Confirming (phase 3), - The Last Supper – Second Part: The last discourses of Jesus (step 23) - session 2

I am the way and the truth and the life

Jn 14:1-14

Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. - (1)

I've reflected recently regarding how our troubled, fearful hearts lead us into sin. Jesus challenges us to allow the faith we receive from him to grow stronger than the fear that leads us astray. The disciples are about to be deeply troubled, and Jesus knows how they will be scattered. Their faith in him will be required for him to draw them back to him, to even believe in the miracle of his resurrection when they witness it.

"And you know the way where I am going." 

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" 

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." - (4-6)

Once again Jesus speaks of "knowing" in the relational sense rather than in the intellectual one. They know the way where he is going because they have walked with him throughout his ministry, and he has shared his heart with them, has bolstered them in their doubt. They have shared in joys and sorrows, in challenges and triumphs. They know the Way.

I've recently written (step 19) at greater length about this passage.

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." 

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, `Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves." - (7-11)

They know the Way, but they do not know him as he knows them. Jesus has spoken throughout this Gospel of the testimony that the Father provides through the work that Jesus does, yet his closest followers have not yet received the Holy Spirit. They cannot yet glimpse the unity between the Father and the Son because they are not yet partakers of that unity. Once we have received the Spirit we are better equipped to grasp this amazing Truth.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father." - (12)

We so quickly forget that the greatest work of Christ is the eternal redemption of our lost souls, so we have our faith shaken when we fail to physically move mountains. The greatest work of which we can be a part is when the Holy Spirit works through us to draw one dear brother or sister into the love of Christ. Because Jesus has gone to the Father, and they have poured out the Holy Spirit upon all believers, we have carried the gospel to the ends of the earth and to our next-door neighbor. What an undeserved privilege!