St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Fifth Sunday of Easter
John 14:1-14

As is often the case, this is a very rich Gospel passage. There are a number of things that a preacher could preach on for a very long time, but I will not go any longer than usual today. There is just so much in this passage, we only can handle a piece of it in one sermon. What I want to do today is focus on the first part of today’s Gospel lesson. The context of this lesson is, of course, very important to its interpretation. These words are part of what we call Jesus’ farewell discourse in the Gospel of John. We just talked in Sunday school about John being a little bit different from Matthew, Mark and Luke. One of those differences is that John gives a much more full account of Jesus’ last night with his disciples. He goes into much more detail about what Jesus taught his disciples that final night. We call that section of John’s Gospel the farewell discourse. This is a part of that discourse. Just keep in mind the context of this event. This is the final night that Jesus has with his disciples. He knows, and they know, that their lives are about to be turned upside down. Jesus knows what lies ahead for him. He knows that he will be betrayed. He knows he will be forcibly arrested. He knows that he will be crucified. And, he knows that the disciples don’t understand all of this. We have to remember when we interpret these Gospel passages that we have the benefit of two thousand years of hindsight. When we interpret these Gospel passages, we have two thousand years of church history to help us understand what is going on here.

That first night, the disciples did not have that. They were living these events as they were unfolding. And just imagine how frightened they must have been. Just imagine how anxious they must have been realizing something is changing. The Lord is really trying to teach us something here. So that is the context. Their whole lives are about to be turned upside down. Jesus knows this perfectly well. So he says to his disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” Let’s just think about the full import of these words. We could read those words, and just think on them, and think they sound nice, sound helpful, pastoral. Or, we can stop and really consider the full weight of what is being said here. In the midst of this impending chaos for the disciples, just imagine the chaos of the arrest, the betrayal in the garden. Imagine the disciples’ worry when Jesus is finally taken from them. Jesus knows all of this is happening. So, he says to them, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” Jesus is trying to lay the foundation here to help his disciples not lose their faith. In the midst of all the chaos, and all the confusion, and all the anxiety that is on the horizon, Jesus wants his disciples to remember who they are. They are his followers, and Jesus wants them not to lose their faith, but to remember that he, himself, is the Son of God. He goes on to say, “I am going to be taken from you, but I will come back for you, and we will go together.” What he is talking about, of course, is Heaven. His disciples don’t understand this; they don’t have two thousand years of hindsight like we do. They don’t have two thousand years of church history to help them understand this. So, they are confused when Jesus says, “I will come again and take you to the place where I am going.”

Thomas has the nerve to say, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” That is when Jesus says these very famous words, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” These words are some of the most controversial in all of the Gospels, and they can be looked at from a number of different points of view. I know that. I know that we can look at this text from a number of different standpoints. We can’t do all of that in one sermon.

What I want us to do for just one moment more is to think again about the context of what Jesus is doing here. In that room, on that night, with those disciples, when Thomas says, “We don’t know the way, Lord,” Jesus’ response is incredibly pastoral. It is incredibly compassionate. On that night, in that room with those disciples, his closest friends and followers, when Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know the way,” Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” Hear those words, I just simply ask you, in their immediate historical context. Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” And Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” What Jesus is saying to his immediate followers, his closest disciples, is, “Don’t lose your faith. I am who I have said I am. And, with me all will be well. I am the way to the Father.” He is saying to his disciples, “Hold on to your faith in the days ahead. Don’t let anxiety overwhelm you. I am who I have told you I am.” “In me you see the Father,” Jesus says a little bit later. He is saying to his disciples, “I am the way, don’t let these events overwhelm you. Don’t lose your path. Don’t lose your way in the days ahead. I am the way.” Just think about how compassionate those words are. Think about how reassured those disciples, at least in that moment, must have felt to hear those words so directly, so poignantly. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. You will get to God through me.” How comforting and strengthening those words would have been on that very fateful night!