Context: This “I
am” statement, in our contemporary culture, is perhaps the most
confrontational. Jesus is making an exclusive claim regarding not only his
divinity (deity) but also the power that comes with that claim. John 14:6 falls
within the larger story of Passion/Holy Week which in John runs from chapters
13-19. John 14:6 also falls within a smaller pericope that begins at John 14:1
and extends through John 14:14. In chapter 13, which takes place on the same
night and in the same location as chapter 14, Jesus washed his disciples feet,
predicted that one of them would betray him, gave them a new commandment (the
love commandment) and then foretold Peter’s denial. This is the night of the Last
Supper; the night when Jesus would be arrested and brought to trial before the
high priest Caiaphas in chapter 18.
Study: Begin this
study of John 14:6 by reading out loud as a small group the entire pericope of
which it is a part, John 14:1-14.
John 14:1-5—It is
Jesus who is heading for the agony of the cross; it is Jesus who is deeply
“troubled” in heart (John 12:27) and spirit (John 13:21). Yet on this night of
nights, when of all times it would have been appropriate for Jesus’ followers
to lend him emotional and spiritual support, he is still the one who gives,
comforts, and instructs.[1]
Verse 1 tells us that Jesus’ disciples were troubled
which is the exact same Greek verb as used in two citations above. They are not
troubled because they are rushing toward pain, humiliation, shame, or
crucifixion—but because they are confused, uncertain of what Jesus is teaching
them, and are threatened by his references to his imminent departure. However
appropriate it may be to cite the words from verse 1, “Let not your hearts be troubled” at Christian funerals, they were
first addressed to disciples who were under substantial emotional pressure and
were on the blink of a spiritual and emotional catastrophic breakdown.
-What goes through your heart and mind when you read that
Jesus was ministering to his disciples during his time of great need rather
than them ministering to him?
-Does that impact your understanding of the heart of Christ
Jesus? If it does, how?
In these verses Jesus is clearly relating his words to what
he has just said to Peter at the close of chapter 13 (13:36-38). If Peter’s faith is about to shatter, will
the other disciples be more stable in their trust of Jesus? It’s no wonder that
the other eleven are upset!
How are the disciples to calm their fears at Jesus’ words?
They are to “Believe in God, believe also
in me.”[2]
Two questions come from this statement of Jesus: 1) If Jesus invariably speaks
the word of God and performs the acts of God (see John 5:19ff), should he not
be trusted like God? and 2) If Jesus tells his followers not to let their
hearts be troubled, must it not be because he has ample and justifiable
reasons?
John 14:2-3 reveal that Jesus is going away to prepare a
place for his disciples. He is going to his [3]
“many mansions”). The image that Jesus is revealing to his disciples is a place
of community/solidarity. Rather than thinking of heavenly reward as receiving a
private mansion—it’s probably more accurate to think of our heavenly home as a
place of supreme equality with one another—similar to a military barracks or
perhaps a college dormitory. We will all dwell together in perfect community,
nobody economically better off than anyone else, within the heavenly realm of
God.
How do we get to this new home? Jesus’ answer at verse 3 is
interesting. The term, “…I will take you
to myself…” in Greek has the connotation of being on a ladder—that is,
Jesus IS the stairway/ladder between heaven and earth (see Genesis 28:10-12 and
John 1:51!)
At verses 4-5 Jesus tells his disciples that they know the
way to where Jesus is going, but Thomas, honest and forthright as always,
declares, “Lord, we do not know where you
are going. How can we know the way?” This sets the stage for Jesus’ famous
“I am” statement at John 14:6.
Let’s recap through paraphrase regarding what has just
transpired in our reading:
Jesus:
You know the way; you do not need to know where it leads.
Thomas: If we do not know the
destination, how can we know the way?
In fact, Jesus has just explained the destination in verse
2-3 and advised them that they also know the way at verse 4. Thomas’ reply
seems to indicate that he, and the other disciples, have not fully come to
grips with what Jesus has said about the destination.
John 14:6-16—READ
together Jesus response to Thomas, John 14:6-7.
