Lord, open my heart to receive your Word. Amen. John 14:1-6 (NIV)
1“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.” 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.”
Jesus intends for these words to bring great comfort to His disciples as they begin to understand that he will soon be taken from them. He assures them that though he is going away, it will be for their benefit. He won’t forget them and he won’t abandon them.
These comforting words of Jesus are not only intended for the disciples they are also intended for us. It is one of the reasons that this passage is often read at Christian funerals. Reflecting on the use of this passage at funerals, the theologian N.T. Wright observes that, “in those hard times we can’t always see the way ahead, and we need to know not only that there is indeed a way into the unknown future, but that we will be able to find it.”
Like Thomas we want to be sure that we know the place and path were Jesus is headed. Jesus’ answer to Thomas is profound, grace-filled and assuring. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Walk with me, he says, let me dwell in you and with you and I will bring you to the Father.
For me it is a great joy knowing that Jesus not only came into my life and made me his own through the power of the Holy Spirit but also that he has secured a future for me when my life on earth is over. I celebrate the fact today that Jesus has prepared a place for me in the mansion of my heavenly Father and that one day I will live with Him there for all eternity.
The unmerited gift that God has given to me through the person and work of Jesus, empowers me to live as salt and light in today’s broken world as well as the strength and desire to help others know the Lord Jesus who alone is the way, the truth and the life.
Lord, thank you that you are the way the truth and the life. Thanks you that you have prepared a place in heaven for me. I long to be reunited with the Father who awaits my return. Help me to be faithful in doing the work you have called me do here on earth. Amen