The Way

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

THE WAY

John 14:1-7

14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. 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."  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 knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." 

NIV

It is unfortunate that Thomas has gotten a bad rap from so many. He has been labeled by some as the doubting Thomas. That all stems from the time after Jesus was resurrected and appeared to his disciples in a room, and Thomas missed it. We will get to all that later, but here Thomas is also the one who appears to not be able to get exactly what Jesus is talking about. Again, most likely he is thinking in his human mind about human things. It is difficult to comprehend the spiritual when he is so stuck in the physical. What kind of place is Jesus going to prepare for him? Where is Jesus going to go to prepare this place? If he is coming back for him, why would he need to know the way there? Where are all these rooms, if they are in His Father’s house? How can the Father, who has to be God, have a house with a lot of rooms? These might have been some of the thoughts of Thomas, as well as some people today. We have heard people say there are many paths to God. We cannot agree with that, but then it is also nearly impossible to convince them they are wrong. The question Thomas asked seemed to imply he was not sure what path was the right one. For years and years, the Jews felt the path to God was through the Law. Thomas has had the opportunity to be with Jesus for the last three or so years and at least knows him as Lord. Thomas may understand that Jesus is the Christ, but still thinking in terms that the Christ would come and rescue the Jews from their oppressors, in this case, the Romans. Jesus makes it clear that He is the way. He not only has the truth, He is the truth and He is the life. He is the road that leads to the Father. In order to get to God, in order to live in the truth, in order to have life, we must follow Jesus. He is the only way. There is no other way. Why would we ever want to explore other ways? Why would we want to make up conditions or rules in order to have one of those rooms in our Father’s house? We understand that in an effort to follow Jesus, some people think he placed those conditions on us for following him. If anything those conditions are in the attitude of our hearts, and not in complying with a list do’s and don’ts. Granted if some are in that mode of thinking, we who have the freedom to follow Jesus without making up those lists, should not be offensive to those who have the lists, although sometimes they offend us by insisting if are Christian, we would not do those things on their list. The point is salvation, not trying to live a perfect life, based on what we think the truth is. There are surely multiply opinions of what the truth is, but the fact remains, salvation is based on Jesus. If we want to have a room in the Father’s house, all we need is Jesus. We are saved by faith, not works, lest anyone boast. Do we try to live rightly? Absolutely! Do we want to live in a manner that pleases the Lord? Most assuredly! However, the only way to really please God is by accepting His Son as Lord and Savior. Jesus is the way, he is the road, the path, the only way to the Father. Nothing else counts. Nothing else will make a difference. Nothing else can get us there. No amount of right living, no amount of good deeds will make us holy and blameless in the sight of God, but Jesus does. It is not a matter of following him to the place he has prepared for us. It is only a matter of being in Him. He said he would come back and take us there, not lead us there. Jesus is the way.