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John 14:1-14: The Way and the Truth and the Life

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 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? 3 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Exegesis, vv. 1-4

  • The disciples were troubled by Jesus’ words at the end of chapter 13, especially where He tells them He is “going away” where they can no longer follow Him (vv. 31-36).
  • Jesus’ words, here and throughout the discourse, are to comfort His disciples and prepare them for changes and hardships to come.
  • Jesus assures them that they have a place in “My Father’s house,” i.e. heaven (cf. Revelation 21:1-8). This is why He must go from them.
  • Jesus was prepared to go to the cross knowing the glory that was to follow. Similarly, His disciples were to be comforted by the glories that awaited them.

Jesus the Way to the Father

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

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 

Exegesis, vv. 6-10

  • Thomas, speaking for the disciples, was not clear on Jesus’ words- namely, where He was going and the way to get there (v. 5)
  • Jesus is the way (John 10:1, 7; Hebrews 10:19-25)
  • Jesus is the truth (John 1:14, 17; 3:21; 8:32; 18:37)
  • Jesus is the life (John 1:4; 5:21; 10:28; 11:35; 17:2-3)
  • No one can see or know the Father except through the Son (vv. 7-10, cf. Exodus 33:20; Matthew 11:25-27; John 1:18; 3:35-36; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 1:3)

The Works of Jesus

11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Exegesis, vv. 11-14

  • The disciples’ faith would be bolstered by the works they saw Jesus do.
  • Moreover, their faith (and ours) was to be strengthened when they would go on to do the same works as Jesus, and even greater!
  • Jesus’ name is now to be invoked in all prayer to God. It is only through the Son that we may approach the Father.

Application

  1. Jesus does not want us to live in a fantasy, but prepares us for cold hard reality, which can be troubling in the moment.
  2. Jesus also assures us His unfailing love and promises to comfort us.
  3. Jesus’ words in verse 6 declare that He is the only way to God. No other religion or religious leader, no one and nothing outside of Christ can give you peace with God. The Son is the perfect representation of the Father, and His Cross is the only means by which we must be saved.
  4. In context, Jesus wants His disciples to be able to go to God directly through Him. Jesus went to the Father so we can go to the Father!

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:19-23