John 14:1-6
Do not let your heart be troubled
John 14:1-6
“Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be where I am. 4 You know where I am going, and you know the way.”
5 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going,” Thomas replied, “so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
Dear Peace-filled Believers,
Jesus speaks these words while in the upper room on the night He was betrayed. He told His disciples that He would be with them only a little while longer, and that where He is going, they cannot come (at least not yet). It is little wonder the disciples were troubled. It is as though the ground was shifting beneath their feet.
Who of us has not felt similar anxiety and troubled hearts, where we feel as if our world has been turned upside down? Perhaps it is the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, or long-term illness. Maybe right now you are feeling that sense of uncertainty and anxiousness that goes with it. The future we thought we could count is no longer so certain. We wonder what is going to happen next.
Jesus responds to the anxiety of his disciples by saying, “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me”. Jesus calls them back to the basics; to their faith in God and in Him; in other words, to trust – to trust in the Lord’s love and care for them, His followers. Jesus reminds the disciples that He is not abandoning them. Rather, He is returning to his Father, which ultimately is good news. He is returning in order to prepare a place for His followers so that we will be with Him and dwell with Him with the Father forever.
What a blessing to know that God has prepared and, in a sense, continues to prepare a place for us. Even though–we may not have all the answers to our questions about the immediate future. We may have to contend with the unexpected. We may be confronted with the uncertain. We know the answer to the most important question of all – God is in control and is working to prepare our lives to be lived with Him and for Him now and for eternity because He loves us.
When Jesus said to the disciples that they know the way to the place where He is going, I am sure that Thomas spoke for all the disciples when He asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Thomas was thinking that if He was to be with Jesus, then, somehow, he had to walk the way Jesus walked. He did not understand that Jesus would do the walking for him.
Our natural instinct is to believe that we can and must find the way to the Lord ourselves – that we may even need to make a way ourselves. Satan and the world encourage that false thinking. Then there are those who teach that there are many ways to eternal life, and they are all just as good. The world wants us to believe that one religion is just as good as another.
The world’s view is exactly the opposite of what Jesus told His disciples. Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. The only one who can take us to the Father’s house is the Son who comes from that house and Jesus Christ is that Son. He is the way to the Father. He is the truth that keeps us on that way. He is the life that is the destination of that way.
Without Jesus there is no way to the Father. Without Jesus there is no saving truth. Without Jesus there is no spiritual life. Jesus is not just one of many ways to the Father. He is the only way to the Father. He is the beginning, middle, and destination of our faith. Any religion that is not based on the person and work of Jesus Christ is false and leads to eternal destruction.
Ultimately this statement by Jesus is a loving promise, a word of comfort to His disciples and to you and me. Jesus is reminding us that He Himself is all we need; there is no need to panic, no need to search for another way, no other truth to be discovered. We have the way. We know the truth. We have life. We have Christ! It was given to us through faith by the means of grace. Our hearts are not troubled but are at peace because we have Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
Children of the Heavenly Father
(CW#449)
- Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given. - God His own doth tend and nourish;
In His holy courts they flourish;
From all evil things He spares them;
In His mighty arms He bears them. - Neither life nor death shall ever
From the Lord His children sever;
Unto them His grace He showeth,
And their sorrows all He knoweth. - Though He giveth or He taketh,
God His children ne’er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely
To preserve them pure and holy.
