The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 252

Vere. 2, 3.-The work qf the ascended Jesus. And yet manifestly it is only part or the work. So much is spoken of as needed to be spoken of here. Jesus tells us that which will best blend with other things that have to be said at the time. Who- can imagine, who can describe, anything like the total of what Jesus has gone from earthly scenes to do ? I. CoNSIDER THE OCOOPATIONB OF THOSE WHO WERE LEFT. Just one word gives the su)(gestion that these were in the mind of Jesus as he spoke, and that is the word "mansions." The settled life is thought of rather than the wandering one. Jesus knew full well what a wandering life his disciples would have, going into strange and distant countries. They would have t.o travel as he himself had never travelled. The more they apprehended the work to which they had been called, the more they would feel bound to go from land t.o land, preaching the gospel while life lasted. To men thus constantly on the move, the promise of a true resting-place was just the promise thcv needed. 1:r. THE FUTURE COMPA.:NIONSHIP OF JESUS A.ND BIS PEOPLE. To those who have come into the rea.l knowledge and service of Jesus nothing less than such a companion- ship will make happiness; and nothing more is needed. Jesus needed not to have a place in glory prepared for him; he had but to resume his old station, and be with his Father as he had been before. Thie is the great element of happiness on earth-not so much where we are as with wliom we are. The most beautiful scenes, the most luxurious surroundings, count as nothing compared with true harmony in the human beings who are around us. And just so it must be in the anticipations of a future state. While Jesus was in the flesh, bis presence with his disciples was the chief element in their h:i.ppiness; and as they looked forward to the future, this was the main thing desired, that they should be with Jesus. .As Paul puts it," Absent from the body, present with the Lord." llL THE PREPARATION OF A OOlll,ION HOME. Is this to be taken QS a real preparation, or is it only a way of speaking, to impress the promise of reunion more deeply ? Is there now some actnal work of the glorified. Jesus going on which amounts to a neoee- aa.ry preparation for hie glorified. people? Surely it must be so. We are not to go into another state, as pioneers, to cut our own way. We are not as the Pilgrim Fathers, who had to make their own houses, and live as best they could till then. It is clear that a kindly Providence made the earth ready for the children of men, storing up abundance for &II our temporal need; and in like manner Jesus is making heaven ready. Earth was made ready for Jesus to come down and live in it, and for him and his dis- ciples to live together in. And when his disciples ascend to a higher state, all things will be ready then.-Y. Ver. 6.-Ample supply for three great needs. Jesus here suggests three great needs. He has spoken of journeying, continuous movement into ever new places-in one place to-day, iu another to-morrow, and the day after in still another. Even while we are moving about in the same locality, so far as natural life is concerned, we-the real W6-lllust be ever moving forward into higher and still higher states. That. Jesus should speak of & way was therefore evidently appropriate. But there are two other needr-the need of truth, all that gives a sense of reality, stability, security; and the Deed of life, all that gives energy, persistence, enjoyment. Or we might say that Jesus here indicateli three &epects of the universal need, of which first one aspect and then another rises into prominence. But, whatever the aspect of human need may be, in Jfll!us there is something to correspond, for full and immediate supply. . , L THE WAY, There is a way wbich,we must take-the wayaloogwhich ti1M takes our bodies; the way of physical development, maturity, decay. But side by sii;le with the way which cannot be chosen, and in striking contrast with it, is the way whioh 011. xiv. 1-81.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOUN. 21Jl