Jesus, the Way to God - thoughts on John 14:1-12

Jesus says to us > "Do not let your hearts be troubled".

We might be tempted to respond – “Easy for him to say!”

There is a very full list of reasons why we might be troubled through life!!! The disciples had just heard from Jesus that he was going away from them {to the cross and death}, which caused them great confusion and distress. We know how that all turned out, but still there are many things around to worry us:

· Difficulties with family members
· Communication barriers with our husband or wife
· Financial difficulties, too many bills/debts, not enough resources/employment
· Ill-health
· Problems at work, stresses at school/university
· Trouble with decision-making eg. property

Jesus’ answer to this may seem trite at times, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. Jesus says that the way to move forward is to > "Believe in God" – and that the way to access this is to "Believe … in me [Jesus]".

We have already seen in the Gospel of John, that it is the person of Jesus who can revolutionise our lives. Jesus is the “Logos” of God, the very presence of God in our midst. Jesus can turn the plainest water into the best vintage of wine. Jesus can give us the sort of living water that will mean we will never thirst again. Jesus can meet all the basic needs that human life requires. Jesus can open our eyes to see with new spiritual insight, allowing us to fully experience God on a daily basis. Jesus is the provider of life in all its fullness – a quality of life which so thoroughly exceeds just ‘going through the motions’ (this life is called “eternal life”, and can begin here and now … if it hasn’t already).

To believe in Jesus is to thoroughly and completely trust in him in all facets of life. This is not just in some carefully compartmentalised parts of life (what we might define as the Christian bits), but in every facet of life – everything we think, everything we decide, everything we say, everything we do!

To believe in Jesus is to know that God can turn around the gravest situations.

To believe in Jesus is to accept the gift of forgiveness offered through the cross {on which Jesus died}, to be determined to participate in a process of {transformational} change, and to be raised into new life … following in the way of Jesus – adopting his emphasis on love and peace, adopting his attitudes & priorities.

To believe in Jesus is to allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and guide us through the challenges of life. In this way we escape the sort of despair that might otherwise overtake us. And when we do have moments of doubt and significant trouble, we have a loyal personal friend to refer back to and cuddle up with.

Could Jesus really be that interested in little old me? After all I feel like a bit of a disappointment really! I sometimes feel unlovable, and that I haven’t got much to offer!

The answer is an emphatic YES!! There is room for everyone in God’s heart.

We see in verse 2 that there are endless rooms in God’s kingdom – enough space for everybody. No-one need be excluded! [Certainly more than a four bedroom house with a study and two bathrooms!] But you need to want to be there – to knock on the door and walk through the entrance!!

Jesus is wanting to take our hand and lead us to our room in the motel of God’s kingdom. Think of the bellboy picking up and carrying our suitcases while taking us up in the elevator to the accommodation that the cleaning staff has previously prepared for us. And whenever we have a need that is connected to the activities that this motel promotes, room service is available to all the guests.

We also encouragingly read here how Jesus will always be ready to claim us as his children for all eternity, and take us to where he is dwelling. There is nothing that can separate us from Jesus aside from our own detrimental decision-making.

In verse 4, it seems that Jesus had assumed that all the disciples by now had got it! "And you know the way to the place where I am going."

Quite often my passengers may reasonably assume that I know where I’m going when I’m driving, but sometimes that’s not the situation. And unless I quickly admit this, and ask for directions or grab the Melways, then I’m going to get really lost. At least Thomas was willing to admit that he wasn’t sure what Jesus meant – he was still thinking of some necessary physical movement (or some set of written instructions) as being the way to God – How can we know the way. Thomas was still looking for someone to draw him a map. But we clearly know today that the way to God cannot be found in a street directory, but only in a person.

"I am the Way…"

Jesus being the “way (to God)” identifies him as the point of access to life with God – life as it’s meant to be experienced (in all its fullness).

