

"To know" to "to be known" in the Biblical sense means to be intimate with on all levels -- physically, mentally, spiritually:  Adam "knew" his wife and she conceived a son (Genesis 4:1).  Marriage is the great sign of God's eternal desire to be "one" with us, to be intimate with us on all levels.  Jesus' great mission is to make the Father "known" to us, or intimate with us -- and He gave us the means to accomplish this seemingly impossible task.

In the 14th and 16th chapters, Jesus speaks at length about the Holy Spirit that He will send to us to accomplish all that needs to be done.  I think among the sweetest words in all of scripture are those Jesus speaks to His disciples at that time:  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you....before long, the world will see me no more, but you will see me (14:18-19).

When we ponder Chapters 14, 15, 16 of John's Gospel, it seems to me that these are the words a parent might want to say to her children on her deathbed:  I will be with you; you will live in me; maintain among yourselves the same communion that you have with me; do not be frightened or overcome; I will be your advocate with God.

The idea of "knowing God," of being intimate with God, is inconceivable to us.  Yet, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, the "breath of the Father" to lead us into all truth and to make Him known to us.  "I will not leave you as orphans....."  "I myself will be in them...."  

The first letter of John, written at the end of his life, proclaims after many years of reflecting on Jesus' last words: This is how we know that He lives in us: we know it by the Spirit He gave us.

We are not orphans; we are loved, and we know it by the Spirit He gave us!