“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 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?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. You know the way to the place where I am going.”

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

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

John 14:1-7

This particular text is one of the most beloved in all of the Scriptures, full of love, hope and reassurance, containing some of the most memorable phrases in the Bible, and indeed in all of literature.  In the discussions that have come before it, there has been a challenge in the example Jesus set when He washed the disciples’ feet.  There has been a betrayal and predictions of Jesus’ death and then of Peter’s denial of Jesus.  Now, Jesus seeks to comfort the  disciples and to help them begin to understand that the events which would soon follow are nothing less than God’s Eternal Plan coming to its climax.

Verse 1 is the transitional verse that takes us from the tension and distress of the latter part of chapter 13 into a new topic.  Jesus is telling the disciples to take heart because He is not going to forsake them, even though He must be returning to the Father.  The key phrase here is “believe in God; believe also in me.”  It is key because it is phrased not as a suggestion or as advice but as an imperative: Believe!

Then, in verses 2-4Jesus uses the illustration of the Father’s house to tell them that His leaving is to serve the purpose of preparing their place in God’s “house”.  He uses an interesting method to tell them that He will return for them in due course so that where “I am” you also will be.  This is a clear play on the words “I am” and it indicates that upon His return there will be some amount of sharing His “I am-ness” with His disciples.

Having left off in verse 4 by telling them that they know the way to where He is going, He now responds to the insistence of Thomas that they don’t even know the where, much less the how…Jesus, with evident patience, tells them again what He has been telling them for a long time: He is the Way, you can only come to the Father through Jesus Himself.  He is the Truth; you can know no other truth, for no other truth is genuine.  He is the Life, for there is no other life that is eternal. He expands on this in verse 7 by pointing out to them that He and the Father are one.  If we want to know the Father, we will see Him revealed in His Son.  If we want to see the Father, we will see Him in His Son.

These verses comprise the opening of Jesus’ final discourse with His disciples at the Last Supper. A great deal will take place very shortly, culminating in His death on the cross. At the time, it would have been difficult for those disciples to put the pieces together to fully understand all that Jesus had told them about this time, and the eternal significance of those events. Yet for us, in looking back at those momentous events, it becomes clear that as traumatic as those days undoubtedly were for the disciples, they were not a time of loss, but a time of glorious victory, in which they had gained everything.

And so, it is for us today.

We are here on Saturday, waiting for our celebration of the Resurrection on Sunday. As we do so, we should remember that the victory is already won, and tomorrow, the Third Day, the Lord’s Day…Resurrection Sunday, will see the confirmation of everything that God has accomplished for us through His Son Jesus. Even more, as sure as the sun will rise on Sunday, Jesus arose from the grave all those years ago, and as surely as He rose, we will rise also from the grave on the Last Day.

Great days indeed!