“Let
not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 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. 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." (John 14:1-6 NIV)
Years ago, I
took three teens from the correctional facility I was working at on a hike to
see a waterfalls as a reward for the progress they were making. They were all
from inner city Detroit and had never seen a waterfalls. They had never
actually been hiking in a real woods, either. We took the well worn path with
the tourists down to the bottom of the falls. But, instead of going back up the
same way I decided to take the little footbridge across the river and climb the
rocky hill through the woods on the other side to get back up to the parking
area. The young men started acting a little nervous. Finally, one of
them asked me where the path was and how I could know the way through the woods. I
guess, they had begun to think that maybe we were lost in the woods forever. I
told them not to worry the path was there. Just because they couldn't see it, I
could, as I'd been traveling this way since I was a little girl.
Thomas asked Jesus, “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." Jesus is the way to our Father's
house. He is the path we are to follow. In order to follow that path, we
must get to know Jesus. Yes, about him; but, we must also get to know him
personally. When we've just begun to follow him in and into the kingdom there
may be times that we get a little lost because we don't know the way as well as
we could or should. But, as time goes on and we get to know him more and more
each day, each year, there will come a time when we will know the way even
if our eyes were blindfolded. Knowing the way so intimately comes with
traveling the path day by day. It comes with walking with Jesus every minute of
every hour. It comes by learning about him; by hearing about him at Worship or
wherever we may be; by reading and studying about him alone or in Bible Study
groups. Knowing him intimately comes by staying in communication with him; by
speaking with him in prayer and by listening to him in the silence of our
prayer spaces. We come to know the way to our Father's house intimately by
seeking to follow in the way of Jesus. And, in order to follow him, we must
know and trust him.
If we are not prepared to follow in the
way, how can we profess to be Christians? How can we witness to
others? Who would believe that we are Christians if we have no knowledge of the
way in which we should be going? If we're busy leading others off on other
paths they will certainly recognize that we are not truly followers of Jesus.
If we know Jesus and not just about him; we will know the way. We will not get
lost because we will follow in the way that he leads us.
Jesus said that he was the way and the truth
and the life – no one could go to the Father except through him. So if he is
the way then those of us who profess to be Christians ought to be following in
the way that he would have us go. May God grant us the wisdom to stay on the path.
God's Peace - Pr. J
