If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, 17 the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
Jesus is speaking to His disciples before His Passion. He knows that His visible presence with them is about to change. He will suffer, die, rise, and return to the Father. He prepares them to understand that His departure will not mean He is abandoning them.
Jesus begins with love and obedience: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (v. 15). These belong together as key elements of discipleship. Love for Christ is shown by receiving His word and living according to it. Obedience is more than outward behavior. It reaches the heart, the will, and the daily choices of the disciple. Saint John later says the same thing in simple words: “Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). To love Christ is to trust Him as Lord, the Son of God and Savior, whose teaching is true, whose commandments are good, whose will is directed toward our salvation, and whose way leads to life.
Jesus then promises, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always” (v. 16). The word “Advocate” points to someone who stands beside another person to help, defend, console, and strengthen. Jesus is the first Advocate, for He intercedes for us before the Father. Saint John writes, “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one” (1 John 2:1). The Holy Spirit is “another Advocate,” given by the Father at the request of the Son, to remain with the disciples always.
Jesus calls Him “the Spirit of truth” (v. 17). The Spirit leads the disciples more deeply into the truth revealed by Christ. Because He is given by the Father at the request of the Son, He does not speak apart from Christ but carries forward in the Church the saving work and truth that come from the Father through the Son. He helps the Church remember, understand, and bear witness to what Jesus has taught. Later in this same discourse, Jesus says, “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you” (John 14:26).
The world “cannot accept” the Spirit because “it neither sees nor knows” Him (v. 17). In John’s Gospel, “the world” often means humanity closed to God’s light and unwilling to receive Christ. The disciples know the Spirit because He “remains” with them and “will be” in them (v. 17). This points to the Spirit’s presence with the Church and within each believer. Saint Paul teaches that the Church is built into “a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22), and he also tells the baptized, “your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you” (1 Cor. 6:19).
Jesus then gives one of the most tender promises in the passage: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (v. 18). His disciples, and all who come to believe in and love Christ, will not be left without care, protection, or presence. Jesus’ visible presence will be withdrawn from the world, but His living presence will remain with those who belong to Him. He comes to them through the gift of the Spirit, through His risen life, and through His continuing presence in the Church.
Jesus says, “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live” (v. 19). These words look toward His death and resurrection. The world will see His death as the end, but the disciples will come to know Him as the living Lord. His life becomes the source of their life. As He says elsewhere, “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Jesus then tells them, “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you” (v. 20). The resurrection and the gift of the Spirit will deepen their understanding of who Jesus is. He is in the Father, and through Him the disciples are brought into communion with God. Communion means shared life with God. It begins now through grace and is fulfilled in eternal life with Him.
The passage closes by returning to love and obedience: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (v. 21). Jesus repeats this because love for Him must take form in a faithful life. The one who loves Christ is loved by the Father, loved by the Son, and drawn into their communion through the Holy Spirit, who makes Christ known within the believer. Jesus makes Himself known to those who receive His word, keep His commandments, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen them. The Spirit’s guidance is recognized when a person is drawn toward Christ’s teaching, prayer, repentance, charity, truth, and faithful obedience. His work bears fruit in a life that becomes more patient, humble, faithful, and loving (Gal. 5:22–23). The Spirit does not lead the soul away from Christ, but helps the believer live more faithfully in the love Christ commands.
Lord Jesus, help us to love You in deed and truth. Keep Your word alive in our hearts, strengthen us by the Holy Spirit, and draw us more deeply into communion with the Father. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. John 14:15–21 and notes on John 14:16, 14:17, and 14:18.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010, 190.
- Casciaro, José María, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008, 423–424.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990, 975, §§184–186.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, et al., eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018, 1162.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition. London: T&T Clark, 2022, 1427–1428.
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