The way of Jesus bringing us into “eternal life” would be through the cross; not that we ourselves would have to physically go to a cross to follow him, rather accept that Jesus was going to his cross on our behalf. Our sin and our brokenness are nailed to that cross, allowing us to be free and liberated in new life. We will still have our ‘crosses’ to bear, because we are human beings in a human inhabited environment, but we have the very presence of Jesus with us to enable our troubles not to get the best of us. So Jesus can rightly say to us: "Do not let your hearts be troubled".

Jesus is also the truth.

In fact, Jesus is the life and the way because Jesus is the truth.

Everything that Jesus has taught and done and modelled out … has been the perfect representation of the heart of God. Jesus’ life has been lived out with perfect integrity, with his teaching being thoroughly exampled by his activity; all this intimately linked with the will and purposes of God for the salvation of the world’s peoples. The life of Jesus in history actually links with God’s intentions at the beginning of creation ie. facilitating people to make a choice to be in relationship with God. Jesus’ life, death and life … brings inexhaustible creative power to our lives.

Jesus is the truth because he provides a clear, undistorted picture of God.

So it is no wonder that no-one can actually come into personal relationship with God without Jesus. How would we know what God was like, without being shown by Jesus! We can’t really enter into a proper relationship with someone without beginning to know them.

We begin to know what God is like by getting to know someone we can certainly relate to, and by getting to know someone who can certainly relate to us. Yet another reminder of Hebrews 4:15-6, where the depth of this human/Divine identification is explained:

"For we do not have a high priest [using the Hebrew understanding of a ‘confessor’ – the one who hears our deepest internal pain] who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

In seeing Jesus, in knowing Jesus, we can know God. The search for God is completed through personally connecting with Jesus. God has lovingly and intricately created us and sought a relationship with us. The arrival of Jesus brings God into the realm of human experience, God’s truth in flesh and blood, so that our quest for life might be fulfilled. As we experience Jesus through the Gospels, as we are given understanding by the Holy Spirit, we experience God.

Too often the last phrase of John 14:6 … "No one comes to the Father except through me" … is used in a very unhelpful and negative way. It is sometimes used arrogantly to lift the claims of one belief system over another. It is sometimes used in an exclusive sense to divide some people off from the possibility of participating in God’s Kingdom.

When these words were originally said and then written down, they would have been simply and clearly understood to mean that access to Father God was not gained through any written law (as the Pharisees etc maintained), but rather through the person of Jesus. This would have been joyously liberating for these hearers.

These words should really be taken as a positive statement of the glorious inclusive possibility of knowing God through Jesus. These are words of invitation to all people to come to know Jesus, and therefore come to truly know God.

Another disciple, Philip, still didn’t get it (refer v.8), but at least he really wanted to! Sometimes things don’t make sense to us, and so we shrink away, rather than continuing to search things out. Philip was one who would probably ask questions until everyone seemed thoroughly sick of him, but then still asked more questions. For Philip desperately wanted to fully know the truth.

One of the ‘beattitudes’, given to the crowd in Matthew chapter 5, was: "Blessed are the meek …" and the “meek” are the gentle ones, yet sincere learners; they are teachable and open to new understanding. This is the way through which we can grow and thrive in this experience of “eternal life”.

Jesus was able to use Philip’s questioning to draw the disciples’ attention to the signs that he had been giving of God’s presence. How could anyone say that Father God had not been in the turning of water into wine, the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fish, the giving of sight to a man born blind, the raising of Lazarus from the dead; surely these were unmistakably acts of God – worked through the very Son of God.

Indeed, these disciples would also be able to do the works of God as they followed the resurrected Jesus, as would all those who subsequently followed Jesus, as we are able to as well (in significant public ways and in simple unassuming ways) – representing the risen Jesus in our daily journey.

Jesus has introduced us to God, and through this God is working in our lives. God has liberated us from our sin and brokenness, and given us the experience of “eternal life” here and now. God has given us meaning and purpose. God is with us in any difficulty or suffering we face. So, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in Jesus!