An Inclusio of Identity

 

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments, and taking a towel, He girded Himself.” (John 13:1 – 4).

 

“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” (John 16:28).

 

Can we see the story? Can we see the scene? Do we breathe the atmosphere?

 

John gives us an inclusio to bracket this most holy invitation of entering into the Koinonia of the Trinity, we find the first bracket and sign in 13:1 – 4, the enclosing bracket in 16:28. But then, he extends the theme into the Holy of Holies of Chapter 17:

 

“I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You.” (John 17:11a).

 

This begins and is completed in Jesus Christ; if we fully enter into the Upper Room we will find ourselves before the foundation of the world, in the Incarnation, and in the transcendence of koinonia with the Triune God. We will see the unfolding of John12:24, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

 

In John 13:1 – 4 we see that Jesus Christ was living deep in His union with the Father, “that He had come forth from God and was going back to God.” Then in 16:28 Jesus articulates this reality to His disciples, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” Here is our inclusio in terms of Jesus’s words and actions toward His disciples in the Upper Room.

 

Then in Chapter 17 the veil is drawn further back and we see and hear Jesus in intimacy with the Father, and in this Holy of Holies we hear Jesus say, “I am no longer in the world…and I come to You.”

 

First Jesus speaks to the disciples, then Jesus speaks to the Father.

 

Do we see that Jesus confers His identity upon us? Do we see that Jesus invites us into koinonia with the Father? This comes out again and again in wave after wave as we meditate on John chapters 13 – 17. Do we also see that just as Jesus is not of the world, so we are not of the world?

 

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world…” (John 15:19). “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:16).

 

As we ponder this, it is little wonder that in his first letter John writes, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 John 2:15 – 17).

 

Our propensity is to make exceptions to all of this, to find an element of the present world system to love, and hence to deny our core identity in Jesus Christ, to deny that in Christ we have come from the Father and are going to the Father. We have come from the Father in that we have been born of the Holy Spirit (John 3:1 – 21; Romans 8; 1 John 4:4, 13), and we are going to the Father in that seeing the Face of God is our destiny in Christ (Revelation chapters 21 – 22).

 

Consider that we are not called to accommodate ourselves to the world, but to overcome the world:

 

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4 – 5).

 

But is this really the way we think of the world system? Is this the way we think of our relationship with the cultures around us?

 

Our entertainment? Our politics? Our economics? Our vocations? Our education systems? Our sports? Our arts? Our church gatherings?

 

Are we living as citizens of heaven? (Phil. 3:20).

 

What exceptions have we carved out in our personal, professional, and church lives?

 

What can we learn from the Inclusio of Identity in John 13:1 – 4 and 16:28?