I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life

The Need for Home

John 14:1–4 NIV

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus has just shared the burden of His heart, every one of His closest friends would betray Him in a few hours. Judas would surrender Him to the chief priests for a mere 30 pieces of silver and the other disciples would scatter into the night in fear of their own well being, even Peter would deny even knowing Jesus to three individuals, none of whom held any power or authority.

Jesus though shows compassion and understanding. He knows their motives, their thoughts, their despair and confusion. Just a few short moments ago, Jesus turned to Judas, handing to him the dipped sup and telling him, “What you do, do quickly,” knowing both the action that Judas was about to do as well as his heart. Judas must have been filled with anticipation when the word began to spread that the Messiah had come. Immediately passages of Scripture began to flood his mind of the promise of what the Messiah would bring.:

He would be like Moses

Deuteronomy 18:15–19 NIV

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.

He would be the Son of Man and would bring about the Kingdom

Daniel 7:13–14 NIV

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

He would be mightier than David

Psalm 110:1–4 NIV

The Lord says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of your enemies!” Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you like dew from the morning’s womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

The Reigning King

Isaiah 11:1–9 NIV

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord— and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Judas so looked forward to the day that those who stood against Israel would be slain and the world would once again fear the house of David. With these verse causing his spirit to soar, imagine how Judas must have responded as that same Messiah came and asked him, “Come and follow me.” This likely not only described Judas’ hope, but the hope of each of the twelve. They had been chosen by the Promised One and they were heading to glory as the men who stood on his right and left as He led them to victory. This view was probably further drawn out as crowds began to follow Jesus, thousands and tens of thousands strong. Then as Jesus enters into Jerusalem to celebrate the most coveted feast of the Jewish calendar, the very feast that remembered how God had given them Moses to lead them out of slavery, the people welcomed Jesus as the messiah, the triumphant king.

Now, in these moments where their hearts were overjoyed with what they were desiring would come, Jesus begins to speak often about his leaving and that where he is going they can not follow. He speaks of death and returning to the Father. Noticeably absent are the rallying cries of restoring the house of David and taking up the scepter to rule and reign. There are no battle plans being shared or recruiting speeches being presented on the temple steps. There are no meals being shared with insurrectionists or people of position and power. Even their most important meal is being spent alone in a rented room, surrounded by no one.

The hearts of the disciples must have been troubled as they watched their hope bend down and wash their feet like the lowly servants of the house. Is this our king? Is this the One that can truly deliver on the promise of the Messiah that fueled our companionship? It is with these hearts that Jesus turns to his friends and says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

There is no reason for your hearts to be troubled because God is still God. Jesus points his friends to no t be dismayed because God, who has always ruled and reigned, still rules and reigns. If their trust is in the Lord, then there is nothing to that should shake them for God is greater than all things. The disciples were troubled, in fear that their trust had been ill-founded, but Jesus reassures them that their faith can not be misplaced if it is placed in the Lord and the One that the Lord sent.

It is in this moment that Jesus lovingly corrects their hearts. What the disciples were troubled about is that their hopes would not become reality. Jesus points out the temporariness of their desires. They longed for an earthly kingdom, but earthy kingdoms pass away like the house of David and Solomon and like the Roman empire that oppressed them would as well. Jesus directs their hearts to what would truly satisfy their souls, finding a home in the presence of the Lord.

Jesus turns to his friends and relieves their troubled hearts as he promises true satisfaction in the house of the Lord. Jesus was going to prepare for them a place with God. He was going to prepare their way to be in the presence of the Father, to dwell in His house forever.

The only thing that will truly satisfy our deepest needs, our very souls is God and dwelling in His presence. We live in a culture that preaches to our hearts day in an out that we will find wholeness, peace, and joy when we reach a certain amount of fame, fortune, and power. The lie is foundationally flawed. More of what we currently have that is not making us feel satisfied can not satisfy.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life

John 14:5-

John 14:5–7 NIV

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

It is in the person of Christ alone that we can find what it is that we need. This desire in us, placed by the Creator, to need Him can be only fulfilled in Christ.

Jesus is the only way because He alone could pay the debt of sin. Since the first sin, we have all been enslaved to death. The penalty for sin has never changed. Our lives are lived in debt to sin with no hope of paying it. We are not in ownership of our own lives.

Christ alone is the way for He alone has ownership of his life. He paid the debt that we owed.

Jesus alone is the truth for in Him alone is the truth of God. The truth is that our relationship with God was severed. We could not restore that relationship because we could not undo what had damaged it in the first place. Christ comes and stands in our stead. He is the band aid in our relationship with God. In Christ, we are holy, our position before the Lord has been repaired for we stand in Christ not in our good deeds.

Jesus alone is the life. We are dead, both physically and spiritually. Our lives at best could amount to some endless fruitless endeavor to earn a position in a race that we are not even in. Christ though steps in and he brings life to our existence. He gives worth and value to our works.

Apart from Christ, we are left to achieve on our own and this is fruitless insanity.

No Excuses

John 14:8–14 NIV

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Christ is all that we need. He is not merely the beginning, He is everything that we need. From the moment that Christ invades our lives, we are sufficient. We stand before the Lord as perfect and holy. The reality is that our days on earth are spent living out what is already true.

We have no excuses to stand on for not pursuing God and living as redeemed people for Christ is all that we need. We have been given all that we need for living the life that God has called us.