John 14:1-14

Read John 14:1-14 Jesus tells the disciples that he is the way to the Father

Verses 1-3 Jesus urges the disciples to maintain their faith as he goes to prepare a place for them

The tone is somber as Jesus begins this discourse.  Jesus has announced that Judas will betray him and that Peter will deny him.  How do you think the disciples are feeling as Jesus begins to speak here?

In verse 1, Jesus says to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  In the second half of verse 1, he tells them how to do that.  What does he urge them to do?

The Greek verb Jesus uses in the second half of verse 1 can mean to “believe in,” “trust,” or “put your faith in” Jesus (Liddell and Scott, p. 641).  Which of those words best captures your attitude toward Jesus – that you believe in, trust, or put your faith in him – and why?

Jesus does not want his disciples to despair when he is crucified, and John does not want the Christians of his time to lose hope when they face persecution.  When Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” what does that say to you personally?

In verse 2, what does Jesus say about his Father’s house, and what does he say he is going to do?

What does Jesus promise in verse 3?

What do you think he is referring to when he refers to his “Father’s house” where there will be a “place” for us?

In verse 2, Jesus says that his Father’s house has many “dwelling places” or “rooms.”  The Greek word means a place to stay or abide.  What do you think Jesus means when he says that his Father’s house has many of these places?

What do you think it means when Jesus says he is going to prepare a place for us?  What preparation is needed?

In verse 3, Jesus says that he will come back and take us to himself, so that we will be where he is.  What does that mean?

Although Jesus’s reference to coming back certainly includes his eschatological return at the end of time, he also comes to us by his Spirit in many ways throughout our lives.  How do you experience his “coming” even as you live?

How does this promise from Jesus make you feel?

How does this promise make you want to respond?

What questions do verses 1-3 raise in your mind, and how do you think Jesus would answer those questions?

Verses 4-6 I am the way, the truth, and the life

In verse 4, Jesus tells them that where he is going, they know the way.  Thomas objects.  What does Thomas say in verse 5?

Do you think Thomas’s objection is valid?  Why or why not?

How does Jesus answer in verse 6?

What does it mean for you when Jesus says he is the “way”?  When he says he is the “truth”?  When he says he is the “life”?

When Jesus says he is the way, that means that I don’t choose the way; he does.  When he says he is the truth, that means I don’t choose what truth is; he does.  Acts of the Apostles frequently refers to the faith of the early church as “the way” (Acts 9:2; 19:9; 19:23; 22:4; 24:14; 24:22).  I am called to follow his way, not make my own way.  Similarly, I am called to embrace the truth he has revealed and live the life he offers.

Jesus is not just a prophet: he does not just tell us how to get to the Father.  He is not just a guide: he does not just show us the way to God .  He is the way.  In what ways is he the way, and the way to what?

How do you experience Jesus being the way and the truth and the life in your life?

In John 8:32, Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  How is truth essential to genuine freedom, and how do you experience freedom through the One who said, “I am the truth”?

Jesus adds in verse 6 that no one comes to the Father except through him.  What does that mean to you?

What do you think verse 6 means with regard to people who died before Jesus lived, or who were raised in another faith and never had a chance to know Jesus?  How might he provide the way for them?

Some people hear Jesus’s statement, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” and wonder whether Christ died for all people or only for those who ultimately live forever with God.  The Bible is clear that Christ died for all:

• In 2 Corinthians 5:14, Paul says that Christ died for all.

• In 1 John 2:2, John says that Jesus’s propitiation or expiation was not only for our sins but for the sins of the whole world.

• Hebrews 2:9 says that Christ tasted death for everyone.

• 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 Timothy 4:10; Titus 2:11; John 1:29; and Isaiah 53:6 provide similar statements indicating that Christ died for all.  (In Romans 8:20-23, Paul even suggests that the whole of creation, not just all humans, groan as it awaits redemption.)

These passages show that, although not everyone chooses to avail themselves of the offer to come to the Father, Jesus provides the way for everyone.

What do people need to do to avail themselves of the “way” to the Father that Christ provides?

Verses 7-11 You know me, so you know the Father and you know the way

In verse 7, Jesus first makes a conditional statement that is literally, “If you had known me, you would have known the Father,” or “If you have known me, you have known the Father.”  Since Jesus has made it possible to know the Father, he adds a declarative statement: “From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”  What does this mean?

How does verse 7 apply also to us?

Philip hears Jesus say that they have seen the Father.  He is not convinced that they actually have seen the Father, so in verse 8, he says, “Show us the Father, and it will be enough for us.”  What do you think Philip has in mind?  What does he hope to see, and how will it be “enough”?

