Read John 14.
In the last week of his life, Jesus had withdrawn from public ministry to spend time teaching his disciples and closest followers. He wanted to tell them the things that they needed to know to be prepared for what lay ahead –his death, the coming of the Holy Spirit, persecution, betrayal. He wanted to give more in-depth, personal teaching to those who believed in him. And also, because he had spent 3 years with these people, his final hours would be amongst his friends whom he loved.
This chapter starts with the kind of feeling that the disciples were downcast and discouraged. They were aware that their master would soon leave them, one of them would betray him, Peter would deny him, Judas had mysteriously left them, and they had just had quite a strange meal with Jesus in which he was visibly troubled. They were confused and getting nervous.
They had yet to be told that they will be persecuted and be outcasts, hated by the world, and would probably die for their faith.
So Jesus starts with a pretty amazing statement ‘don’t let your hearts be troubled’. Take heart.
How can he say that?!?!? Well, he goes on to say, you trust in God, so trust in me too. The disciples are able to draw comfort from Jesus’ strength, and from his own faith in his Father. Their Jewish faith said that they could trust God, well, Jesus trusted God too, and they could follow his lead. And it also showed that he wanted them to see that he was God – he was able to deal with their fears and problems and would save them – being their Christ, their Messiah.
He says that he is going away to prepare a place for them – for all those who believe in him. This can mean a place in heaven, but it can also mean a place here and now. Through his death and resurrection, we would be reconciled with God and through faith in Jesus we can have a relationship with God now, rather than waiting for heaven. The many rooms imply that there will be many people who trust in God and are united by their faith, and this makes up the body of the church.
This encourages the disciples, because he says that he will return, so they will only be temporarily separated. Jesus could have meant a couple of things here – he would see them after the resurrection, and that he would return for them in the second coming.
Maybe it had a double meaning – that he would come back after his death and resurrection, and will have prepared a way for Christians to enter into a relationship with God, returning to him and finding rest in him; and also, that at the second coming, he would return to take Christians home to heaven, where he had prepared a place there for those who love him.
There is comfort in this, as it shows his continual protection and presence with them. And he is saying that their time without him will only be temporary, as he would return to them. We too can draw comfort from this, as we were without God for a time when we had not committed our lives to Him, but now we have his constant protection and we can hold onto the truth that Jesus died and rose again for us; he is with us now, through the Holy Spirit; and that he will return to take us to heaven.
So often we’d like life to be mapped out for us. We choose to follow God, but it would be preferable if we had a copy of the map for ourselves. How can we know the way to go if we don’t have a map!?!? Decisions can be difficult if we can’t see the best way out. But Jesus says that we need to focus on him as our guide. I’m no good at map reading anyway(!)
“I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
This is the key verse in the passage, because it says so much.
This statement answers Thomas’ question. Have you ever asked that question of God? – I don’t know where you are going, so how am I going to get there? Sometimes when we can’t see the road ahead we need some reassurance. Jesus tells Thomas that he is the guide, and the path leads to God. So he now should know where they will be going, and how to get there! And we can know too!
It shows that Jesus is the only way to get there. The old Jewish way of life – the laws and constant need for sacrifices, which had become such a burden to so many and abused by others, was no longer adequate to bring man to God.
There are 7 ‘I Am’ sayings in John, and it links Jesus with God in a way that the Jews would have understood, and it angered the Pharisees.
In Exodus 3 God appears to Moses as a bush that is burning, but is not being consumed. He tells Moses to liberate his people from Egypt and lead them to the Promised Land. Moses says ‘If they [the Israelites] ask me… what is his name, what should I tell them?’ This was the way of asking Moses to identify the divine being that had sent him. But they wanted more than a name. They wanted to know the nature of this God. ‘Name’ can also signify the character or attributes of the person’s name. God answers in verse 14 by saying “I Am who I Am.”
This is quite a distant view of God. It showed the Jews that their God was somewhat set apart and aloof – they knew he was superior. This view of God meant that the Jews didn’t have the ability to know God personally, as they did not fully know the characteristics of God.
It is important to know this to know what is inferred by the ‘I Am’ sayings in John. John uses them to prove to the Jews that Jesus was God, and that he was offering them a personal relationship with God – the same personal relationship that we have been offered.
