Section 121--VII, (John 14:22-24)

"Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." John 14:22-24

"This is the fourth interruption of the talk of Jesus (by Peter, Joh_13:36; by Thomas, Joh_14:5; by Philip, Joh_14:8; by Judas, Joh_14:22).: -RWP

There were two Judas---one the son of James and the other, Iscariot.

#1--Judas Iscariot, "God is praised."

"Judas's epithet Iscariot most likely means he came from the village of Kerioth, but this explanation is not universally accepted and many other possibilities have been suggested." Wikipedia

#2--Judas Thaddeus, Jude, Jude of James, Lebbaeus

Sometimes Jude is described as the brother of Jesus.  The author of the book of Jude.

"In the Roman Catholic Church, he is the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes." He's associated with the symbols of a club, a flame around his head, or as holding an image of Jesus. -Wikipedia

To me, Judas's question feels like a variation on a question I ask and unbeliever's  ask too---"Why not reveal yourself to all, Why not save all?  Why only some?"  Commentators differ on how they view the question--most see it as Judas grappling with implications he didn't understand as were all the disciples at this point.

Make our Abode

"we will come and make our abode with him — Astonishing statement! In the Father’s “coming” He “refers to the revelation of Him as a Father to the soul, which does not take place till the Spirit comes into the heart, teaching it to cry, Abba, Father” [Olshausen]. The “abode” means a permanent, eternal stay! (Compare Lev_26:11, Lev_26:12; Eze_37:26, Eze_37:27; 2Co_6:16;" -JFB

The relationship between God and man in Christianity is endlessly complex.  The trinity is a fathomless riddle alone, and the idea that God would bother or wish to live in any man--what to make of that?  Comparing it to other religious systems, it's different from eastern conceptions which teach thousands of gods or man becoming god, or working to become part of a unity.  It's different than traditional Judaism which teaches a type of relationship between man and God but with much distinction and servitude.   It would be interesting to look into how the Jewish concept of God is changed through Christianity--a whole lifetime of study there...

Andrew MacLaren conveys some of the intensity of this relationship here:

"Lastly about this matter, Christ shows Himself to obedient love by a true coming. ‘We will come and make our mansion with him.’ And that coming is a fact of a higher order, and not to be confounded either with the mere divine Omnipresence, by which God is everywhere, nor to be reduced to a figment of our own imaginations, or a strong way of promising increased perception on our part of Christ’s fullness. That great central Sun, if I might use so violent a figure, draws nearer and nearer and nearer to the planets that move about it, and having once been far off on an almost infinitely distant horizon, approaches until planet and Sun unite." -MacLaren

The Link Between Love and Obedience

"And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 2:3

"And, as to this, he shows what an inseparable connection there is between love and obedience; love is the root, obedience is the fruit."-Matthew Henry

"Obedience grows out of love for Jesus and His Word." Expositor's Bible

The connection between the two:

1. It presupposes a sense of the evil of sin and a desire for righteousness.
2. Love desires to please, and ever shrinks from grieving its object.
3. Love is essentially imitative. To love evil is to be debased; to love goodness is to be ennobled.
4. The affections exert a strong influence on the will. The strength of evil lies in the love of it, and so the strength of goodness. -W H H Murray, BI

"We admire beauty, we reverence virtue, we praise modesty as elements of character; but never until the eyes behold them clothed in physical form do we love them. The qualities we admire, the woman we love." -W H H Murray, BI

"Love is the strongest passion known to mortals. It is stronger than hate, for death checks its cry. Leaving the bloody body on the sand, it returns content to its kennel. But love is not checked, is not weakened by death. There is no power like love. It will carry heavier burdens, endure more buffeting, do more service, face more perils, live on under the sense of deepest shame, beyond any other emotion that the heart of man is able to feel.."  -W. H. H. Murray, BI

"1. If a man over whom you have no authority consults you about a piece of work, and does not take your advice, you may think him a dull or a lazy man, but not a disobedient one. There can be no obedience or disobedience where there is no authority. But if the man is your servant the case is different. He may think that his own way is better than yours, but he has to accept yours. You are his master. So if I recognize the authority of Christ, I shall obey Him before I recognize that His commandments are good and wise. His words are laws to be fulfilled, not ethical treatises the soundness of whose principles I find by study.

2. In the training of children we do not explain everything before we expect obedience. A child of six does not easily understand why he should take offensive medicine, or a child of ten why he should learn the Latin declensions. He has to do it first, and to discover the reasons afterwards. And so if a child be not disciplined to truthfulness, industry, etc., before he can see for himself the obligation of these virtues, he will never see that lying and indolence are vices. Compel him to be industrious and he will discover the obligations of industry.

3. And so if we obey Christ His commandments will shine in their own light. It is not by meditation but by practice that we see the beauty of His words." R.W. Dale, BI

V. THE CLAIMS OF CHRIST PROVOKE RESENTMENT not only speculative criticism, but.

1. It is one thing to submit to an abstract law which conscience discovers, in this there is no humiliation; it is quite another thing to submit to the government of a Person. Nor is the claim resisted, because made by one who has “been made flesh” There are many who suppose they believe in God, but who refuse Him all authority over conduct. They regard Him as nothing more than an hypothesis to account for the universe. While He is nothing more than this the personal life is free; as soon as He claims authority the freedom seems lost.

2. But those to whom the great discovery of God in Christ has come, know that in His service there is perfect freedom. The rule of law is the real tyranny. The law can only command; but when Christ becomes Lord of conduct, He stands by us in every conflict; gives strength as well as defines duty. Christ becomes our Comrade, but yet He is our Ruler, and we are under the government of a higher Will than our own.

3. We have to obey God in Christ. But when the real secret of the Christian revelation is mastered, the obedience assumes an unique character. The fountains of our life are in Him. He is our higher, truer self. Not until we abide in Christ, and He in us, are we able to keep His commandments. -R. W. Dale

Beautiful things to think about--explains our spirit's inherent resistance to obedience but how obedience expresses and is changed by His love and our response.