In verse 7, Jesus indicates that because they know him, they know the Father.  In verse 9, he says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”  What does he mean when he says they have “seen” the Father?

Jesus elaborates in verse 10: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  What does this mean?

In verses 10 and 11, Jesus again points to his works as a sign that the Father is in him.  What has led you to believe that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus?

What do these verses say to you about your faith?

Verses 12-14 You will do greater things; ask anything of me in my name and I will do it

Different Bibles divide up the verses in different ways.  Verse 12 begins with “Amen, amen (or truly, truly), I say to you,” which might signal a transition a new point, and verse 13 begins with “And,” which might signal that it relates to verse 12.  Therefore, we will examine verses 12-14 as a unit.

In verse 12, Jesus first says that the people who believe in him will do the works that he does.  What works does Jesus do that his followers also do?

In the second half of verse 12, Jesus adds that those who believe in him (in Greek he uses the singular pronoun “he”) will do greater works than his works.  How can this be?  What works have followers of Jesus done, down through the centuries, that are greater than the works Jesus did while he was on the earth?

Jesus’s time on earth was limited to a short ministry of only a few years and in only a few places, one place at a time.  His followers have been able to spread the word of God, and show the love of God, to people all over the globe, for 2,000 years.  In this way, the members of the Body of Christ, working individually and together, have been able to do many things that Jesus, in his one human body in 3 years of public ministry, could not do.  Only Jesus could save us, but collectively, we can bring the good news of Jesus, in word and deed, to far more people.

What great work might God be calling you to do or to be a part of?

What do verses 13 and 14 say?

There are two conditions attached to what Jesus says in verses 13-14.  First, he says that whatever you ask, you must ask “in my name.”  What do you think Jesus means when he says we must ask in his name?  Is he just giving us a formula, some special words to say at the end our prayer in order to get what we want, or does it have a deeper meaning?  What does it mean, to ask in his name?

People sometimes turn these words into a formula, but Jesus did not encourage formulas in praying; he modeled praying for what would glorify the Father (see, for example, John 12:28; 17:1-5).  Therefore, to ask in Jesus’s name would be to ask only what Jesus would ask, to ask only for what would glorify the Father.

Consider some other uses of the phrase “in the name of”: Stop in the name of the law; I speak to you in the name of the king; the document was signed in the name of the mayor.  “In the name of” has a connotation of acting consistent with the character and authority of the person who has the real power.  If we desire to pray in Jesus’s name, how can we be sure that what we are asking for is consistent with his character and will?

How do you discern what the will of God is, so that your prayers are truly being made in Jesus’s name?

The second condition Jesus attaches to this statement is in verse 13, where Jesus says that he does what we ask “so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  This suggests that in order for Jesus to do what we ask in his name, it must be something that will glorify God.  How can we focus our prayers on what glorifies God?

Verses 13 and 14 have a direct connection to verse 12.  In verse 12, Jesus says that his followers will do greater works than he.  In verses 13-14, he says that whatever we ask in his name, he will do.  The only reason we can do “greater” works than Jesus did while he was on earth is because he has the power and works through us when we ask for and do things that are consistent with his name and that will bring glory to God.  How can we pray in a way that (1) recognizes that God is the source of all power but (2) also recognizes that God wants to do great things through us?

How might you adjust how you pray to better reflect what Jesus says here?

Take a step back and consider this:

In John 1:18, John says, “No one has ever seen God, [but] God the only Son . . . has made him known.”  In John 14:9, Jesus says that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father.

The apostle Paul spent a lot of time reflecting on the relationship between the Father and the Son.  In Colossians 1:15, Paul says that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God.”  In other words, if you want to know what God looks like, look at what Jesus looks like.

Of course, Paul is not talking about Jesus’s physical appearance as a human, although I imagine that Jesus might have had a winsome smile, a joyful laugh, and sometimes a twinkle in his eye as he told his parables.  Paul presumably had in mind more fundamental attributes that Jesus manifested, such as his loving heart, his wisdom, his self-sacrificing nature, the peace he exuded to those who were fearful, and so on.

Take a moment to picture Jesus, the real Jesus.  In what ways do you think he was the image of the invisible God?

We were made in the image of God.  Although our reflection of God’s image is not perfect, his goal is to restore us to his image.  Paul says that we, “gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18, NABRE).   What can you do to allow God to transform you into his image, so that when people see you, they see a visible image of the invisible God?