Rise. (John 14) – March 06-08, 2025 (121/365) – JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter

Summary of John 12 and 13 (Transition to John 14):

John 12: Captures the Triumphal Entry, the Greeks, the grain of wheat, and the unbelief—your “Light and faith,” “trust His work,” and “glory” threads.

In John 12, Jesus, the Light, rode into Jerusalem amid praise and rejection, calling all to faith in Him and the Father who sent Him—teaching that His death alone brings life, a work to trust, not replicate, as He turned from a hardened crowd to prepare His disciples.

John 13: Hits the foot-washing, Judas’s betrayal, Peter’s denial, and the love command—your “trust over service,” “hardened vs. responsive,” and “grace” angles.

John 13 zooms into that preparation: He washed their feet in humble love, showing only He can cleanse and save, while Judas chose darkness—rejecting the Bread of Life for a morsel—and Peter stumbled, proving human effort falls short.

“Faith and light, rejection and darkness”

Through it all, Jesus tied glory to grace—His death glorifies the Father, His love commands us to love one another, a witness to the world. We’re left with a stark choice: faith and light, a path from glory to glory, brighter into the glorious day; or rejection and darkness, a callous refusal of glory and grace until death or His return. Now, as He tells them He’s leaving, John 14 steps in to answer: what’s next?

In light of all we’re discussed so far, consolidated nicely by our good friend Grok, let’s jump into the final chapter we’ll be covering for this coming Sunday: John 14.

John 14

I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 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? 3 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. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Following Jesus’ gracious rebuke to Peter’s hubris, He goes on by telling them a little more about where He was going, where nobody else can go – not merely into death, but into ascension. He goes to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house, before coming back and ‘taking (us) to Himself’… and if He lost any of them through this, His explanation, He brings it home with this point, His purpose: ‘That where I am you may be also.‘

Jesus tells them, yes, I’m going ahead, and I’m coming back for you, so we may all go… ‘And you know the way to where I am going.‘ This time it’s Thomas who speaks up, asking Jesus, ‘How can we know the way?‘…

…and we are all very familiar with His iconic response: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.‘ It’s not where I’m going that matters, but that I am the Way. And not only the Way, Jesus says He is the Truth, and He is the Life. And now that we’re in this line of thinking, we might as well try to dive into it a little further, don’t you think?

It’s not where Christ goes that matters, but what captures us is that He IS the Way.

It’s not what Christ reveals to us, teaches us; It’s not what Christ gives us to learn, unlearn, and relearn that matters, more than it is that He HIMSELF is the Truth.

It’s not the blessings we receive, it’s not the protection we receive in danger, not the favor we receive in times when the odds are against us… what matters above all is that Christ HIMSELF – It’s Jesus Christ who not only gives us life, but IS our Life.

But after emphasizing that, Christ follows up with what I’m assuming is a more direct reply to Thomas’ concern, a hint as to where He really is going – beyond death and eternity, He goes to THE Father; emphasis on THE Father, who is no longer just HIS, but OURS: For, through Fellowship in Christ, who Himself is the Way, we are assured: ‘From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.‘

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Though Jesus tells the disciples that they know the Father, Philip continues with clarification: ‘show us the Father’, he says.

Jesus graciously responds. He goes from telling Thomas that you know and see the Father, to telling Philip, ‘Whoever has seen me has seen the Father‘, and He clarifies further:

The words that He speaks are spoken on the authority of the Father who dwells in Him.

Furthermore, the works He does are done on the authority of the Father who dwells in Him.

He then presents them with a more practical approach to faith – Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Say you’re having trouble believing in Christ, and that Christ is in God, whom He calls the Father, and/or you’re having trouble believing that the Father is in Christ – to this, Jesus is saying – you’ve seen the works I’ve done. Believe in God, believe also in me because of the works you have witnessed.

It brings me to think – The resurrection of Lazarus, the feeding of the thousands, the healing of lepers, paralytics, and blind men? The apostles recorded these works of Jesus in their Gospels, and He’s saying here that the purpose for all of these works is to bring us to believe in God, and to believe also in Him – that He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Now, I want to take a moment to respond to this particular set of verses. Too many of us have taken these verses to go ahead and say that because we believe in Jesus Christ, we have superpowers – not only will we do the works that Christ did, but even greater works than these! For some reason some folks I know talk about the miraculous healings and the legs literally growing in front of their eyes to prove that not only have they seen the works; but they don’t stop there, because they mention the stacks of crutches and the wheelchairs after healing ‘crusades’, presenting proof that they’ve also seen the greater works!

Two problems I see here – First, if that’s their presentation, why haven’t I been hearing about entire hospitals being given relief after ‘Christians’ walk in and heal the whole lot? Why haven’t we gone to cemeteries to raise everyone back? And, second, why have they only ‘seen’ these things happen? In these healing crusades in particular, how come it’s only the guy up in the stage who does all the healing? …And, third, why were they just healing crusades? Why weren’t there prosperity crusades where folks walked out with more money?

