Don't you love when you're going along, reading scripture and God shows you something awesome? Well, at least it seems awesome to you because God just made that verse look like a size 27 font on the page!?
So I'm reading along in the gospel of John, thinking about getting to the end of John by Sunday (to prepare for Easter) and i stumble across John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Now, if you grew up in church, you've probably heard that verse a million times. Maybe, (if you sometimes have pride slip in like i do) you saw John 14:6 and before you read the verse, you were thinking oh i know that one... [no? am i the only one who gets mildly impressed with myself... only to realize seconds later my big memory verse accomplishment is nothing stacked up next to God!?] i digress.
But what actually stuck out to me in size 27 was the previous verse (John 14:5) which reads "Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Thomas asks that in response to Jesus saying he was going to his Father's house to prepare a place for his disciples and that he would come back and take them with him so they could be together.
Now, since we're on this side of that moment and we know the ending to the story (if you don't, see the entire book of Revelation), the answer to Thomas' question seems rather obvious. Duh Thomas... Jesus went to heaven and He'll come back for his followers and He is the way.
But Thomas' questions jumped out to me this morning. Isn't it the heart's cry of every generation in humanity's long existence: WHERE IS GOD AND WHAT IS THE WAY?
Thomas wanted to know, and so has everybody (on some level) since Adam and Eve.
You know, when i'm driving to some place new, i often think "how did people get to new places before GPS?" (seriously, no joke.) like, did they use maps? okay maybe their friend at the destination told them. but what about before then? before phones? people just rode their horses and hoped they ended up in the right place? what about people that were directionally challenged... they were trying to get to nebraska from illinois and all of the sudden they're in canada because they thought north was west?
i'm just saying... maybe in our era of GPS and mapquest and free wifi on airplanes it's hard to imagine Thomas' question as legit... If we don't know where you're going, how can we know the way? (just google it, Thomas.)
have you asked that question? God, where did you go? what is the way to you?
I love Jesus' answer (although I wish I could have heard his tone- did he have a duh tone or a gracious tone? or a 2nd grade teacher tone? probably gracious.)
I am the way!!!
That's what Jesus said. Stick with me, Thomas. I'm the way. You'll get there.
Jesus is saying it to you too. "Stick with me, [fill in your name]. I'm the way. You'll get there."
That's Easter for ya. But before we get to the part where Jesus raises from the... well, I don't want to give away the ending. Let's just say, there's a lot of pain and tragedy to go through before we get to Sunday's celebration.
reflective & thankful,
renee
