NOTES for Joh 14:28

During the Last Supper Jesus is constantly trying to convey one simple thought to His disciples: He is leaving, but life goes on. And not just life, but life in the Kingdom. More than that: His departure is connected with the process by which that very Kingdom is being established. The Kingdom's entry into the world and its unfolding in the world. He is leaving for the sake of accomplishing the very thing for which He came.

That is why He says to the disciples: if you really loved Me, you would rejoice at My departure. I am going to accomplish exactly what you say you are waiting for. But the apostles do not understand this. They do not understand what sort of Kingdom this is, whose King must leave in order for it to appear. Humanly speaking, it could not be understood. In this world things do not happen that way. Here everything is the opposite: if the king disappears, that means the kingdom is gone as well. A kingdom, after all, at least in the sense in which it was understood in antiquity, is first of all a king and subjects, not a territory.

Territory can be acquired. But if there is no king, then there definitely will be no kingdom, even if everything is fine with the territory. If for no other reason, then because without a king order will very quickly disappear. The disciples, of course, understood all this perfectly, and that is why they were perplexed by the strange behavior, as it seemed to them, of the Teacher. Instead of beginning the creation of the messianic Kingdom and taking at least some understandable and natural steps toward it, He appears to be preparing to go somewhere, to hide.

Why? The only reasonable explanation that could have occurred to the disciples was the thought that He wanted to gather more people before beginning the uprising. Maybe He has secret followers. Maybe He is going specifically to them, so that He can return with forces more impressive than the eleven people who were present. After all, there were many who sympathized with Him, and the meeting at the entrance to Jerusalem had been solemn.

In any case, when Jesus rose from the table and called the disciples to follow Him, they understood that something was about to happen. Maybe at last something would happen that, if it did not explain the matter, would at least give a hint at the solution. All the more because, for now, He seems to be calling them to follow Him, which means that whatever happens, they will in any case take part in what is going on. The apostles' trust in Jesus remained, despite their lack of understanding. And that is what matters most: it is enough to follow Christ, despite all perplexities.