Lord, We Don’t Know the Way

Lesson #222

Now that we know that Jesus is preparing a place for us, we come back to the disciple’s question of where he was going. At this point in the conversation, Jesus said, “And you know the way to where I am going.”” (John 14:4 ESV). After what Jesus had taught them about the Father sending him to prepare the way for them through his suffering on the cross and his laying down his life as a ransom for many and then taking it up again, they should have some idea how he was going to get to where he was going. He was going back to his Father by way of the cross and his resurrection. When Jesus raised Lazarus, he demonstrated that he was the resurrection and the life. When those who are born again physically die, Jesus will raise them up to be with him. Jesus has spent three years with them and by now they should know more than their questions reveal. Jesus saying, “You know the way” implies that they by now should know the way, but they don’t. Their ignorance is further revealed by what Thomas says next.

“Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”” (John 14:5 ESV). This question from Thomas will draw from Jesus that he was going to the Father and that his death was their way as well as his way there. Thomas seems to be a rather anxious, intellectual who is striving after truth and reality. He seems to have a fear of issues which he could not grasp and I believe out of great love for Jesus, he asks his question. I understand their dilemma. Each Sunday morning, I sit under a gifted Bible teacher who is currently teaching verse by verse through 1 Peter. He will often at the end of a short passage stop and ask for a few words to summarize the main point. I struggle at times trying to find the summary he wants, but his training is so helpful for my study and writing these lessons. How I feel at times is similar to how the disciples must have felt. Jesus expects them to know the way by summarizing three years of teaching. They don’t and he knows it and in the next two verse he will give them a summary in his answer to Thomas.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”” (John 14:6 – 7 ESV). This should have helped, but we will see in the next lesson that it doesn’t. It simply raised more questions, revealing their lack of understanding of what Jesus was sent to accomplish. We must stop here and spend a lesson or more on verses 6 through 7.

Prayer

Father, we must be careful how we judge the disciples. What Jesus was teaching was radically different than anything they knew up to that point and to further complicate their understanding, they did not yet have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. Their understanding grew when they met Jesus after his resurrection and then it grew tremendously after Pentecost. Just as the disciples were struggling to understand then, there are times, as you well know if you are a regular reader, that I struggle in trying to understand some portion of Scripture. Father, thank you for the Spirit that helps give us understanding.