Today’s Scripture is a continuation of our study this week of Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” which runs through John 16:33. Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension were imminent, and he explained the significance of the events that were about to unfold and tried to direct his disciples to the life they would soon be living without him. If the first verses of John 14 sounds familiar to you, it is because they come from one of the preferred readings in our United Methodist funeral liturgy. If you’ve been to funerals in your church, you most likely have heard this passage read.

In a very real sense, Jesus was preaching his own funeral.

John 14 (The Message)

^1-4 “Don’t let this rattle you. You trust God, don’t you? Trust me. There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you so you can live where I live. And you already know the road I’m taking.”

⁵ Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you’re going. How do you expect us to know the road?”

^6-7 Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

We struggle today with finding and knowing the truth about many things. Biased news reporting, social media substituting for “truth,” bent politicians who habitually lie to keep their power … what is truth, and where can we find it? John would point us back to the only absolute truth, which happened when the Father was revealed in the Son. It is an everlasting truth, and the only truth we can count on.

The epiphany Jesus hoped to reveal in that moment was that he was the incarnate God, the Word of God made flesh, and in him all truth could be known. The word “truth” in this passage is taken from the Hebrew understanding of truth, which implies an intentional commitment and connection to God’s righteousness and the absolute guarantee of God’s promises. God’s steadfast love was fulfilled in Jesus on the cross, where the truth of God’s plan of salvation was finally revealed. Thus nobody gets to the Father without Jesus, as it took knowing the son to understand the father.

The mystery of the incarnation confused the disciples and may be confusing to us as well. We can see by Thomas and Philip’s questions that the truth of Jesus’ relationship with his father was still troublesome. John 3:16 assures us that God loved the world so much that God sent his only son. But in the moment of standing in front of this man named Jesus who had been their friend and had led them for three years, the disciples still couldn’t receive or process the truth.

So Jesus asked them simply to trust him. To trust what they could not see; to trust what they could not know; to trust what they could not understand. God-made-flesh is a beautiful mystery that requires faith and an unencumbered belief, because seeing it is not possible. Perhaps that is the best kind of epiphany: One we see with our heart, not our eyes.
Do you believe Jesus is the only way to the Father? Do you trust him with all your heart?

God’s Beauty by Michelle Robertson