Cornhill Devotional - John 14:5-7

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

“I don’t much care where.”

“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go.”

“So long as I get somewhere.”

“Oh, you’re sure to do that, if you only walk long enough.”

That, dear friends, is the amusing conversation between a girl called Alice and a talking cat in a place called Wonderland.

But, in these verses in John 14:5-7, a similar, yet much more serious conversation is taking place around the same topic: finding the way to go. Let me read those verses for us.

John 14:5–7: “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 except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.””

If you remember the start of these devotionals, you’ll remember how Gwylim described this intimate moment between Jesus and His disciples as a key moment of discipleship training.

And you’ll remember those wonderful truths we looked at - those reminders that must fuel our hearts if we’re going to be Jesus’ disciples.

But we also saw last week that Jesus is leaving! And so, to reassure His disciples, He makes them that wonderful promise. He’s leaving - going to the Father. But the disciples - we included - will follow Him later. After all, says Jesus, “You know the way to where I am going.”

But do they? Look again at verse 5 - “Thomas said to him “Lord, we do NOT know where you are going. How can we know the way?””

Even though Jesus just explained that He’s going to the Father’s side, they still don’t understand. And because they don’t know Jesus’ destination, they don’t know how to get there.

Now friends, I’d be shocked if anyone here didn’t know what Jesus’ destination is. I think that it might be hard for us to resonate with the question that Thomas is asking!

But here’s where the rubber hits the road. At least for me. And I reckon for some of us here too.

For the past 2 years, I’ve been serving as my church’s first ever Youth Worker. It’s been a great joy and privilege. But it’s also been really hard work.

And in the midst of all of that, I’ve realised and others have pointed out to me that I seem to be less joyful. Perhaps a bit spiritually dry. The truth is - I’ve been less useful as a disciple than perhaps I was in the past. Even though I know more Biblical truths than ever before! What’s the problem, then?

It’s not that I don’t know. It’s that I forget. It’s that I lose sight of it in the midst of all I’m doing.

For John’s original readers, it would be easy to lose sight of this as they endured persecution and hardships for Jesus. Not just from the Romans but also from Jews.

Friends, that is the danger we face as Jesus’ disciples. In the business of ministry or family life, in the darkness of our suffering and sorrow, perhaps in our glory days of retirement after a long life of service, we forget where we’re going. And we forget how to get there.

And so, if last week was a reminder of our destination, this week is a reminder of our way.

How do Jesus’ disciples - how do we - get to where Jesus and the Father are? And here’s the simple, yet beautiful, marvellous answer: Jesus is the way.

Look down at verse 6.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

I’m sure lots of us have all used these verses in an evangelistic way, myself included. Or to prove Unconditional Election or some other doctrine. Now, let’s put all of that to the side and take in what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is the way to the Father. After all, that’s where Jesus is going!

But how does Jesus being the truth and the life relate to this?

Well, back in chapter 1 verse 18, we’re told that no person has ever seen God the Father. Except for one. The Word made flesh - Jesus Himself! And what has Jesus done, according to John 1:18? He has made the Father known.

In other words, Jesus is the truth, the One who makes the Father known, who reveals Him to the disciples, as we’ll hear more about in the next couple of verses!

But even more than that, Jesus is the life. He is the life-giver, the One who gives us eternal life with Himself and the Father.

So friends, do you see? Jesus is the way to the final destination: His Father’s spacious house where He has gone to prepare us a room!

After all, only He who came down from heaven and ascended is able to come and bring us with Him.

And because He is the way to that house and to the Father who runs it, no one can come to the Father, except through Jesus. Which is what Jesus expands on in verse 7.

Now, Jesus says that if the disciples had known Him, they would have known the Father.

And when I first read this, my impression was that Jesus was basically saying “The fact that you don’t know or understand what I’m saying about the Father proves that you don’t know or understand me.”

But I think Jesus might primarily reinforcing what He just said: those who know Jesus, know the Father because He is the way to the Father. Before Jesus’ coming and apart from Jesus, no one can know the Father!

But NOW, He has come. And NOW, the disciples have been following Him! And NOW, He is going to die and be brought back to life as the ultimate revelation of who the Father is! The disciples know and have seen the Father! Why? Because they know and have seen Jesus who is the way to the Father!

My brothers and sisters, as we prepare our talks and studies, do we remember? As we grab yet another coffee with someone to share our pain or to support them in theirs, do we remember? As we suffer one more loss and endure one more hardship, do we remember?

Do we remember that there’s a heavenly mansion, a whole new creation waiting for us? Do we remember WHO is waiting for us there? Our Father in heaven and our Good Shepherd.

And do we remember how to get there? It’s not by doing more. It’s not by pulling ourselves out of whatever pit we’ve fallen into. It’s Jesus. HE is the way.

He is not saying “If you follow my way of life, you’ll get there.” No, He is saying “I AM the way”!

He didn’t just open the life gate that all may go in. He is the life gate! He is how we get in!

And so, just as the singer asks the country road to take him home to the place where he belongs, namely West Virginia, so we remember and ask Jesus to take us to where we belong: that house with many rooms with our names stamped on the door. The new creation with Him and the Father. That’s how we get to where Jesus and the Father are - through Jesus, the way, the truth and the life.

Let’s pray.