John 14:23-29 is part of Jesus' reply to the question "How is it that you are revealing yourself to us and not to the world?" (v. 22) Below is an illustration of how vv. 23-29 relates to the rest of the pericope and to other relevant parts of John.
Jesus will continue to reveal Himself to his disciples but no longer to the world since the latter does not have room for His words and does not love Him, but the disciples do. In the Prologue, John had already written that "the true light (the Word of God, Jesus)... was in the world ... yet the world did not recognize Him" (Jn. 1:9-10). In replying to Judas (not the Iscariot), Jesus was implying that the first time He was revealed to the world was the last time for it. Even while he was there as the light of the world, it had rejected Him by embracing the darkness. What remains for it now is the judgment that will be carried out through the agency of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn. 16:8-11). But Jesus and His Father will continue come to the disciples. Before Judas' question, Jesus already said
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
In a little while, the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me, because I live and you will live...
Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father
and I will love him and reveal Myself to him (Jn. 13:18-21)
In verse 23, Jesus explains that this act of revealing is actually an act of dwelling-with those who truly love Him. "Whoever loves me" he says, "will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." This pronouncement about Jesus and the Father dwelling in those who love Him is actually talk aobut His Parousia. In the Gospel of John, Jesus does not so much talk about a future final coming, as about a "coming", a "parousia" that is continuous. In the Synoptic gospels, talk about the final coming is associated with the Ascension of Jesus. John does not have an Ascension account. Instead, he makes us understand that when Jesus appears as the Risen Lord to his disciples on the evening of the first day of the week, he was already coming from the Father. When writing about the Resurrection appearances in John, we already pointed out that in this gospel, Jesus is "the One who comes down from above" and His characteristic mode of presence today is to be "in the midst of the Church" (cf. the allussions to Psalm 22(21):23 in the phrase "in the midst" in John 20).
The disciples, then, who keep His words will become the dwelling place of Jesus and the Father. In the OT, the building up of God's dwelling-place -- the Temple -- is the climax of a process that began in creation. With the son of David's generosity (Solomon), a house among men was built for the Creator God. In Jn. 14:23 we are told that the disciples themselves become the Temple in the new creation brought about by the blood of the Lamb, the Word of God made flesh.
After mentioning the "dwelling place" Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit (v. 26). The word paraklhtoV parakletos can be translated as "Advocate" or "Consoler". In a court of law, the Paraclete is the attorney who stands with the accused or the plaintiff. As such, he is also the Consoler who keeps someone company. In the present discourse, the name "Paraclete" brings to mind the role of the Spirit already mentioned in the Synoptics during moments of persecution. Here, however, another aspect of the Spirit's role is highlighted. Where the Synoptics speak of the Spirit teaching the disciples what to say, Jesus speaks of a continued instruction (we now speak of "formation", an English equivalent of the Latin word "doctrina, -ae"). Later, Jesus will say that the Holy Spirit will "guide to all truth" like a pedagogue accompanying the disciple along the ways that lead to truth.
The coming of the Holy Spirit is linked to peace. On the night of the first day of the week, the Risen Lord gives his disciples peace and breathes on them the Holy Spirit (Jn. 20:21-22). The peace that Jesus gives is not the peace that the world gives. Jesus gives the peace that is reserved for the just; it is the Shalom of the Messiah given as a foretaste of things to come. St. Augustine describes "peace" as "tranquilitas ordinis", the tranquility of order. This description has a strong Stoic flavor in contrast to the prophetic idea of peace as a fruit of righteousness, but both imply the same thing. Peace is given to the just when God's reign has been totally established. In the present discourse, this peace is given to those who constitute the space in this world where God makes His dwelling. Peace will be experienced where the Lord dwells; where His word is kept, there His peace remains.
Finally, Jesus says that he tells all these to his disciples that they may believe when all these shall have come to pass. One of the features of the Johanine gospel is that a word of Jesus is understood later by the disciples after some event. Some examples worth mentioning are the following:
- Jesus' saying about the Temple which the disciples remembered and understood as referring to His body after the resurrection. (Jn. 2:19-21)
- Jesus' allussion to the Spirit in Jn. 7:37-39 which was understandable only after Jesus' glorification and sending of the Holy Spirit.
- In Jn. 20:9, we find the observation that "they did not yet understand the scripture that said that he had to rise from the dead." The phrase highlights how the beloved disciple came to believe even before he has seen the Lord. Another translation has: "they did not yet know the scripture that said he had to rise from the dead." This rendering clearly implies that the resurrection event was the light that aided the disciples in finding the sacred texts that announced the resurrection of Jesus.
The three examples above are illustrative of how the belief of the disciples draw from the words of Jesus as remembered after his glorification. The instances above have to be distinguished from cases where belief was immediately demanded, as in the case of the Living Bread (see Jn. 6:67-69). For the disciple in post-apostolic times, the distinction will no longer hold. For him, the community of disciples -- the Church -- becomes the place where the Lord dwells and in the midst of that assembly, one will experience the coming of the Lord, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the peace that the Messiah gives.
