“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 14:1-6
When Jesus spoke these famous words to his followers at the Last Supper, the disciples had just learned that Jesus was leaving them. In shock and dismay they couldn’t understand where he was going or why he would leave at the height of his ministry, but Jesus’ statement brings comfort not only to his disciples then but today.
Jesus is the Way to the Father and the Father’s House
- In the original Greek, the word for ay is hodos, which means path, journey or road.
- At the start of John 14, Jesus describes the many rooms in the Father’s house that he’s preparing, and the disciples want to know the directions to get there and follow Jesus.
- But Jesus doesn’t give them a map or or next steps, he doesn’t detail directions of the way, but instead he promises that he is the way.
- Hodos doesn’t just mean way but also journey. Jesus offered himself, promises to walk with us.
- Jesus is the way to relationship or reconciliation with the Father.
- Ephesians 2:18 promises, “For through Him we both have access by One Spirit
- to the Father.”
- Jesus is also the way into the Father’s house. This means that we have eternal life and eternal access to God’s presence.
- Hebrews 10:19-20 says, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly
- enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.”
- Jesus calling himself the way is also a reference to the Hebrew scriptures, our Old Testament. Jesus is saying that he is the embodiment of the Law and Prophets.
- The early church was known as The Way because Christians were known for following the way of Jesus.
- Many today are trying to find their own direction, searching for the way to the good life, but Jesus is the way.
- He’s not an addition to your own way or a good way to live charitably but following Jesus is the only way to fullness of life.
Jesus is the Truth and Reality of the Father Revealed
- In Exodus 3, God introduces himself as Yahweh, which means I am. Jesus repeats this “I am” statement, which speaks to his authority.
- Truth is a person—not a concept, set of ideas, rules or beliefs.
- Who or what is defining your understanding of truth?
- Ephesians 4:14-15 says, “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Chris.”
- The world says that truth is relative or subjective, but the Bible points to a truth that is solid and steadfast.
- Jesus is stable, secure and infallible.
- In Greek, the word truth is alatheia, translated as reality. Jesus makes God’s goodness a reality in our lives.
- John 1:14 tells us, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
- The word alatheia also means to not forget, so truth is a reality that we actively remember.
- Psalm 103:1-2 encourages us, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not his benefits.”
- How often do we give into doubt instead of remembering the truth of God’s word and who Jesus is?
- What you believe to be true of Jesus and his word will determine the level of what he can do and work through your life.
Jesus is the Very Life of God Given to Us
- In the Greek, the word life is zoe, which encompasses not just life for the present but the future.
- Romans 8:11 promises, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
- In John 10:10, Jesus says, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
- Jesus also describes himself as the bread of life, which sustains and nourishes us. This is an image of God strengthening and supporting our very life.
Dinner Party Questions
- Jesus doesn’t just give us directions, but he is the way or the journey. How have you seen Jesus journey with you?
- Who or what is defining your understanding of truth? How do you remind yourself of the truth of who Jesus is?
- Have you been relying on God as your source of life or are you feeling spiritually undernourished?
