Sermon for 5/3/26: Fifth Sunday of Easter (a)

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A Place and the Guide
John 14:1-14

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

Jesus was teaching the disciples in the Upper Room on the night that Jesus was betrayed. Jesus made an important promise concerning the eternal destiny of all believers. He said, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Our home on this earth is only temporary. He has promised that a day will come when He will raise us from the dead to live with Him forever in an eternal dwelling prepared for each of us. These lodgings in the Father’s House are far beyond any luxury that we can even imagine while we live here on this earth.

Then Jesus said something that should give great comfort. He said, “And you know the way to where I am going.” Now, the disciples should have known the way. Jesus regularly told His disciples about the way He was to go. He would go this way for the life of the world, so that all who believe in Him will have eternal life. But as often as Jesus told them about it, the disciples did not have the ability to understand that Jesus would rise from the dead after a cruel death on a cross.

Thomas surely spoke for all the disciples when He asked, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Thomas thought that if he was to be with Jesus, then he somehow had to walk the way Jesus walked. He did not understand that Jesus would do the walking for him. Neither Thomas nor anyone else could ever find the way to the Father’s house. That is what Jesus meant when He explained, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus was telling His disciples and us that He and He alone is the one who is the way. If you know Him, you know the way.

Our natural instinct is to believe that we can and must find the way on our own—in fact, we may even need to blaze our own trail. The devil and the world know about this tendency and encourage it. Satan is more than happy to feed our ego and tell us that we can earn our way into heaven. “The good works you need for heaven might be a bit of a challenge, but you can do it. You’re really a good person. Heaven is within your grasp. You just have to put in a little effort, and it will all be yours.” He’s quite persuasive, but he’s just telling us what we want to hear.

Satan’s view is the opposite of what Jesus told His disciples. The only one who can take us to the Father’s house is the Son who comes from that house, and Jesus is that Son. He is the way to the Father. He is the truth that keeps us on that way. He is the life that is the destination of that way. Without Jesus, there is no way to the Father. Without Jesus, there is no saving truth. Without Jesus there, is no life. Jesus is not just one of many ways to the Father; He is the only way to the Father. Any religion that is not based on the person and work of Jesus leads only to eternal suffering in hell.

At first, this may sound like it is all law and no gospel, but Christ’s teaching really is good news. Jesus Christ did not say we are the way, the truth, and the life; that would be pure law. If it were true, we would be doomed. Instead, Jesus said of Himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Jesus makes it possible for us to call God our Father; Jesus prepares our room in His house.

How did Jesus do that? He left His Father’s house and came to us to do the works of His Father. While He was here, He took on human nature and lived a righteous life under the authority of the law. He allowed the authorities to arrest Him, torture Him, and put Him on a cross. By doing these things, He satisfied His Father’s wrath against our sin. This is how He became the way for us to enter His Father’s house. We have confidence that He is the way because He rose from the dead. This is the reason He could say,”If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” His resurrection assures us that we too shall rise from death and that He will take us to live with Him.

What gracious words Jesus shared with His disciples! His words are full of the very life He came to be. How gracious it is of our Lord to prepare a perfect room for each and every one of us in His Father’s house. How comforting it is to know that Jesus will bring us there because He Himself is the way; He even feeds us for the journey. How reassuring it is to know that Jesus is the full presence of God with us. Most of all, how wonderful it is to know that His perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection mean that His Father is also our Father, which makes His Father’s house to be our eternal home. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.