John 14:1-14 (NRSV)
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Chapter 14"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. Verse 2In 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? Verse 3And 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.
Verse 4And you know the way to the place where I am going." Verse 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Verse 6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Verse 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Verse 8Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Verse 9Jesus 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'? Verse 10Do 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. Verse 11Believe 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.
Verse 12Very 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. Verse 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Devotion
At the beginning of Lent we meet the problem: Our fore-parents in the garden were enticed by the enemy of God to do what they wanted in opposition to what God had commanded. And so they became subject to death—"the wages of sin is death." And since all subsequent humans have followed a similar path—"all have sinned and fallen short"—the curse is universal.
Here in John 14 we meet the answer to this problem of sin and death. The son of Mary (Son of God) proclaims himself to be the solution to the human problem. Humanity was set apart from God as a consequence of sin (Adam's and our own), but in Jesus the ransom is paid; we are redeemed; no longer do we face the hopelessness of alienation and aloneness. We are reconciled! Hope is born anew!
But in these words of Jesus there is not only hope but also challenge—"No one comes to the Father ..." Because Jesus is the way, we are called to do all in our power to make Him known in the world. The call to mission has never been more urgent.
Prayer
Dear Lord, thank you for opening The Way to us. Help us to live out the invitation for those still seeking. In Jesus' name, Amen.