Confused and Disturbed...

In the weeks leading up to Easter, we are looking at the final conversation that Jesus had with His closest followers before His death, which is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in our Bibles called the gospel of John. This week I would like for us to jump back into the final conversation that Jesus had with His followers. To help us jump back into this conversation, I would like for us to try to place ourselves in the disciple’s shoes. 

Imagine yourself as a disciple. Jesus has basically told you that He is leaving and that where He is going, you cannot follow Him. Sure Jesus just commanded you to love one another, but that does not change the fact that He is still leaving. You left everything, family, friends, career, in order to follow Jesus.

And if that was not bad enough, when Peter, who is the leader of your group, asks Jesus why He cannot follow Him and tells Jesus that he would die for Him, Jesus replied by saying that Peter was going to deny that he even knew Jesus. And that Peter would not deny that he knew Jesus one time. Jesus told Peter that he would deny knowing Him three times.

Now what would you be thinking and feeling? “What! What do you mean that we cannot follow you? We left everything to follow you. We leveraged everything to follow you.” As a disciple, your world has been turned upside down. Place yourself in the shoes of one of the disciples. Let’s walk together in those shoes as we see what Jesus has to say next, beginning in John 14:1:

            "Do not let your heart be troubled;

To which the disciples were probably thinking to themselves “that’s easy for you to say. It’s easy for you to tell us that we should not be disturbed at what we have just heard because you are the one who is bailing on us, while we are the ones who are left behind”.

believe in God, believe also in Me. "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. "And you know the way where I am going."

Jesus explains to the disciples that instead of being disturbed, they should believe in Jesus words. Now when Jesus uses the word believe here, this word is the same word that is also translated trust in our English Bibles. This word literally means to entrust oneself with complete confidence in someone or something. Jesus is saying “You need to trust Me. Just as you are to place your confident trust in God, you need to place your confident trust in Me”.

Jesus then provides the reason why they were to place their confident trust in Him: ^“In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.”

Now the disciples had heard this kind of language before. You see, in Jesus day, this language was used to describe what would happen in a wedding. After becoming engaged, the bridegroom would then go and prepare a place for he and his wife to live, with his family. The bridegroom would basically build an addition on his parent’s house for them to live in. After the addition was completed, bridegroom would then come back in a loud parade-like celebration that would stop at the bride’s house, where they would have the wedding ceremony and reception. The bridegroom would pick the bride up, and take her to be with his family.

When Jesus uses the phrase “receive you to myself”, this phrase literally means to take someone into a close association with oneself. Jesus is saying “I am going to take you to myself”. Now imagine yourself as a disciple. Jesus is using language of getting married, but Jesus does not have a girlfriend. And besides, He is not talking about marrying a girl. Instead, He is talking about you. Jesus has just told you that His Father’s house has many dwelling places and that He is going to prepare a place for you to be able to live in a close intimate association with Him. And if that was not enough, Jesus says that you know the way to His Father’s house. What would you be thinking? We see what Thomas was thinking in verse 5:

Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?"

In this question, we see Thomas reveal the confusion that the disciples were feeling. Imagine yourself as Thomas. Earlier Jesus stated that where He was going that they could not come; now Jesus is saying that they know the way where He is going? So which is it? “Jesus, I’m confused. So, can I or can’t I come with you? Jesus, how am I supposed to know the way, when you have never told us the way you are going? And where are you going?”

You see, Thomas, as the rest of the disciples are thinking of a literal road to a literal house where they never have been, so how are they supposed to know the way there. Jesus, however, is talking about something all together different, as we see in His response in verse 6:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."

You see, Jesus was not talking about an earthly way to an earthly house. Instead Jesus was talking about the way that one could experience the relationship with God that they were created for, but had been separated from as a result of selfishness and rebellion. Jesus is saying “I am the way of life; I am the source and embodiment of truth; I am the source by which you can experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that you were created for forever.

And there is only way to experience that forgiveness and relationship. No one comes to experience that forgiveness and relationship with God apart from placing their trust in Me. You need to trust Me. Just as you are to place your confident trust in God, you need to place your confident trust in Me. If you really understood who I was as both life and the source of life, you would really understand who God was”.

You see, up to this point, the twelve disciples had not fully grasped the full significance of who Jesus was. The disciples had not fully wrapped their minds around who Jesus was and how He was connected and related to God. However, Jesus explains to the disciples that would change. As this conversation continued, Jesus would continue to blow up their categories when it came to who He was and how He was connected to God.

Tomorrow, we will see Jesus begin to demolish their categories…