Jesus: The Way That Never Leads Us Astray

Finding Our Way

When you travel somewhere, how do you find where you have to go? I like to study maps. I like to see the route and get an estimate of how far it is and how long it will take. These days, when we hop in the car, we program our sat nav and off we go.

But you can't always trust the sat nav to get you to the correct place. Once when we were in Western Australia, our sat nav wanted to take us in the opposite direction from where we thought we should be going. Then we noticed the distance was several thousand kilometers away — it was sending us to a place with the same name, but in Queensland!

In the UK, you can just type in a postcode and it should take you to within a couple of houses of where you want to go. But again, this too can sometimes send you somewhere else. There is a glitch in the system. You can't blindly follow where the sat nav takes you. Many people have turned onto railway tracks or the wrong way down a one-way street following a sat nav, but not actually watching where they were turning.

I always want to have an idea of where I am going before setting out.

Troubled Hearts at the Passover Table

Our reading from John 14 is titled "Jesus the Way to the Father." Jesus starts out with these words:

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me."

Why were they troubled? They were all together sharing the Passover, but they all knew the great risk that Jesus was taking coming to Jerusalem. Jesus had spoken often about his coming death, and now they were here in the city. Even at the meal, Jesus was saying and doing strange things. He had washed their feet — this was uncertain and unexpected. He predicted that one of them would betray him, and they all looked at each other suspiciously. Then he predicted that Peter would deny him three times.

The atmosphere in the room would have been very unsettling. But Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled." How could they just relax and enjoy their meal together?

Many Dwelling Places

Jesus went on to say, "In my Father's house there are many dwelling places," and that he was going to prepare a place for them, and that he would come again and take them to be with him. Jesus had often spoken about the kingdom of God, but talk of going away and dwelling places was all new. I'm sure they could not understand what he was saying.

Then Jesus said, "And you know the way to the place where I'm going." Hang on — he had only just told them he was going. How could they know where he was headed?

And that's exactly what Thomas said: "Lord, we don't know where you're going. How can we know the way?"

The disciples were thinking of an earthly place, somewhere they could travel to by walking. If we're going somewhere, we need an address or some place we can search for on Google or program into our sat nav. But here, they had no idea where Jesus was going or how they could get there.

Jesus Is the Way

Jesus answered:

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Jesus is our sat nav. But unlike my sat nav at home, Jesus already knows the way and won't send us in the wrong direction.

Show Us the Father

Philip then said, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." The disciples had lived and traveled with Jesus for three years. They had got to know him fairly well. Yet some of the things Jesus said and did surprised them — and possibly shocked them at times. Jesus was so different from other people. He frequently went off by himself to be in prayer. He had a special relationship with God and even called him Father. He cared for all people and gave so much of himself in helping those in need.

This was the Jesus they knew. But suddenly Jesus says, "If you see me, you also see the Father."

I'm sure the disciples had a different picture of God — a picture of someone unapproachable, someone demanding sacrifices. But now Jesus was saying, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." How could the God they knew of be like Jesus? This was something very confusing to them.

And Jesus went on:

"How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. But if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves."

The Face of God

Jesus was different from anyone they had ever met. He was special. His life was all about love — the love of God. They had to learn that the concept of God they held was wrong, and that Jesus was in fact the face of God to them. They loved Jesus, and as such, they could love God.

Jesus had been with them for about three years. He taught them and guided them and loved them. But now he was preparing to leave them, and he promised to always be with them and lead them in the way of God.

Jesus will always be our sat nav as we pass through this life and onto the next. Amen.