Jesus continues talking about returning to His Father’s Heavenly court to take up His co-regency. He explains how it will work for them.
Jesus speaks to their hearts. The heart is capable of storing things away in memory for when the intellect is ready to receive it. The intellect is the part of us that organizes and implements the divine wisdom of the heart. The heart is where the Holy Spirit speaks directly. In this case, the words of Jesus while He is still alive are the same message that the Holy Spirit will speak to them again later. It’s the same Person, but He will come in a different form. He will remind them of the things Jesus said, and will breathe life into that teaching, so that everything comes back to them with a new meaning.
Then He proclaims that what He has deposited in their hearts is the very power of shalom. It’s nothing like the thing our world imagines “peace” is, but something completely different. It teaches us to not take this world and this life so seriously. Instead, we take the message of Christ seriously and bring it to life in our world. If that means dying, or anything short of that, the message is by far more valuable. Don’t be afraid of what happens to you when you are faithful. More to the point, He wants them to stop being so tormented over His impending departure.
He tells them that those who really are committed to Him will rejoice at His departure. It is by far the very best thing that could happen. By returning to Heaven, Jesus returns His New Covenant Kingdom to the Father. The Father then becomes directly involved, so that there can be no possible higher authority promoting this thing.
Jesus makes it a point that He tells them bluntly so that their faith will have a handle, a reference point that their minds cannot dispute. He noted that He was running out of time and wanted to pass on a few last notes for them, something that will provide a transition to their faith. The reason time is short is that the prince of this world is making his move. While He has no actual authority over Jesus, but is rather under Jesus’ authority, Jesus will obey His Father’s command to submit to death. This will be His final proof that He loves His Father as a faithful son, and will set the example of obedience for all who enter into His Kingdom.
It was time to leave the Upper Room and go meet the arrest party.
