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Commentaries
English
John
  
3. The new commandment for the church
(John 13:33-35)
33"Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ "


After the Father was glorified in the Spirit, Jesus guides us through the aspects and basis of our faith. He is not just with us in the flesh, but he exists in heaven. The risen Christ is the most vital fact in the world. He who does not know the living One or believe in him is blind and has strayed, but whoever sees him will live and receive eternal life.
Jesus informed his disciples that he would go somewhere that the disciples could not follow. Not to his trial before the Council, nor the open grave, but he was referring to his ascension to heaven. The Father had said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool." Jesus did not vanish right away from his followers, but informed them beforehand of his death and rising as well as his ascent to heaven, where no man can enter by his own efforts. He had foretold this matter to the Jews, but they could not understand. Could the disciples now understand in the hour of betrayal? He had made them participate in worship of the Father and the Son, so that they might not drown in sorrow and the gloomy future. Would they trust in his faithfulness, that he would not forsake them? And that their common enterprise would never fail?