In this response Jesus has told his disciples that he is
first of all “the way.” In Greek the first noun will bear greater weight than
those that follow: i.e., the truth and life. Jesus is the way of God precisely
because he is the truth of God (see 1:14) and the life of God (see 1:4; 3:14;
and 11:25). Jesus is the truth, because he embodies the supreme revelation of
God—that is, he himself “narrates” God (see 1:18), says and does
exclusively what the Father gives him to
say and do (see 5:19ff; and 8:29), indeed he is properly called ‘God’ (1:1, 18;
20:28). He is God’s gracious self-disclosure, his “Word” made flesh (see1:14).
Jesus is the life (see 1:4), the one who has “life in himself” (see 5:26), and
“the resurrection and the life” (see 11:25). Only because he is the truth and
the life can Jesus be the way for others to come to God, the way for his
disciples to attain the many dwelling places in the Father’s house (verse 2-3),
and therefore the answer to Thomas’s question at verse 5.
Jesus is not here commanding people to take the way that he
himself takes. Rather, he IS the way. He is himself the Savior (see 4:42), the
Lamb of God (see 1:29, 34), the one who so speaks that those who are in the
graves hear his voice and come forth (see 5:28-29). He so mediates God’s truth
and God’s life that he is the very way to God, the one who alone can say, “No one comes to the Father except through
me.”[4]
Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471), in his famous book The Imitation of Christ, writes the
following concerning this passage,
Follow thou me. I am the way and
the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth
there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which
thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe; the life for which thou
must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending
life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed,
life uncreated.[5]
How does this line up with the modern Western view that all
religions are equally valid and all lead to God?
At verse 8 Philip STILL doesn’t get it. He, like his fellow
disciples, is having a hard time wrapping their minds around the idea that
Jesus IS the God of all creation; the Lord of all transcendent glory; the great
I Am! So, he asks Jesus to show him God (the Father) right then and there.
Jesus’ response is tinged with sadness. His opponents do not
recognize who he is because they have refused to be taught by Jesus—who is God
(see 6:45). If those closest to him still display ignorance of who he is,
despite their courageous loyalty to him, they attest their profound spiritual
blindness. These men have been with Jesus day in and day out for approximately
three years. How could they have had that close, intimate contact with the Lord
and still not realize who he really was?
Over the next several verses Jesus makes several profound
statements:
“Do you not believe
that I am in the Father an the Father is in me?” (vs. 10)
“I do not speak on my
own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his work.” (v 10)
“Believe in me that I
am in the father an the Father is in me, or else, believe on account of the works
themselves.” (v. 11)
Jesus’ words cannot be much more direct to his disciples. He
even tells them to pray IN HIS NAME!, “Whatever
you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son.” (v. 13) At his hour of most profound spiritual need, Jesus, rather
than receiving help from his disciples finds himself giving more of himself
away to them. His love for them is deep, passionate, and abiding.
Verse 14 has caused much trouble within the life of the
church as the centuries have clicked by. “Name it—claim it” preachers and those
who extol “The prosperity gospel” have made some wild, and I dare say wrong!,
statements about this verse: “If you ask
me anything in my name, I will do it.”
How do you understand this verse within the greater context
of the passage we have just studied? Left on its own it seems to teach that a
person can ask for anything, as long as it is in Jesus’ name, and it will be
given. Is that what our passage is teaching us?
This is not an easy teaching.
People who are sick, exhausted, wounded, mourning, etc.…have struggled with
this verse since the first century. Perhaps, in our humility and limited
understanding, the best we can understand regarding this verse is that to pray
in Jesus’ name is to identify with the crucified Christ and his purpose in the
world. As Jesus was a servant/slave to the will of the Father (see Philippians
chapter 2) we who are in union with him are called to be his servant/slave—that
is, our prayers should focus on the mind and heart of Christ—that what brings
him joy should bring us joy, and what grieves his heart should grieve ours. God
does answer prayer—sometimes the answer is simply “no.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
To God alone be all the glory!
[1] Carson, D.A. The
Gospel According to John (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1991), 487.
[2] Some English translations will use the word “trust”
instead of believe. They are the same Greek word.
[3] The KJV and NKJV use the Textus Receptus. To learn more about that document you can explore
here: http://www.theopedia.com/textus-receptus.
Most modern English translations of the New Testament use the Critical Text. To learn more you can
explore here: http://www.theopedia.com/new-testament-textual-criticism.
[4] Much of this material comes from Carson, John, 491.
[5] Kempis, Thomas à, The
Imitation of Christ, 56.1
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