Jesus says he is the WAY – he is the way to God, and the way to eternal life. He can lead those who trust him on the right path. If you look in Acts chapters 9, 19, 22, and 24, the early Christians were called the followers of the Way- they were followers of Jesus. The way is to focus on Jesus. Eg, my aim was to find a job, and it took 9 months!!! Some days it was very difficult. But for so many days I was able to focus on Jesus and trust that I would find the job he wanted me to have, because his way was the way I wanted to go, and I didn’t want to settle for second best.
He is the TRUTH – so his way is the true way – all other ways are false as he is the only way to the Father. And he is able to reveal the power of the Father by his actions and his heart. He did not work to bring himself glory but to glorify God. John 7:18 says He who speaks on his own does so to gain honour for himself, but he who works for the honour of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. Jesus says that believing him means that we will know the truth and this truth will set us free. Free from sin, death, corruption, and legalism. People don’t see what the truth is today, ‘post-modern’ culture says that we can each have our own truth and that is fine. I might not believe that my neighbours truth is ‘for me’, but I should respect it as ‘their truth’. Well, as Christians, we have faith that Jesus is the only truth that will get us to God, and we need to stand up for that truth. (“But be warned! If you stand up and say ‘this is wrong’ you might get it in the neck. Last June an article appeared in the Times Educational Supplement. Journalist Warwick Mansell investigated the schools work of three Christian organisations. ‘Would you want your children taught by people who believe that sex before marriage is wrong?’ he wrote”!!!! – taken from a letter sent by Discovery, the youth and schools ministry of Agape Ministries LTD (UK).)
He is the LIFE. Physically and Spiritually. He had shown that he could raise someone from the dead, and he had given sick people a new lease of life through healing. And spiritually, he is able to give those who believe in him eternal life. John’s Gospel is really a book of life in itself. He uses the word ‘life’ 36 times in his Gospel, 17 of which are ‘eternal life’. Jesus is the life giver spiritually, because he is able to save a sinner from certain death, thanks to his own death and his resurrection.
In A-level Religious Studies, we linked up 7 ‘I Am’ sayings with the 7 signs in John that are recorded before Jesus’ crucifixion. Some were obvious – I am the bread of life with the feeding of the 5000; restoring a blind man’s sight with ‘I am the light of the world’. This ‘I Am’ saying was linked with chapter 4, when Jesus heals a Roman officials’ son.
The Roman official makes his way directly to Jesus, seeing him as the way to his son’s healing. The official sees the truth of Jesus, through his actions, reputation and the way the crowds are attracted to him, he sees that he has power and authority. And this miracle shows life, not only in a practical way, with the child being healed, but also because the Roman official and his entire household believed in Jesus and were rebirthed into a relationship with God.
And it means that Jesus is the Way the truth and the life not just to Jews, but also to Gentiles – to us.
And it is the same for us; we had made our way to Jesus, seeing him as the way to our healing, we were in search of the truth, and we saw something different in Jesus that attracted us. And the promise of eternal life became real to us as we invited him into our lives.
The Roman official recognised God and believed. But it seems as though the disciples had a bit more trouble recognising who Jesus was. Philip asks Jesus ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us’. Not asking for much is he!
When Jesus answers him, I don’t think he is rebuking him, but it seems as though there is some frustration, as he has to repeat himself.
John 5:19 says
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
Twice in chapter 14 Jesus says ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me’. He is saying that they are separate, Father and Son, but in essence, they are one, and with the Holy Spirit, who Jesus speaks about later, they make up the Holy Trinity. Hebrews 1v3 says ‘The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being’
That’s why they can trust in Jesus, in the same way that they trust in God. And it’s why they can have a personal relationship with God, and know how real his love is.
And that’s what we have been offered, Jesus, the way to God, has enabled us to enter into a relationship with God.
Sometimes we can find it difficult to see God in a situation, but through reading the life of Jesus and seeing that he walked the earth as a man, and believing that he is one with God, we can reach out and trust that God is there to help us and love us.
And if we can’t tell that by what Jesus has said, then we could look at the way he lived his life, and the miracles he performed and see that he was something special and worth trusting and loving.
