Jesus is THE WAY… talk 160613

John 14:1-14 ‘The Way’

BACKGROUND:

So the background to this passage, Will has spoken about the last few weeks but just to refresh our minds. These few chapters happen right before Jesus death, in fact scripture indicates it is the night right before he died.  Jesus is about to go to his death. He knows it. The disciples know something is up if not what exactly… 

At the end of the last weeks passage, Jesus has just told Peter that he will disown him 3 times.  He has just told the disciples he is going away, and more than that he has predicted that one of them will betray him.

One can only imagine the atmosphere in that room. Anxiety, fear, the unknown. As a group these guys have been traveling with Jesus for around 3 years. They have known he is the Messiah. But even so they have had to learn so much on the way. Jesus has TAUGHT them, he’s CORRECTED them, he’s LOVED them, he’s SERVED them, and what’s more he has LED them in every way, and here they are staring really, into the complete unknown. 

I think it’s pretty clear they don’t really understand what is actually about to happen. Even though he has told them the truth, that one of them will betray him, that he will die, that things are about to change, they don’t really get it do it.

and on top of that Jerusalem is hardly a stable place at this time, there is so much unrest, concern over the governing forces, people fighting back against it,  and to be honest Jesus has really been adding to that, hasn’t he and yet now, he’s told them he will be leaving them.

So we start our passage today with Jesus saying don’t worry!

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 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? 3 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 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’? 10 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. 11 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. 12 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. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

COMFORTING THEM:

So this passage is abut Jesus comforting them, reassuring them. Here he says to them, don’t worry! I think that maybe he sensed the atmosphere in the room. You know sometimes  you can be in that situation, maybe excited about something or engrossed in talking about it when you look up and have a moment of realisation that maybe people haven’t understood you, or people look concerned. Perhaps thats what happens here because he seems to change tack doesn’t he, from the previous Chapter were he’s telling them the truth of what is going to happen, to now reassuring them.  He says:

do not let your hearts be troubled’  trust in God. My Fathers house has many rooms… you know the way…

and yet we still we see them almost answering him back almost, ‘but how we can know the way?” what do you mean?  show us the Father..

LEARNING FROM DISCIPLES

Clearly still much confusion amongst the disciples. I love the disciples, they are there with Jesus. Actually with him, they are seeing him first hand performing miracles, they themselves are performing miracles and yet they just don’t always get it. Sometimes they come across like these amazing characters for leaving everything and following Jesus, such an example, and other times they just seem a bit dense, don’t they! 

But they are just like us, even though they were physically with him. We learn from Jesus just as they did, sometimes we walk in amazing confidence and other times we are a bit slow aren’t we? we forget, we doubt, we misunderstand. I just love the disciples, and I love the fact that the bible shows us that they got it wrong sometimes, well quite a lot, because we can learn so much from them can’t we?

FOCUS:

But I really want to focus on one line from this passage today. It contains one of the most often quoted lines of scripture:

‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’.

such an often quoted line. And it can seem so simple can’t it, but yet to the disciples it’s not enough! 

I love that little conversation between Thomas and Jesus: Thomas says: ‘but how can we know the way?’ Jesus is like ‘ ‘hello’ its me, I, me, standing right in front of you. I AM the way!… and not just the way but the truth, and the life too…

SO DO WE GET THIS?!

what does it mean that Jesus is ‘THE way’, the only way to the Father?

Well to start it’s probably one of the most defining arguments for the importance of Jesus isn’t it? He says, No one comes to the Father, except through me.

PEOPLE SAY:

So often people who don’t know Jesus will say, well there’s many ways to God, or My God is in nature, or My God is in energy, or well, I believe God can be reached through all faiths… there’s lots of things people say aren’t there? But. NO! The bible says right here that the only way to God, to the Father is through the son – Jesus. 

Some of the staff went to HTB leadership conference recently and one of the speakers, PATRICK LENCIONI talked about this in relation to our current society, he talked about the concept of moral relativism, which is a really interesting concept if you have time to read up on it or listen to his talk via the HTB website, but he was talking about how in our society people invent God in their own image, rather than the other way around and how dangerous that is, because we have no authority or governing morals if you like, except the ones we have invented. Like you make up your own God, to guide you in your own life you have chosen for yourself.

Well for us, it’s quite clear here isn’t it – Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father.So we know that you cannot get to heaven, you cannot get to the Father, except through Jesus. 

