The Only Way To Get To Heaven. Series

The only way to get to heaven John 14:1-6

A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office for his annual check-up and when it was all done the doctor asked her to step into the office alone for a minute. And as she did he closed the door and said, “Your husband is suffering from a very severe disorder and if you don’t do the following, I doubt he’ll live another year.”

And then he said, “Every morning you’re going to have to fix him a healthy breakfast and while he eats it, you’ll have to be extremely pleasant. For lunch, make him a very nutritious meal and then do the same for dinner. Don’t burden him with a lot of chores during the day and don’t discuss every little household problem with him because the stress can only make him worse. And what ever you do, don’t nag him. And if you do this for the next ten months, I believe your husband will regain his health completely.”

Well, as they got to the car her husband turned to her and said, “What did the doctor say?” And she said, “I’m sorry honey, he said you’re going to die.”

When a couple gets married there are many ways they have to celebrate the special events in their lives. For instance, he may take her out to dinner on their wedding anniversary or even on the anniversary of their first date or he may ignore these days completely. There’s no right or wrong. (At least in his mind.) And then at Christmas, either they may open their gifts on Christmas Eve or they might wait for Christmas day. And for those who do it on Christmas day may open their presents as soon as they wake up and then there are others who like to have a leisurely breakfast first and then take their time enjoying the experience.

And then at Easter, there are those who give their children enough chocolate to make them sick and then they expect them to chow down a great big meal while others just concentrate on buying all kinds of new clothes for Easter Sunday and then there are many who ignore the commercial side of Easter altogether and see Easter as a time to observe the Lord’s death and all that means to them.

And then there’s the issue of how we celebrate family member’s birthdays and while some like to throw a big party and give all kinds of gifts, there are others who just say happy birthday if they even remember it. The fact is, there is no right and wrong in any of these things. It’s how you’ve been raised or maybe even a reaction to how you’ve been raised.

In the passage we’re looking at today the disciples knew it was time to celebrate the Passover and they also knew there were certain things that had to be done to observe this particular feast while there was also some leeway at the end of the feast where they could enjoy a time of fellowship anyway they wanted to. For instance, I’m sure there were some of them who may have seen this as a time to celebrate the previous year and talk about what they hoped to do in the year to come while there might have been others who saw this as a time of devotion and prayer. In either case, the Passover was like a time of evaluation like we have at New Years when we reflect on the past and plan for the future.

And so we see in this passage that Jesus had arranged a place to have the feast and it was the disciples responsibility to go buy the lamb and get all the various types of food that were used to illustrate how the children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt because after all, that was what this feast was all about.

As I said, once the feast was observed there was no such thing as right and wrong as to what they were supposed to do afterwards and here we see where Jesus takes His time and teaches His disciples about what was going to happen, then tells them what to expect and prepares them for what was to come in terms of their home in heaven and all they had to look forward to. He also tells them that He was coming back to get them and they shouldn’t worry because He would be watching over them while He was gone.

This particular time with His disciples was so important that John actually devotes twenty per cent of his writing to this last evening of Jesus’ life.

And just before we get into this portion of the passage, I want you to see that there are seven misunderstandings that take place in these four chapters. That’s seven times when Jesus speaks and they don’t seem to understand what He’s talking about.