John 14:1-7

John 14:1-7

Do not let your heart be troubled.  Believe into God and believe into me.  In my Father’s house are many places for dwelling.  And if not, why did I say to you all that I walk around to prepare a place for you all?  And if I should be walking around and if I should prepare a place for you all, I come again and I will bring you all to me in order that where I am also you should be.  And where I go you all have known the way.  Thomas says to Him, “Lord, we have not known where you are going, how can we be powerful enough to know the way?”  And Jesus says to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  Nobody comes to the Father except through me.  If you all have known me, you all will also know my Father.  And from now on you all do know Him and you all have seen Him.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The word here that I translate as “places for dwelling” and some Bibles translates as “rooms” is actually the Greek word “μοναὶ.”  It is derived from the word that we usually translate as “remain” or “abide” in our Bibles.  Jesus is telling us that the Father’s house has many “places for remaining” or “places for abiding.”  This is a pretty cool understanding.  Whenever we have a moment of abiding with the Lord here in this world we are getting a taste of heaven to come.  But Jesus promises more than the occasional moment for remaining with God.  He also promises that when He comes back then He will bring us to those places permanently.  When Christ returns, we shall go with God and we will be with God – and Christ – forever.  What an incredible promise to have to which we can look forward!

When you think of an “abiding place” or a “place for dwelling,” of what do you think?  What does abiding with God look like to you?  What does dwelling with God feel like?

Second Thought:

This discourse between Thomas and Jesus is made even more pronounced by looking at the Greek tense of the verb in verse 4: “you all have known …”  This verb is in the perfect tense, which is a tense that demonstrates action completed in the past but the effects of that action continue into the present and are expected to continue into the future.  What Jesus is saying to the disciples in that one word is that the act of knowing the way was completed in their past.  The effects of knowing the way will sustain them.  So what is the way that the disciples have known?  The way is living like Jesus.  The way is discipleship: having a relationship with the Father like Jesus has with the Father.  When Jesus says, “You have known the way,” He is telling them that the last three years of their life was not pointless.  What they have learned and observed in Jesus and are now imitating in their own life will sustain them.  What an incredible theological statement to make just by using one particular tense in the Greek!

So, have you known the way?  Have you been discipled into a relationship with the Father that imitates the relationship Jesus has with the Father?  If so, by whom?  If not, are you really interested?

Third Thought:

Thomas asks a deeply profound question.  How can anyone know the way if they do not know the destination?  Jesus gives an equally profound answer.  He is the way.  He is the truth.  He is the life.  In discipleship, one never knows the destination.  That is the great surprise and joy of walking with God.  God’s destination far exceeds our own planned destinations so when we arrive where God desires us to be we are always amazed.  We never need to know the destination – as often as we think we actually must know.  Rather, we simply need to trust that Christ is the way.  If we trust in discipleship, we will arrive at our destination with God.  If Jesus is the way, and the way of Jesus is having a relationship with the Father, then when we have a relationship with the Father as Jesus has then we will arrive!  That is truth.  That is life.  Want to arrive at the destination with God?  Learn and imitate Jesus’ relationship with the Father.  After all, He is the way.

How does Thomas’ question reveal a profound desire to remain and abide with Christ?  Why do we as human beings want to know the endgame before we even begin?  Why is a relationship with God often beautifully described as a series of joyful surprises?

Passage for Tomorrow: John 14:8-14