NOTES for Joh 14:1-14
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. |
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. |
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. |
4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. |
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? |
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. |
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. |
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. |
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? |
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. |
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. |
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. |
13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. |
14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. |
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Jesus' words about His unity with the Father, spoken during the Last Supper, take on a new meaning compared with what they conveyed before. Now Jesus speaks of this unity as the way, the truth, and the life. His life itself proves to be not only the fullness of living truth but also the living embodiment of the path everyone must travel—the path of the Kingdom. In those days, the ideas of way, truth, and life were traditionally associated with the Torah. The Torah was regarded as the way, the way of truth and the way of life, leading the one who walked it to God and to the threshold of the messianic Kingdom. The ideal was a living Torah, which a person could become if his life conformed to it completely.
By calling Himself the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus speaks of Himself as the living Torah. But His way becomes the way of the Kingdom. His relationship with the Father contains a dynamic that is revealed to the world as the dynamic of the Kingdom entering it. He goes to the Father—and the Kingdom enters the world. Such is the path of the Man who revealed the Torah to the world in all its fullness, the living Torah. But it is also the path of every Christian, everyone who wants to follow Christ into His Kingdom and travel that path to the end.
The Savior goes so that there may be a place in His Kingdom for each of His disciples and followers. But to become His disciple in truth, to reach those dwelling places in the Kingdom that He promises to prepare for them, one must repeat His journey. Not imitate it outwardly, but repeat it in essence, travel it oneself—and oneself become a living Torah.
Of course, a person does not remain alone on this path. Otherwise no one could become a living Torah, for without help from above this is impossible for a sinful human being. Yet everyone must still walk for himself. A person can be helped to walk, but only if he is walking rather than sitting on the sidelines. This is the path to which Jesus calls His disciples. He is confident that they know the way, for He Himself is before their eyes as a living example. They do not yet see or understand everything, of course, but what they do not yet see or understand can be understood only through their own experience, which each of them will gain in due course. Words are useless here. Jesus has already told His disciples the essential thing; the rest will become clear once they set out on the path.
Readings for 24 July 2026
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