Bible Studies

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The Gospels
John 14:1-14 - The Christ
Key Verses: (CEV)

• 1: “Jesus said to His disciples, "Don't be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me." - Don't worry! Have no fear! For Christ is with you.
  
  
• 2: "There are many rooms in my Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you." - Christ has prepared a room for each of us; the sheets have been drawn back, the pillows fluffed, and the thermostat set. No matter who we are, a place with God has been prepared.
  
  
• 5: "Thomas said, "LORD, we don't even know where you are going! How can we know the way?" - Practical and pragmatic to the end, Thomas asks for details.
  
  
• 6-7: "I am the way, the truth, and the life!" Jesus answered. "Without me, no one can go to the Father. ⁷If you had known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know Him, and you have seen Him." - Christ is the Word made Flesh; the Creator and the Spirit of God made available for everyone to see.
  
  
• 8: "Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.'" - Proof; tangible and touchable proof. It is all we need.
  
  
• 9-10: "Jesus replied: Philip, I have been with you for a long time. Don't you know who I am? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you ask me to show you the Father? ¹⁰Don't you believe that I am one with the Father and that the Father is one with me? What I say isn't said on my own. The Father who lives in me does these things." - The Word became flesh so that we could come to understand or see God. It is an unbelievable concept, an idea which remains difficult to this day to put our minds around and yet, God became man, lived in man; was one with man. And now, to this day, lives in us; is one with us.
  
  
• 12-14: "I tell you for certain that if you have faith in me, you will do the same things that I am doing. You will do even greater things, now that I am going back to the Father. ¹³Ask me, and I will do whatever you ask. This way the Son will bring honor to the Father. ¹⁴I will do whatever you ask me to do." - The Christ remains here, within us. He empowers us to be everything God created us to be. We have the creative power of God living in our hearts. How could anything not be possible?
  

Points to Contemplate:

• Do you worry? Are you fearful? Why? Do you lack faith? Christ says 'have no fear.' What keeps you from accepting these words of assurance? These words were spoken to the disciples in the midst of Jesus' farewell message to them. The dark shadow of death was descending upon them. And He says, have no fear; do not be troubled; relax. In the midst of your fears and descending shadows of darkness, can you hear these reassuring words of Jesus telling you that you have nothing to fear?
  
  
• Has Christ prepared a place for you? He says He has. He says there is a mansion with many rooms, rooms enough for us all. Are these rooms all the same? Are they limited to a select few? Or do you imagine them to be as different and diverse as all humanity? Will they be warm and accepting for all, regardless from where we come? Jesus is indicating that all will be welcomed in His Father's house - even you.
  
  
• Do you know the way? Or are you lost and wandering around in the wilderness? Perhaps you are a follower of Jesus Christ and through your belief you feel you have found the Way? If this were so clear and obvious, why was Thomas still lost? Is it because the Way is not necessarily through Jesus, the man but more about the Christ, the Word; the Creator? In answering Thomas' question, is Jesus speaking of the universal truth that God created us all in His image and wants us all to be with Him throughout eternity?
  
  
• What do you need to believe? Philip wanted proof - are you still seeking proof? Jesus responded, what more proof do you need? God, the Father is one with Christ. Christ is one with God. If you see one, you see them both. And now, Christ is one with you. Where are you looking for proof? Have you tried looking in your own heart?
  
  
• Are you a miracle worker? Teacher? Healer? Prophet? Jesus says that in our faith we will be everything and do everything He did. Even more. How is this possible in your life? Do you feel inadequate to the task? Is it sacrilegious to put yourself at the same level as Christ? Did you forget? Christ is one with God and one with you. How is it not possible for you to do everything and anything that God would have you do?
  

Promise of the Gospel:

In some ways these verses in John have been used to limit the kingdom of heaven in the world. When we take the phrase: "No one comes to the Father except through me," and stop there, we find that Christianity can be a very narrow and segregated religion. The 'it-is-my-way-or-the-highway' type of thinking closes the door to the world of possibilities that Jesus says is available in His Father's house with many rooms. Which rooms will not be used if Jesus were the only way? Since Jesus went on to say that He is "one with the Father and that the Father is one with (Him)," how would the meaning change to this sentence if we were to write it: "No one comes to the Father except through the Father?"

St Augustine wrote: "The Word of God, indeed, is one thing, and man another; but the Word was made flesh, or became man. And so the person of the Word is not different from that of the man, seeing that Christ is both in one person..."¹ Jesus was speaking to His disciples in the Upper Room as the Christ - the Word made flesh. When we try to understand the concept of the Christ, who was in the beginning with God and was God, our minds simply falter at the immensity of the idea. There is too much to grasp. How can this being who is God but different; who created the universe, but now lives in our heart; who was made flesh so we could come to the Father but He was the Father and now the Father is one with us…? Do you see why Thomas and Philip struggled? It is mind boggling. Even St Augustine went on to say: "Much more, perhaps, might and ought to have been said on these words of the Gospel; but your souls ought not to be burdened with spiritual food, however pleasant, especially as the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

These words from the Gospel of John provide enough word for thought to carry us through all the ages in debate and discussion. However, when we give God the realm of judgment and let Him decide who will gain access to the mansion of many rooms, then, what these words of John provide us is a picture into the immense glory available in Christ. Not limiting us to Jesus Christ the man, but Christ the creator - expansive and universal for the entire world to see.

¹From Augustine's Tractates on John, http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF1-07/augustine/john/t69.htm

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