April 2
Bible Reading: John 14:4-14
John 14:4-6, ’And you know the way to where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
I once led a caravan of vehicles from Astoria to Idaho on a trip to do some construction and repairs at a Bible camp for a missionary that we supported. Our group included about six families, plus a couple of teens. Near the end of day two of our travels, as we were approaching our destination, I realized I had neglected to get exact directions to the camp. The teen who was with us who’d been there before couldn’t remember where to turn. This was before the days of GPS and cell phones, but we had CB radios. From what I heard over the CB, the group was quickly running out of patience. As I recall, we stopped somewhere, out of desperation, and made a phone call and got it figured out. But it would have been better if I’d known exactly how to get where we were going.
Jesus had spoken to his disciples about the place where he was going. But Thomas’ response was that they didn’t know the way there. “How can we know the way?” he asked. Thomas’ question equates to asking for directions to heaven. How can we know the way to heaven? According to some estimates, there are about 4200 different religions in the world. That’s a lot of options! And don’t ask your GPS for directions to heaven, it doesn’t know!
I once had an elderly hospice patient who had rarely been to church, had never read the Bible, and had no idea of who God is. But God was using her desperate situation to get her attention! One of the first questions she asked of me was how is what you believe any different from all the other religions that are out there? Good question! My response to her was to speak of the glory of Jesus—as the eternal Son who came to die on a cross to rescue us from our sins and then rose from the dead! He is “the way, and the truth, and the life!” He has done everything necessary so that we can be forgiven and assured of a future home in heaven. But note this, and it is especially important in the pluralistic day in which we live—Jesus claimed exclusivity when it comes to the matter of salvation. And He did so in emphatic terms— “no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6)!” Ultimately, the answer to the question of needing directions to heaven is relatively simple—if you know Jesus, then you know the way! And when that time comes, “he will bring (you) safely into his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18)!
We don’t need to see the way if we’re following the One who is the Way.
THOU ART THE WAY, TO THEE ALONE
You are the way; thro’ you alone
can we the Father find;
in you, O Christ, has God revealed
his heart and will and mind.
You are the truth; your Word alone
true wisdom can impart;
you only can inform the mind
and purify the heart.
You are the life; the empty tomb
proclaims your conqu’ring arm,
and those who put their trust in you
nor death nor hell shall harm.
You are the way, the truth, the life;
grant us that way to know,
that truth to keep, that life to win,
whose joys eternal flow.
LookingtoJesus 