Do You Know The Way?

John 14:1-14

This week’s Gospel passage from the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer is a very familiar one to most Christians, and contains some favorite verses that many have committed to memory.  They are verses of comfort, of doctrinal truth, and promise.  Let’s jump in and see what we can learn today.

Chapter 14 of the Gospel of John is part of a large discourse that Jesus gave to the disciples on the evening of the Last Supper, before He was betrayed and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.   John opens with the words of Jesus, ones that are often used at funerals of Christians, as they speak of a promise that Jesus gave us of the home He is preparing for us in His Kingdom (vs. 1-3).  God is preparing a special place for us in heaven.  He is preparing it Himself.  We are expected future residents of that wonderful home.  Our home here on earth might not be that pleasant.  The plumbing may leak, the floors uneven, the wiring antiquated.  However, the home that Jesus has gone to prepare for us is everything we could ever desire!  He is preparing it, and when it is the right time, He will come for us.  That is a promise we can count on!

Jesus then proceeds to tell us the way to where He is going, the way to eternal life (vs. 4-6).  If we follow wrong directions given on a GPS, we will not reach where we want to be.  Also, asking a person who really doesn’t know the way won’t help, either.  One must follow correct directions.  Finding the right path in life is important.  How can we know the way to God?  Jesus has told us, and shown us the only path that will bring us to the Father and heaven.  He is the Son of God.  He came from heaven.  He knows the way, and He has told us here.  Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the way.  People attempt other paths, but only one actually leads there, and He is it.

In this same passage Jesus, the second Person of the Trinity, shares with us that He is Truth (vs. 6).  He is true, as contrasted with false, and genuine, as contrasted with unreal.  Jesus is genuine, not a false god from false religions.  His Word is true, not lies.  There is no part of God that dwells in dishonesty or lies.  Jesus is the visible, tangible, image of God (vs. 9-11).  There are no attributes of deity that Jesus does not possess.  He is the complete revelation of what God is like.

Our passage concludes with Jesus instructing us about praying in His Name (vs. 12-14).  This promise that He gave us does not mean that any prayer request that we tack the words “in Jesus’ Name” at the end of will automatically be fulfilled.  Those words aren’t some magical formula.  First, we must be in proper fellowship with God.  We must be saved, and then walking in righteousness.  Our requests must also be consistent with Jesus’ character.  Also, our motives must be right.  Will our request glorify God?  Or is the motive selfish, greedy, or impure?

When Jesus said “in My Name”, it is like He said that we are to be His agents.  As disciples, we are to act as agents of God, or as His ambassadors.  We are to ask according to God’s character and will, not to fulfill our selfish desires.  Prayer should be on the basis of Jesus’ merits, not ours, and for the pursuit of His glory alone.  By recognizing Jesus’ authority as the Son of God, we can pray in His Name and have access to the Father.  We will want to do God’s will, and glorify Him.

Praying in Jesus’ Name means recognizing that Jesus paved the way for us to have access to the Father (Hebrews 4:16).  It means exercising the authority He has given the children of God and who are joint-heirs with Him (Romans 8:14-17).  When we understand our position, we can have confidence when we look to God.  Praying in Jesus’ Name signifies agreement with His will.  We ask as Jesus would in our position.

As I close, I ask you, is the object of your faith worthy of that faith?  We can have all the faith we can muster that if we jump off the Sears Tower we will fly, but our faith is misplaced, and we will fall to our death.  Our faith in how we get to heaven must be well-placed, and that can only be through faith in Jesus, not some other false god, false philosophy, or false religion.