The Gospel of John chapters 13-17 are particularly close to my heart. I have wondered what it would have been like to be in that room, at that table, and to have heard what Jesus was telling the disciples and to have seen what Jesus did.

Because I have the luxury of moving back and forth in scripture, reading about what took place in the past and knowing what is coming next, it is easy to forget that the disciples lived only in the moment. Also that, theirs was an oral society, so it would be easy to forget some of what Jesus said and did during the three years they followed him around Galilee and the surrounding countryside.

From John 13:1-14:3, we see Jesus doing an unexpected thing, telling his disciples some hard to understand things. Picking up at John 14:4, Jesus says, “You know the way to where I am going.”

“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where You’re going. How can we know the way? ” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”

“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own. The Father who lives in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves. John 14:4-11 HCSB (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Jesus reminded Philip and the other disciples there of times when he had spoken of and to his Father. Below are three familiar incidents that would much later be remembered and written for us to read.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21 NIV

At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was Your good pleasure.”

“All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal Him.” Matthew 11:25-27 NIV

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
Matthew 16:15-17

Question: What do you think the word, “way” means? For Thomas it meant: What road are we taking to get to where you haven’t told us yet?

  • Take some time to think about what it means that Jesus is the “way”.
  • Also, think about what it means that “Jesus is In the Father and the Father is in him”