I am the way, the truth, and the life

 "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 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 Wednesday, we read the words Jesus said at the Passover Feast, just after He met the Greek-speaking inquirers who'd come to Jerusalem for the festival:  "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heart it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.   The lectionary skips over John 12:37-13:38.  In these verses we are told that despite the hostility to Him by the rulers of the Council, nevertheless many in the Council did believe in Him.  He and the disciples prepare what is called the Last Supper, at which Jesus washes the disciples' feet in an act of deep humility which teaches them His leadership.  He also identifies Judas as His betrayer.  He teaches the disciples, "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."  And He tells Peter, in the face of Peter's statements that he will lay down His life for Christ, that he will betray Him three times before the rooster crows. 

 "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."  Jesus continues with His great sermon to the apostles at the Last Supper.  My study bible says that many mansions is a word-picture of an abundance of living accommodations around a central courtyard.  Mansions also addresses the great multitude of blessings that await those who enter the Kingdom of God.  Once again, as noted frequently throughout John's Gospel, Jesus' words aren't mere promises.  They are couched in the language of love, connection, communion.  He will be the One to receive them to Himself; where He is, we may be also.  And they are prepared already:  where He goes, they know -- and the way they 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."   I am the way, the truth, and the life:   Here is the crowning statement of how Jesus defines Himself for us.  As Christ, He establishes the way to reach the Father in His Person and work as Son.  My study bible says that the Son is the truth because He is the unique revelation of the Father.  Christ is the life who became Man so that we might have life, and because He is our life, then not even death can hinder us from coming to Him.  Only in Christ can one come to know the Father, my study bible tells us, because only in Christ is the way of all truth and all life found.

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 can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"  This statement, He who has seen Me has seen the Father, teaches us that our response to Christ determines our relationship with the Father.  His words convey that if we reject Christ then we will not find the Father; if we believe in Him and follow Him, then we will become "children of God" through participation and adoption, living eternally in the love of the Father (1:12). 

"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 tells us 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).  Christ doesn't say, "I am the Father," for He is another Person.  He declares instead that He and the Father are one in essence and undivided in nature, although they are distinct Persons of the Godhead.  Again, this isn't a dry sort of theoretical statement, but a statement of love and communion at its greatest possible depth -- extending to the works themselves that He has done.  This is the relationship into which He invites us also as disciples and followers.

"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."  Jesus names greater works here.  In the understanding of the Church, these greater works are those performed because Christ works through human beings after Pentecost -- and those works are greater than His performing signs and wonders directly.  Those works, which are attested to in the book of Acts, my study bible reminds us, include spreading the gospel throughout the world, miraculous healings, and raising the dead.

"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."  Praying in Jesus' names is not simply attaching the phrase "in Jesus' name we pray" to the end of prayers.  Instead, to pray in Jesus name means that we pray according to His will.  His name is an extension of His Person.  As my study bible puts it, 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 are we only praying in the name of Christ when we pray according to what He wants.  The purpose here isn't to get God to do our will, but rather for us to learn to pray properly, according to God's will (Matthew 6:10). 

Jesus gives His last teachings to the disciples at the Last Supper.  He teaches about the unity of Father and Son, about the works that He has done as revelation of the Father in the world.  But there are greater works that will come, after Pentecost, and the sending of the Holy Spirit.  This Third Person of the Trinity, about which Jesus will speak further in tomorrow's reading, adds yet another level of depth to the love in which Jesus couches all of His teachings about His identity, His union with the Father, and His teachings to His disciples and followers.  It compounds the sense in which we are to abide in Him as He abides in us.  Through the Third Person, the Holy Spirit or Paraclete, even greater works than He has done Himself will be revealed through His followers.  This statement reminds us of the teaching given to St. Paul, when he felt his prayers had failed to alleviate an affliction.  In prayer, St. Paul received this word:  "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  And "therefore," says St. Paul, "most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).  The power of God to work through perceived "weakness" is somehow the great power of love at work as well.  One can't help but feel that the extension of "greater works" doesn't only include those tremendous things we've read about, but also the very fact of God's work through our own infirmity, as St. Paul writes to us.  Jesus' teachings throughout the Gospels include His deep care of the "little ones," those who are dependent upon leaders and others for their care and "upbringing," so to speak, in the true teachings of the Church, in the spirit and love of God that Jesus has revealed and given to us.  These teachings and concerns run all through Jesus' many sermons and many works.  That God the Father should be revealed to us through the Son is already the sign of God's great love for us, coming to we who are so limited and tiny by comparison, in all dimensions.  And yet, God does not merely come to us, but asks that we abide in Him and He in us, in the depth of love and communion, the deepest bond possible.  This bond grows exponentially through the revelation of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and through the greater works to come, those like the words of St. Paul, teaching us that God's grace works through our infirmities, so much so that he will boast in them, so that Christ's power will rest upon him.  With this understanding, we must come to look at ourselves and the world through different eyes than the sense of competition and survival gives us.  We must understand that as His followers we strive to live and dwell with Him, and He with us, all the time -- drawing on that love to teach us what is what, and how we need to see our lives and our own works and what opportunities for love there are.  That is the teaching we take with us, the life He gives us, just as there was life in the tomb.