NOTES: 1] Parishes may opt for the alternative Gospel (JN 5:1-9) but I've thought it best to stay in the 'upper room'. 2] The context requires that v.22 be read before this passage. 3] Whereas Greek had several options for 'love', the word used by JN to report what Jesus said is a unique word meaning 'totally self-giving, other-centred love'.

WARMING UP: What's the first word that comes into your head when I say, "word"?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Afterthoughts from, follow-up to last week’s Group, or since?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

23-24    How much is keeping one's word an issue for us today? Is the idea of keeping someone else's word (Jesus' in this case) hard for us to grasp, or really quite easy? How much do we expect God to keep his word? Has God proved himself to be reliable in our experience? If not, why do we persist with Jesus / God? If we had to sum up Jesus' teaching 'in a word', could we do it? Have a go? Are we more used to thinking that God will love us 'if we keep his word', or, that 'if we keep his word' we show we love God? What's the difference? Can we think of anyone other than Jesus, who always attributes every- thing back to God as Source, rather than seeking kudos for themself? Could Jesus make a clearer claim to being God than in what he says here?

25-26   Does the role Jesus attributes to the Spirit here, i.e. being our reminder of what Jesus has taught, have enough priority in our thinking & acting? Someone (I can't remember whom) once described the Spirit as being the 'Living Reminder'; does that ring any bells with us? Is that a more useful way (remember: it's exactly what Jesus is saying here) of thinking of / relating to holy Spirit than some of our other ways? How much of our faith isn't 'living' because we think of God / Jesus / Spirit too much in the past tense? What are the essentials of faith that we need the Spirit to keep reminding us of? Which do we remember better: what Jesus said, or what Jesus did?

27-28  Given that the peace Jesus gives is the same peace that carries him through the ordeal he's about to undergo, do we ever find ourself seeking & trying to use 'his peace' as a means of avoiding 'sticky situations'? Is the peace the church promotes as part of the Gospel really the same peace, always the same peace as Jesus has / Jesus gives?
How do we reconcile Jesus' 'going away' & 'coming again' with his continuing presence among us? How does that work? Is it a bit of a cop out to be 'looking for his coming again' when we don't (most of us!) really expect that to inconvenience us in our own lifetime? Whereas his continuing presence would be / might be / is pretty demanding?
Do we really rejoice that Jesus 'went to the Father', or would we rather he'd somehow stayed here with us? Isn't he here? In what way(s) is the Father 'greater than' Jesus? Are they one / equal, all that kind of theological language, or aren't they?

29       Do we believe Jesus any more now with our 2000 years of hindsight than the disciples did back then? Do we believe because of what happened to Jesus, or despite what happened? Because of his Crucifixion, or his Resurrection? How much do we believe all that happened because of Jesus foretelling it?