Learning from the Disciples’ Self-Serving Evaluation of Christ’s Cross

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

Having informed the disciples of His impending death, Jesus spends significant time, beginning in John 14, comforting the disciples, knowing that His death will be difficult for them to bear. Given that it was Christ who would die, one would think that the disciples would have been ministering to Christ in the same way. This, however, was not the case. To understand this remarkable failure of the disciples, this article will examine Christ’s rebuke in John 14:28 and its context.

Throughout this time when Christ would be shortly having to face His ordeal on the cross, the Lord perfectly displays the sort of peace which He promises to give His disciples. With this perfect peace, Christ is able to selflessly submit to His upcoming death because this peace is found only in a perfect relationship with God. Since Christ possessed this sort of right relationship, He was able to be at peace in face of extreme horror, so much so that He could give all of His attention toward those who would not presently be undergoing anywhere near the same degree of strain.

This peace, exhibited by Christ, is His because He completely submits Himself to God despite His own reluctance to face the temporal pains associated with the cross. As the Lord testified in His own prayers as He contemplated the suffering that He was about to face, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). In this confession, Jesus abandons Himself, His emotions, His desires, His everything to the will of God. Indeed, “Being found in appearance as a man, He humble[s] Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8).

Following Christ’s example, one should rightfully expect His disciples to do the same. Afterall, Jesus demonstrates total self-abandonment even though that meant His death on the cross while His disciples, at that time, only needed to abandon themselves sufficiently enough to face Christ’s death as onlookers, albeit onlookers who have hopes and dreams connected with the Person of Christ along with a close emotional and physical proximity that would heighten their emotional loss.

Instead of setting forth an example of self-denial, the disciples left that task wholly to Jesus, hence the Lord’s rebuke: “If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I” (v.28). As they deeply considered Christ’s death, they had been thinking primarily in terms of what it meant for them. Knowing that Christ’s death was looming, the disciples were saddened by their impending loss of their long-awaited Messiah and the accompanying hopes they had of Him ushering in a time of military and political dominance for the Israelites. Along with this, their close proximity to the Lord would have only heightened their emotional attachment to Him, and thus made their sadness all the more fervent. Given that it would be the Lord Himself that would be dying presently, one would have thought that Jesus would have been overwhelmed by sadness more so than His disciples, and that His disciples would be taking up the role of comforter. This, however, is not the case.

The disciples, it seems, were more focused on the loss they would incur instead of the horrible ordeal that Jesus was about to undergo and what that meant for the Lord whom they followed and worshipped as Messiah. Instead of prioritizing themselves, they should have consulted with the Lord on the meaning of His death and learned from Him on how He could face it so admirably. If they had done this, Christ’s answers would have certainly led to their rejoicing because Christ knew that He would be united with the Father and reign in victory. Furthermore, His death would accomplish the same victory for the disciples. Indeed, there was great cause for rejoicing. For this reason, Jesus begins his rebuke by pointing to His previous teaching, “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you’” (v.29).

Whereas Christ submitted to the will of God in the face of derision, rejection, murderous threats, and accusations of demonic possession, and now His coming crucifixion, the disciples were still clinging to their worldly hopes and desires for emotional fulfillment. Despite Christ’s most excellent example of self-denial, His disciples had to be told, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (v.27). This command from Christ helps the reader better understand the nature of the peace that Christ had promised to give His disciples. Together with that peace, this command informs the disciples on Christ’s understanding of the love that they should have been portraying.

On the surface, one would think that by granting His disciples peace, Jesus would have no need to make such a command. Jesus, however, was not speaking of the sort of peace that is granted at salvation. This peace that accompanies salvation was already possessed by the disciples (John 13:10). In v.27, Jesus is offering a sanctifying peace that is always available to the disciples, but they must access it by performing an act of will. Another way this could be seen from the context, they must actively choose to prioritize the will of God so that their worldly hopes and temporal emotions will not cause them to fail to love Christ. To accomplish this, they must follow the trail blazed by Christ by refusing to troubled and overwhelmed by whatever the world throws at them. They must learn to “walk by the Spirit” so that they “will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal 5:16). Put simply, Christians must train their wills so that they can properly take up their crosses.

Since the disciples were failing to do this, Jesus called upon them to exercise their will and put aside their immediate, worldly hope along with their own emotional losses that would correspond with Christ’s death. If they had of done this, the disciples would have been able to easily mimic Christ’s role as comforter and thereby comfort Christ at the emotional level. Moreover, they could have, together with Lord, openly rejoiced with Him at what His obedience to God would mean for Him and all those who would be saved through Him.

Even at this time, Christ still makes His peace available to all who are truly saved and calls upon them to actively decide to partake of it by practicing self-denial and always giving priority to God’s will. For the faithful believer, this will involve the setting aside of one’s temporal hopes and desires, as well as having a firm intention to obey the Word of God even when extreme emotional cost is involved. Those who would follow this course of action would be well-advised to find a church and pastor who thoroughly acquaints with the full depth of God’s Word as opposed to simply looking for a church that satiates their desires for immediate emotional fulfillment.