In today’s Gospel Jesus tells His disciples He is going away, but that He is preparing a place for them and will come back and take them with Him. Thomas hears this and thinks, “…we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Thomas, the doubter, again wears his feelings on his sleeve. Jesus responds, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Now Phillip has the courage to speak up and asks Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus tells him, ‘if you know me, you know the Father. If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father in me.’ Now that’s pretty heavy stuff for His disciples to grasp. Let’s dig a little deeper.
When Jesus proclaims: “I am the Way,” He’s not simply giving advice or direction. He personally is “the way,” and we cannot miss it. He leads and guides us personally every day. Jesus also is the Truth. Lots of people can probably say, “I have taught you the truth.” Only Jesus can say, ‘I am the Truth.’ Moral truth cannot be expressed in words alone; it must be demonstrated by example. Jesus’ whole life on earth was a demonstration of truth. Jesus is the Life. He not only shows us the path of life (Psalm 16:11) but He also gives the kind of life only God can give—eternal life. What consolation we can draw as followers of Christ knowing the person we are following is the Way, the Truth and the Life! Yet we must recognize that, even as followers, and as much as we try to avoid it, we are all inevitably going to encounter troubles, difficulties, and sometimes more than we think we can handle! Jesus knew this and He knew His disciples would have to face adversity and trials after He left them to return to His Father. So He assured them that His departure was not only for their good, but also to secure a place for them in God’s house – a place of refuge, peace, and everlasting happiness. Jesus assured that safe passage not only for His apostles but also for us.
Despite the assurance, His apostles were anxious about Jesus’ leaving. So Jesus moves away from talk about going away and returning, to again asking them to trust (or believe). Trusting (believing) has been the common thread in the Gospel for the last several weeks. The conclusion, then, is if we do trust Jesus, when He says to us, “Amen, amen I say to you,” we surely must listen up. And here is the stunner of this passage: all the works that Jesus just encouraged His disciples to recall will be small potatoes compared to what we
will do. Jesus promises we “will do greater works than these.” And we know, Jesus promises His assistance, His support, His power through the coming of the Holy Spirit.