John 14:1-14; Three Questions, Same Answer

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 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. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it."

I. Introduction

Once we understand the flow of this passage, we see it nicely unfold before us. It really begins in 13:33, and it consists of three statements by Jesus that evoke either questions or statements from different disciples, to which Jesus responds with ever more intimate and assuring language. To the first questioner, Simon Peter, he talks about mansions or a "place" that is being prepared for the disciples; to the second he speaks of himself being the way; to the third he speaks of the great possibilities of living and discipleship right here. Thus, as this last discourse proceeds (and it is a long one--from John 13-17), instead of the disciples being taken out of the world as Jesus is preparing to depart, they are, paradoxically, directed back into the world. While we are initially told of a special place being prepared for us, but the last thought we hear is of the empowerment for service today. In this essay I will do two things: (1) explain the structure of the passage, which indeed gives lots of insight into its meaning; and (2) look at the three responses Jesus gives to the disciples' questions.

II. Understanding the Threefold Structure

The first interchange is from 13:33-14:4. Jesus words are: "Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come,'" (13:33). Then Simon Peter responds. "Lord, where are you going?" (13:36). Jesus has, in fact, encouraged such a question through his remark that they can't come with him. So, Peter asks a question. After their interchange about laying down life and betrayal (13:38), Jesus speaks of the many dwelling places in God's home (14:1).

The second exchange is shorter, and it goes from 14:4-14:7. Jesus again speaks of where he is going, and provocatively says, "And you know the way to the place I am going," (14:4). Thomas is the next disciple "up," and he declares, just as Peter did in the previous exchange, that he doesn't know the way. Jesus' response in 14:6 is his famous line, "I am the way, and the truth and the life..."

The third exchange is a long one again, this time provoked by another interesting statement by Jesus: "If you know me, you know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him," (14:7). Philip rises to the challenge makes a statement, even though it calls for a response: "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied," (14:8). Jesus then launches into a long statement in which he first chides Philip (v. 9) and then unfolds truly remarkable thoughts about the asking and receiving anything, if it is asked in Jesus' name (14:13-14).

III. Jesus' Answers

In each instance the disciples want to know the same kind of thing--where are you going/who is the Father? They are responding to Jesus' allusive comments about going away, and they want to be brought into more intimate knowledge about this departure. But Jesus responds to each of their questions or comments in a different way. And that is the focus of these comments. To Peter he speaks of the place, the home with many mansions, which is being prepared for disciples. The passage is a favorite for pastors to cite at memorial services, and the thought is meant to comfort the disicples here, but the questioner in fact is trying to probe where Jesus is going. Answer? He is going to prepare a place for us. But if he does that, he will return. The disciples' uncertainty is replaced by two certain things: the sure place and the sure coming. In the upper room, when nothing but uncertainty reigns, where Jesus has been "acting strangely," the disciples are comforted by the promises of place and coming.

But obviously this doesn't end the matter. Jesus' words about the place where he is going provoke Philip's question about knowing the way. This comment opens the door for Jesus to utter his famous words:

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me," (14:6).

As with many of Jesus tantalizingly beautiful sayings in the Fourth Gospel, this has become the subject of theological speculation. The best way to read this statement is in conjunction with the other "I am" statements in John--"Before Abraham was, I am" (8:58); "I am the good shepherd," and "I am the door" in ch. 10; "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25). They are meant to point us to Jesus not simply as the point around which the disciples' life revolves but around which human history turns. He is the one who was there at the beginning, before Abraham; he is the one who will be there at the end, at the resurrection of the dead; he is the one who will be with us at all times in between. That, it seems to me, is the best interpretation of these words. Rather than trying to make the theological case that Jesus is the exclusive way to God and that other religions therefore are "wrong," I see it in connection with the other "I am" statements in the Gospel of John--to the effect that Jesus is the all of our lives.

This second answer was meant to give comfort to the disciples again, but Jesus is not quite finished with them. Philip wants to "see" the Father. Rather than Jesus answering him in the way that we might suspect, by chiding him--a Jew--for thinking that anyone can see God and live, Jesus does two things. He first explains that he is in the Father, and the Father in him. This means that anyone who has seen Jesus has really seen the Father (this thought is first adumbrated in John 1, "The only son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known").

But, just as with his first response, he is not content to stay there. He moves the disciples to think of new things and new possibilities in their life of discipleship. Beginning with the emphatic words "very truly" in v. 12, Jesus speaks of even greater works that the disciples will do because he is going to the Father. This, indeed, is a remarkable way to finish the passage. What began as a reference to Jesus' going away and a need to alleviate the disciples' fears now ends with the triumphant notion that life will be better for the disciples only if he goes away. We will do works in Jesus' name that are great even than his.

What could Jesus possibly mean by this? How can the disciples' works be even greater than Jesus? Indeed, it was this thought that caused me endless frustration for so many years, because I was looking for certain signs or manifestations of power that exceeded those that Jesus demonstrated--to be present in my life. And, it seemed to me, they were not. I still think I don't know what it means, but it suggests to me a world rife with possibilities for living and hoping that we have hitherto not even explored.

Conclusion

That, friends, is the Gospel for today. What begins in fear ends with possibilities. It ends with these possibilities because we need to have our minds recalibrated or our thoughts reconceptualized. Maybe that is why Jesus, as it were, urges them to ask him the same thing three times. Otherwise, we simply might never believe the fantastic scope of his answer to them...

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