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"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how you can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."
- John 14:1-14
On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught, "Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,' so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." Peter said to Him, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake." Jesus answered him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times."
"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 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 to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know." My study bible says that "many mansions is a word-picture of an abundance of living accommodations around a central courtyard. Mansions also speak of the multitude of blessings that await those who enter the Kingdom of God." He's speaking to His disciples here, giving them His parting words in His worldly ministry. The word translated as "mansions" -- as my study bible has indicated -- also speaks of individual dwellings or rooms, also translated as "abode" or "home" several verses later ("We will come unto him and make our above with him" - John 14:23, KJV).
Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Of I am the way, the truth, and the life, my study bible tells us that the way to reach the Father is forever established in both the Person and the work of the Son. Christ (the Son) is the truth because He is the unique revelation of the Father. He is the life who became Man so that we may have life -- and because He is our life, not even death can hinder us from coming to Him! My study bible says, "Only in Christ can one come to know the Father, for only in Christ is the way of all truth and all life found." His clear statement here is that in Him we have a revelation of the Father.
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how you can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" A comment in my study bible tells us that our response to Christ determines our relationship with the Father. If we reject Christ then we will never find the Father; but if we believe in Christ and follow Him, then we ourselves will become "children of God," living eternally in the love of the Father (see John 1:12). But again, the emphasis here is that Christ is the revelation of the Father. We are not only given the Son in this living ministry; we are given the Father.
"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." My study bible says that "while human beings are made in God's image (Genesis 1:26), the Incarnate Son is Himself the exact image of the Father (Colossians 1:15)." It tells us that Christ did not say, "I am the Father," for He is not. "Rather, He declares that He and the Father are one in essence and undivided in nature while being distinct Persons in the Godhead."
"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." A note says that the greater works Jesus refers to indicate that Christ's working through human beings after Pentecost is greater than His direct performance of signs and wonders in His worldly ministry. It says, "These works, attested to in the book of Acts, include spreading the gospel throughout the world, miraculous healings, and raising the dead." I think also we cannot exclude the power of faith that works in those who "haven't seen Him" in the flesh, and yet serve in unique ways to spread His light into the world -- the work of the Spirit in us is infinite and boundless, with capabilities as myriad as the human beings who may follow in all the centuries after Christ's earthly ministry.
"And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." My study bible says that to pray in Christ's name doesn't mean to just attach the phrase "in Jesus' name we pray" to the end of prayers. To pray in Christ's name means to pray according to His will. It says, "Just as an emissary of a king can only be said to be speaking in the king's name if he says what the king would want him to say, so also we can only be praying in the name of Christ when we pray according to what He wants. The purpose here is not to get God to do our will, but for us to learn to pray properly, according to God's will (Matthew 6:10)."
We read many interesting things in today's passage, important statements of theology, of our faith, that we put all our stock into. If we've seen Christ, we've seen the Father. He is a revelation of God the Father; His living ministry is expressing the Father in the world. He remains the Son, but His works are done with the power of the Father, and the words He teaches are the words given by the Father. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And He will join His Father where "many mansions" are prepared that we may dwell with them. Everything is so that "where I am, there you may be also." "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." Every verse in today's reading becomes an essential part of the faith of the Body of Christ, the Church. Each one is important and powerful. But overall there is one message here that rings through every phrase, and that is a message of love. Jesus says, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me." It is a statement about identity, but much, much more; it's a statement about relationship, and the depth of bond between Son and Father. But it's not just a lofty declaration that Jesus is making here to hammer a point home about His position in the universe as Son! This statement is made for the benefit of the disciples and those who will follow in faith. It is made not so that we understand only that the Son and Father are deeply entwined so that we see one in the other, via His earthly ministry. It is a statement about our inclusion in this relationship, that Father and Son are also deeply concerned with us, our future, our welfare, our understanding, our own enlightenment, illumination. He goes to prepare a place for us. And this word translated as mansion, dwelling, abode, home -- it's a word that tells us there are places for each one of us. This isn't a collective "home" -- it's a home with multiple individual permanent places for each one of us in it. The Body of Christ isn't just a group; it's a structure of love. It's a community of inter-relatedness that is determined by God who is love: by the One who teaches the inseparability of each Person -- and each person. And that's where we really start if we're going to understand Christ and what He's teaching. The words of revelation here are astounding. They are enough so that He will be called a blasphemer and sentenced to death by the Sanhedrin, given over to Pilate on trumped up charges of declaring Himself king with a sort of empire to build in a worldly sense. But these inflammatory, amazing words are given to us with one full theme that runs through all of them, and it's a theme of total love, and inclusion. It's a theme that says to us that we're not separate from God, either -- that through Him we are also inextricably linked with the Father (as we will be with Spirit), that we are held in a bond of love that goes through and in everything, if we but have the faith to which He calls us. That's what we take home with us, even if we can't conceptualize what it is to be God the Father or the Son, or we haven't seen the many mansions of heaven, or we don't know ultimately all truth, or all ways, or the greatest heights of what it is to have life. We are with Him, we are with the Father -- and in tomorrow's reading He will teach us that the two of them (Father and Son) may make their abode in us. How truly awe-some can that possibly be? Let us consider that we are not alone in our faith, that our faith connects us in and through everything. Let us look to His words, to the light, to the revelation of the Father as the loving Person Jesus is in His ministry. He came for each one of us, and we must consider the abode He offers, in a great mansion among those who know love.