HARD TO TAKE IN…

And that can be quite hard to take on sometimes can’t it?. So often people say ‘well I think I’ve lived a good life, I’ve done my bit for charity, or I’ve done right by people, or I’ve not done anything wrong, I think I’ll get to heaven, but the bible says otherwise and that’s really hard to actually deal with.

loved ones who aren’t saved? perhaps we even know of people who have passed away who, as far as you know did not know Jesus. 

We don’t really want to have to face that do we? It’s not a nice thing to have to consider, what if they didn’t know him. And of course there is so much we don’t know. People can make decisions on their deathbeds we might not know about – the bible says the Kingdom of heaven is for everyone whether they sign up at the beginning or at the very end – parable of working in the fields and they all get paid the same. truth is, we won’t know for sure what exactly happens when we die, but we can be sure of our salvation in Jesus.

It’s a tough one, but the bible is pretty clear about the way to get there, and I don’t think we should shy away from it. 

and in one way it’s a very simple thing to follow – Jesus is the way to the Father so we follow him. But actually what does that actually mean?

THE WAY

The word ‘way’ has so many different meanings.  

I love words and text, fonts etc I guess I’m a bit of a geek like that, you know I love where words are derived from, meaning, translation, etc. I love a good thesaurus! So in this context we automatically assume we know what it means to say “Jesus is the way”, he’s the route we follow, the route/way to the Father. 

But have you ever thought about how many ‘ways’ you can use the word way? and I want to look at some of those further because I think that little word “way” means so much more than we give it credit…

For example:

A road, route: highway/freeway/railway

An opening: a doorway

Opportunity to Advance: the way to proceed…

Behaviour/conduct: his way of doing things.

Freedom to do as one wishes: if I had my way… how often do we say that!

State or condition – John’s in a bad way…

that’s just a few…!

ALL AREAS:

If we are to follow Jesus as the way to the Father, that means in all areas of our lives… all consuming, in all ‘ways’, it’s not just a simple journey from A to B.

So lets look at a few of those meanings to expand that a bit further…

Way: Road/path

We are travelers on a journey, there’s no doubt about it. But on a journey in our daily lives, a trip is rarely just about going from place A to place B is it? There is preparation, how are we traveling, in what mode of transport? how long is the journey,  etc. So there is preparation and research , if it’s  along journey. And if it’s a long journey (which our journey the Father probably is!)  there might be things to do on the way. Stops to make, people you come into contact with, food to eat. Things happen on a journey. We see new things etc

And there are ‘ways’ to make a journey. You can choose to get a sleeper train and sleep through your trip, arriving in your destination as you wake up. But you’ve missed all there is to see and do on the way. A journey is an opportunity isn’t it?

Way: An opening/ eg. a doorway, the way in,  so Jesus is the road, the path we follow but he’s also the doorway, in fact the bible talks about exactly that – Rev 3:20

 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

that means so much more than us just opening the door to Jesus, it means literally inviting him into our lives, being fed by him, spending time with him.

Just think for a minute how often in your day you go through a doorway. It must be hundreds, right?  I don’t want to be silly about this but for example: to get into this hall today you have gone through at least 4 sets of doors. If you went to the loo that’s about 8 (2 doors in and out!) if you’ve taken the kids out add on 4 more.

So imagine those doors as opportunities that Jesus is giving us. Does Jesus act like a doorway to us as often as that? He is the entry point to so many situations

Way: An opportunity to advance: the way to proceed or the way is clear to proceed

Jesus should be our way to proceed ahead. Are we proceeding in our faith or stagnating? Are we sitting here waiting for God to do something, waiting for him to talk to us? or are we proceeding in Jesus, moving forward.

It’s so easy to go through the motions isn’t it? Your car engine can be running, you can even put your foot on the accelerator and make the engine race, but you can’t move forward unless you put it into gear and take off the break. Are you just sitting on the driveway waiting for a tow?

Way: as Behaviour or conduct: we might talk about ‘that’s his way of doing things’ or that’s just her way, that’s what she’s like.

So, is our ‘way of doing things’ Jesus’ way? Jesus is the way…. Can we say we conduct ourselves in the way he did? Of course that is the goal isn’t it? to be more like Jesus every day? and yes I’m sure we all fail, well in my case daily sometimes! but we try don’t we? try to be like Jesus. the old phrase WWJD? What would Jesus do? cliche maybe but perhaps we should ask ourselves that more often?