And this faith in Jesus opened the way for us to be used by God – we can be used in amazing ways by God when we give ourselves to him and let him be the way the truth and the life in our lives.
Hebrews 1 says how Jesus is superior to the angels, he has been appointed heir to all things, and through him the universe was made. This is the power that we have when we ask for things in the name of Jesus ‘you may ask for anything in my name and I will do it.’
John chapter 15 says 16 I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
When we ask for something in the name of Jesus, we should do so with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In that way, what we ask for will be in tune with God’s will and his Kingdom will be advanced through our faithful prayer. This is important because it shows us that we have a faithful God, it shows that the Holy Spirit is our guide, and Jesus is our advocate, submitting our requests to God, with his personal support. To be able to ask for things that will bear fruit, we need to be in tune with Jesus, through worship, bible reading and teaching, and through fellowship with other Christians.
It is a promise that we can hold onto and it enables us to expect God to do something through us when we submit out requests to him for his glory and not our own.
Through putting our faith in God, loving Jesus and obeying him, we are given the Holy Spirit. He is referred to as the Spirit of truth, that is, the Spirit of God and Jesus, who are the Truth.
God’s Spirit enables us to have a relationship with Jesus that makes us one with him. And our love for Jesus and our commitment to him means that God also loves us, and we can have a true relationship with Jesus.
We have not been abandoned, left to sort out this life ourselves, we have been given the Holy Spirit, and it is he who can help us through life.
But more than just helping us through life, we have real life, because of Jesus’ death on the cross; we share in the victory of his resurrection because we have died to our sinful ways. Verse 19 says, ‘Because I live, you also will live.’
This is the life that we are promised – real life, where death has no power over us, as it has already been beaten. Verse 30 and 31 say that death has no hold on Jesus and our love for God enables us to hold steadfast in him, and we need to keep loving Jesus and focussing on him so that we will not sin and allow the devil to gain any footholds in our lives.
This passage speaks about seeing God, Philip wants to see the Father; Judas asks how only they will see Jesus, and no one else.
Verse 23 says ‘”if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Jesus chooses to dwell in those who love him, they will receive his Spirit, and they will walk in the light, with an understanding of God’s love and grace.
This is seen earlier in John after Jesus heals a man born blind. John 9:
35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36"Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
38Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?"
41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
The Pharisees and Jewish teachers thought they knew everything about the Jewish faith, yet so many rejected Jesus; they were blind to God’s gift of eternal life.
And in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul says 6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"[2] -- 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.[3] 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
In other words, God is visible to those who love him, obey him, and have given their lives to him, because he has given us his Spirit, and we can have a real relationship with a loving, forgiving, compassionate God, because we have recognised the vital work that Jesus did on the cross, to enable us to approach the throne of God and worship him without condemnation.
The Holy Spirit reminds us of what Jesus has taught, and he prompts us to live in the way Jesus taught us. He gives us the ability to love, to praise and worship, to have fellowship with each other, to pray, to live for God, to get through a hectic day, to ask for forgiveness.
Jesus gives us peace, this is not the peace that the world gives, which does not last, or is false. It is real peace that enables us to have joy and strength in difficult situations, and enables us to stay away from sin.
Philippians 4 says:” 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Summing up:
1. This was a troubled time for Jesus, and a scary, confusing time for his followers. But Jesus still looks to encourage them, teach them and prepare them for what lies ahead.
2. Jesus has prepared a place for us. We have a relationship with him in which we can feel loved and ‘at home’ in the presence of God. And we have a place prepared for us in heaven.
3. Jesus is the way to God, he is the truth that sets us free, and he gives us eternal life through his death and resurrection.
4. Like the Roman official, we need to be faithful and believe that Jesus is who he claims to be, and we need to trust that he will work things for our good, whether we see things happening or not.
5. We can see Jesus because we have the Holy Spirit living inside us. The Spirit reminds us of Jesus’ teachings and enables us to stay in tune with Jesus, and have a relationship with him
6. We are able to do amazing things in Jesus’ name, because Jesus is our advocate and speaks to God on our behalf but we need to be in tune with his Spirit, so that what we ask for in the name of Jesus will bring glory to God.