Pretty sure I pissed some people off there but here’s my point. We just established that Jesus said what He said, and did what He did ‘on the authority of the Father who dwells in him’, AND, towards the ultimate goal of bringing people to believe in Him, for the sake of His words, and for the sake of His works, ‘that the Father may be glorified in the Son‘.

In other words, what I am proposing, what I am having all of us consider is that we will certainly do works that Jesus does, much as we will say words that Jesus says, on the authority of the Father, yes – but, more importantly, for us in the New Covenant, we do what we do and we say what we say on all authority that has been given to Jesus Christ (Remember Matthew 28?) – because the ultimate purpose of the words and works were to bring all who hear, and all who see, to believe in God, and to believe also in Jesus Christ.

And when we say greater works, and throw in greater words, we’re certainly going to have greater impact in all we do. No surprise that at this moment I’m brought to remember the second part of Daniel 12:4: ‘many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.‘ – there shall be more confusion as the darkness seemingly grows in this age, BUT since knowledge shall be increased, so our works and words will be seen and heard by more and more people. TikTok, anyone? AI, anyone? Internet?

It’s not where Christ goes that matters, but what captures us is that He IS the Way.

It’s not what Christ reveals to us, teaches us; It’s not what Christ gives us to learn, unlearn, and relearn that matters, more than it is that He HIMSELF is the Truth.

One of the lepers healed by Jesus went back to thank Him.

The healed paralytic jumped off of his bed and went away, but not before being heard to praise God.

We just read of the blind man in Siloam, who IMMEDIATELY told Jesus he believed in Him, when they (literally) saw each other.

Mary’s poured expensive ointment on Jesus’ feet to prepare Him for glory. The crowd at the gates of Jerusalem glorified Jesus, crying out, ‘Hosanna!’ The Greeks and the crowd heard the Voice in heaven: ‘I have glorified (my Name), and I will glorify it again‘

Jesus took off His outer garments and washed the feet of the disciples in an act symbolizing only what He could do – to cleanse, with grace. In the same chapter we see two human responses to grace – absolute, persistent, intentional rejection, and arrogant hubris.

We may not be witnesses or instigators to the same healing and feeding as were prevalent according to the needs of the day, but we certainly move, in the same glory and grace – that more and more may see, and believe in God, and believe also in Jesus Christ.

Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Christ is the Point, more than the Power.

Let’s not miss the Point.

Let’s continue.

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Twice, Christ emphasizes: If you love me, you have my commandments, and you keep them. And we like to take this statement as it is, put it in a vacuum, and call it a consolidated point of the Scripture; The more ‘seasoned’ of our brethren would, first, insist that the ‘commandments’ mentioned are those from the Mosaic Law, the 10 Commandments… and they seem to enjoy emphasizing – if you don’t obey, you don’t love Jesus.

Now, first of all, I want to go ahead and emphasize that if you’re going to go all out, you aren’t just limited to the 10 Commandments, sir. You’re going to have to stop working – no work related stuff, no carrying stuff, no walking a certain amount of steps – on the Sabbath; and even then, just for good measure, you won’t stop working for BOTH Saturday and Sunday just to be sure you cover both days. On top of that, you’re going to have to avoid the pork chicharon and the shrimp cocktail at the buffet.

Oh, right – go back to making sacrifices, celebrating the festivals, making sure that you cut a good portion of your income for the widows, the poor, the foreigners, and the domestic animals.

How’s that sound? Well, you’re going to love the second point: Christ already gave us a commandment in the previous chapter, did He not? On top of all these Laws we insist we burden ourselves with, guess what: He tells us to love one another. just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34

I propose, friends, that more than our obeying the Law, and even keeping His commandment, we’re to keep His Word (that is, to trust Him as He is the living Word), and to receive His Spirit (the Spirit of Truth, our Helper) – for by the Word and the Spirit are we reminded of God’s everlasting love, and it is from this love that we love one another, it is from this love that we love our neighbor, and it is from this love that the Law is fulfilled, and the commandment is kept!

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe.

We give thanks to the Lord.

In John 12 we have established that He is the matchless glory of God.

In John 13, we have seen how He is the amazing grace of God.

Here, in John 14, we read: He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Putting it all together – He is the Power, but more than all of it, He is the Point.

We love one another because He loves us first – the Word and the Spirit point to His love.

In this world where many will go to and fro, we have Christ, our Peace.

More than the amazing, mind blasting, death defying miracles, we have Christ, our Point…

…and we are the Proof. Amen.

Now, in closing, I’ll just read out the final couple of verses… just for us to take in, considering all the great things we’ve discussed.

30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

…Rise, let us go from here.

121950/365000