November 20, 2022
Gospel – 5/8/20 – John 14:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come back again and take you to myself,
so that where I am you also may be.
Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him,
“Master, 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.”
One of the single most hopeful Gospel messages to give hope to those left.
He opens by saying – don’t worry – “do not let your hearts be troubled.” Why? Because, we aren’t in charge so why fret over anything/place none the less. Live your lives fully, no matter what.
“You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” It’s easier to have faith in God who we never saw in human form. But, Jesus walked among us. He was born of man. He hurt like we hurt. He loved and was loved. He was forsaken. He was mocked and ridiculed. He was like us in every way but sin.
“In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.” What a wonderful description of where we want to go. There are no “No Vacancy” signs. We can choose not to go there but there’s a place none the less.
“If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” Once more He implores us to trust Him and to know He’s leaving so he can prepare one of those dwellings in his Father’s house for us. We have a place or He wouldn’t be preparing it.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.” He wants nothing more than for each of us to be with Him. He wants us to know, when our time comes, He will be there to walk us home – to that place already prepared by the One who hung on a cross.
“Where I am going you know the way.” We know the way He prepared because He showed it in showing us how to live.
“Thomas said to him, ‘Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’” I know Thomas gets a bad rap because he asked questions the others were afraid to ask. Thomas was us – he was every man. He allowed Jesus to clarify – to explain the unexplainable. After Luke, Thomas is my disciple I love most.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Jesus says it here. Here is your formula. Jesus is the way. Model your life after His life. He is the truth. Live your life true to who you are.
I am the life. How many truly wealthy people do you know of who try to buy their lives? Material possessions, alcohol, relationships or anything of this world they think will make them “alive”? But they spiral ever downward into a vast, empty landscape filled with shadows of happy things. They do not know true joy.
And yet, I could take you to India or the Philippines, and there are families living in dwellings of sticks and cardboard boxes who truly know joy.
“No one comes to the Father except through me.” He doesn’t say because of me. He doesn’t say only you who profess me are going to heaven. He doesn’t say he’s the savior – he is, but he doesn’t say that here. He says “through” me. He suffers. He dies. He is RESURRECTED. Through his resurrection.
We need to know Jesus didn’t leave us. He just went ahead. He is preparing our place and will greet us when it’s our time. We needn’t concern ourselves with the path, it’s clear. He is the way, the truth and the life.
Without Him on that cross, there is no coming to the Father.
At least that’s what I heard Him say…
What I Heard Him Say 