Way as Freedom: eg ‘if I had my way….’

Come on how many of have said that, well if I had my way, they’d drop the price of those, or if I had my way you’d be in detention, if I had my way those curtains would be blue…

We get that freedom in Christ. It’s not if I had my way, but if I had Christ’s way… and there’s no if about it! 

Is our WAY of life, all encompassing. are all aspects of out life lived out in a ‘way’ for Jesus ?? IS HE OUR WAY?

———-

The Way to the Father. So when Jesus talks about the way to the father, it’s not just a simple journey, it is every aspect of that journey. The sights we see on the way, the way we drive. or walk, or travel. It’s the smells, it’s the flat tyre or the late train, it’s the filling up with fuel, the stop for lunch, it’s our traveling companions and the people we meet on the way.

So if we take all of this on board, when we look at Jesus, all of him, everything he does, the way he does things as our guide, then when he talks of the destination, OF THE FATHER it seems clearer doesn’t it? Because actually it’s not just about the destination, it’s about how we get there too. And in the journey we see the destination, its signposted all the way. As Jesus says, in him we see the Father.

So often when people talk about taking a significant journey, or possibly a pilgrimage, they say things like, well it turned out it was all about the journey  or that the destination is in the journey…

The disciples ask to see the Father – the destination if you like – and Jesus says  I am in the Father and the Father is in me…. the destination is there and apparent in the journey.

is this making sense? 

CONTINUING HIS WORK…

and I think JESUS makes it even more clear because he tells the disciples they need to continue what he has been doing – he says, they will do even greater things, because he is going to the father. Their journey, their way is not yet done…

The Message version puts it like this:

The person who trusts me will not only do what I’m doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, am giving you the same work to do that I’ve been doing. You can count on it…

So because he is going away, he’s reached the destination if you like, he’s giving us the work to do that still needs to be done. The same work he has done. So we are doing all that Jesus has done and would have done – his work continues through us. 

So actually he’s saying we have a job to do on our journey. We are not just traveling on this road to a destination we have stuff to do on the way. we’re not starting in Brighton and following the A23, the M23, the M25, then the M1 and to get t our destination as quick as we can. No we’re going to stop on the way, see the sights, work a little, have a bite to eat…. And it takes time. we don’t get from Brighton to Glasgow in 5 minutes….

JOB SCENARIO…

It’s a bit like this… you get a new job. The person who did your job before you was the son of the Boss, the guy who set up the company, right? But the son has now gone to be on the board of directors with his Father. So he doesn’t do the daily work, he has delegated that to you, and trained you in how to do it, in your job, which you took over from him. 

Now it happens that you’re not the only one doing that job there are actually lots of people in the same position, with the same role but each one has slightly different job descriptions. does that make sense? And you know that one day, the option is there for you to be on the board too with the Boss and his son. So how are you doing in your job? what is your job description? How are you making your way along the road?

PILGRIMAGE:

I’ve been reading this week about a pilgrimage that many people take along the Camino de Santiago in Spain (or The way of St. James). During Medieval times it was one of the most significant christian pilgrimages that could be undertaken. It’s a passage some 800km long across France and Spain to the church of Santiago de Compostela where it is believed that St James is buried.

Thousands of pilgrims make this journey every year, some traveling longer portions of it than others. People take the journey for all sorts of reasons, spiritually, personal health, marriage problems, mid life crisis etc etc

They say everyone is seeking something on their journey whatever their reason for undertaking it. Well for us, OUR pilgrimage is seeking Jesus in all we do, not just as a destination, but as the journey, as the pilgrimage.

On the camino people say to each other ‘buen camino’, which i a literal translation means ‘good road’, but we would probably say ‘have a good journey’ . But on the camino it means so much more, it’s a greeting, locals say it to pilgrims passing through, it’s an encouragement to those struggling ‘buen camino’ keep going, be encouraged, it’s an invitation, to undertake all the journey has for the traveller, it’s a prayer, be blessed on your journey, it’s so much more than just have a nice trip!

And just like that there is so much more to following Jesus as our way than just having a good journey…

Every aspect of the journey is revealing the destination, both to us and through us.

So I guess I want to encourage you all today to have a ‘buen camino’ and whether you are right at the beginning, half way through and weary or maybe even nearing the end of your journey, don’t waste a moment or an opportunity. Live it all with Jesus as the way…