Today we will see again the heart of the Savior thinking about the disciples instead of His impending death. Again, Jesus gives us an example of selfless love that we are to glean from and practice. Judas has left to begin his deeds of betrayal. Jesus knows the disciples are puzzled and concerned. They don’t understand what is taking place. Now their Master is talking in a way that troubles their minds. In the next few verses of John chapter 14, He proceeds to help them understand.
When someone’s first words in a dialogue are “let not your heart be troubled” you automatically think something bad is coming. It’s like someone tells you, “you might want to sit down for this.” However, this is Jesus and they hung on every word. Because of who He is, makes it worth listening to with great anticipation. He reminds them of their belief in God and now He tells them to continue to believe in Him. It’s not a time to lose hope or faint. He has and will teach them truths that will sustain them. When things get rough it’s easy to retreat to a place or time when things seemed less stressful or threatening. It would have been easy for some of them to think, this is not what I signed up for I’m going back to fishing. Too often I see Christians doing that today. Their faith wavers just at the time God is trying to teach them something that will take them to the next level of their spiritual lives.
John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”
He tells them where God is there are many mansions or rooms, as it translates. He tells them He is going to prepare a place for them and one day they will be with Him there. Thomas speaks up, not Peter, He is still trying to reconcile in his mind what Jesus told Him in 13:38, that he would deny Him. Thomas asks how they would know the way because they don’t even know where He is going.
John 14:2-5 “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?”
Jesus answers Thomas’s question as only He could. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” He’s letting them know He is the only way! It’s not through a plan, a church, or through religion. It is through a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ. He has told them of the happiness and destiny of those who believe, and now He is telling them how to get there.
They have been with Jesus for 3 years and yet they have misinterpreted so much. He tries to explain to them that if they knew Him, they knew the Father, but Philip speaks up and says, in our vocabulary, show us the Father and it will settle our minds. I can almost see Jesus throwing His hands up in exasperation saying, where have you been Philip? You believed I was the Messiah when you invited Nathaniel to come to see me in John 1:45. I have been with you all this time and you still don’t get it! Now I know Jesus doesn’t get exasperated, but that would have been my human response. However, our patient Lord goes through the explanation that He and the Father are one. Jesus is God in the flesh!
John 14:7-10 “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believe thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”
John 1:45 “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Now, Jesus gives them the evidence that has been before them for the last 3 years to bear out that He is one with the Father. He gives them two things to help them believe His declarations that He is in the Father. One was His own life. They had spent time with Him as a dear friend and Master. They had listened to Him teach, and saw His compassion for others. They had been with Him when His righteous indignation was shown for those who did not honor the Father. His words were always true. If that were not enough, they also had His works to verify who He was. They were there when He cast out demons when He raised the dead when He healed the sick and when He forgave the woman at the well. They had experienced spiritual life as they had never known before. If they thought clearly about the last three years, there could be no denying who He was.
John 14:11 “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.”
While they should have had an assurance by now of who Jesus was, there were still many questions that puzzled their minds. They had yet to see things through an eternal perspective. They were looking at things through the physical realm instead of the spiritual realm. Jesus was trying to get them to see the bigger picture of life just as He does with us. We need to approach everything with eternity in view. I’m so thankful we have the Book where we can see what Jesus did, and the plan God has for us. Let us understand that we have all the evidence we need to believe and to live for God and God alone.
