Where Are You Going?

Two weeks ago, my wife and I celebrated our first anniversary. It’s been an amazing year full of change, and we have many more changes on the horizon. A few months ago, sometime between our full-time jobs and family responsibilities and just settling into new rhythms as a married couple, we finally found some time to sit down and dream about our lives together. What might our future look like as a family? Where are we going? 

At the end of a long afternoon we came up with our dream, a big five-year plan. By the end of the conversation, we were both really excited—and really exhausted. We’re expecting that just about everything that could change will change. This time next year, our lease will end, I will graduate seminary, and I’ll finish my internship. So I’ll have to find a new job and we’ll have to move—and depending on where I’m hired, that could be to a whole new community. We’re also thinking about when we’d like to start trying to have kids, which will be another magnitude of change—and would probably mean my wife needs to find a new job too. The most exhausting part of the conversation was all the uncertainty in the face of all this change. 

There’s just something scary about asking these big questions, of really diving into the question “Where are we going?” 

I’m willing to bet you can probably relate to that fear. Maybe you’re facing a career shift or you’re moving across the country and you’re wondering what direction life will take you. Maybe you’re getting married or expecting a kid and you’re realizing your life is about to become a whole lot bigger than it used to be. Maybe you’re grappling with aging parents or a new diagnosis that makes you question what life amounts to at all—and maybe even what happens to us when we die. Odds are, we all have many big scary changes looming over us, forcing us to ask the question “Where are we going?” 

It’s hard not to think about that question without feeling your throat tighten and your shoulders tense up—it seems as though that’s just an innately scary question. But what if it didn’t have to be? What if we could face all the changes life throws at us without any fear? What if that were possible?

Our passage today shows us that it is—and in fact, Jesus shows us how. Let’s read our passage and then follow Jesus through the text. 

“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. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:1-7) 

Do you know what’s it’s like to try to join a group of people in the middle of a conversation? Maybe you show up a little late to a party or church and a group of people are already deep into some topic, and you have to sort of stand there for a bit to pick up on what’s going on? That’s sort of what we’re doing with Jesus and the disciples here in John 14—they’re well into a conversation already, and it turns out, it’s a really heavy conversation. If this were real-time, this would be one of those conversations you mosey into, realize is way too intense and private for you to be a part of, and then awkwardly tiptoe out of. 

We’ve just walked into Jesus and his disciples at the end of the last supper. Jesus has told them all he’s about to be arrested and murdered, Judas Iscariot just slipped out of dinner to go organize that, and now they’re trying to process this horrible news and prepare for the terror ahead of them. Talk about scary changes! Jesus himself is about to face the ultimate change, death, and his disciples’ whole world is about to be flipped upside down. But there’s something beautiful and profound in the midst of this chaos: Jesus is walking them through it. 

Look at the first words we read coming out of Jesus’ mouth: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled; believe in God and believe in me.” We can’t get past the first sentence without seeing how God responds to our fear. He doesn’t pull away, he doesn’t shame us; instead, God enters into our fear. He meets us there and speaks words of comfort. 

Friends, I hope that’s an encouragement to you today. Wherever you are in life, whatever change you’re approaching or whatever fear you’re facing, God is drawing near to you. He wants to walk with you through it and he’s reminding you to trust him in it. Jesus enters into his disciples’ fear and speaks words of comfort. 

Let’s look at exactly what that comfort is, and we see two things. First, he gives them an destination; second, he gives them directions. 

The first remedy Jesus gives us to our fear is by telling us what we are ultimately headed for. Look again to our passage with 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.” 

Do you see the answer? The disciples are asking, “Jesus, where are we going?” Jesus answers them, “We’re going home. We’re going to my Father’s house, and I’m preparing you a room.” 

Isn’t that such a beautiful image? Think of all the other images Jesus could have used—or the other images we’re given of our final destination. “We’re going to an ethereal paradise where we dance on clouds and play harps.” That’s not what Jesus says! “We’re going to mesh with the universe and become one with reality.” Nope! “We’re going to stop breathing and cease to exist.” No, he doesn’t say any of that! Jesus and his disciples are going home. 

It’s an image that beckons a feeling of safety, warmth, belonging, family, joy. Jesus’ work in facing death is to invite each of us into his Father’s house and adopted sons and daughters. That’s our destination: home. 

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. Not only does he show us our destination, he also gives us directions on how to get there. Let’s look at those directions. Look with me to verse 4, Jesus says “And you know the way to where I am going.” This apparently caused some confusion for the disciples—and again, we have to remember the intensity and tenderness of this conversation. They’re finding it really hard to accept that Jesus is about to die and they’re about to be scattered, and so Jesus leans in even closer. Imagine him taking Thomas by the hand—taking you by the hand—and really looking at him and saying “Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” 

Isn’t it interesting that he gives three things here? Not just “the way” but the truth and the life too. I was reflecting on that this past week and I think I’ve got an illustration that helps make sense of it. Have you ever bought furniture from Ikea? If that example’s a little to adult for you (like it is for me) have you ever built a Lego kit? If you have, you know you need three things to successfully build your furniture or your kit. You need the manual that gives you step-by-step directions on how to build your kit. You also need all the correct pieces to put the kit together—the right number of screws and bolts, the right length boards and pieces. But finally, you need the picture on the front of the box to show you what the final product looks like, the image you’re working toward. 

I think that’s what Jesus might be after here. We need to know the way: we have to have the right directions, the manual for life. We need to have the truth: the proper understanding of the world, the right pieces for us to put together and work with. And we need to be shown life: a picture of what our final destination looks like, the thing we’re aiming toward. 

The most profound thing about this passage is that Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the way. Jesus is the one who gives us exact directions on who we are and how to live; we are sinners saved by grace, adopted as sons and daughters of God at Jesus’ invitation. It is his death and resurrection that make the way for us to come home with him. He is the truth. There are a lot of alternative interpretations of where life is headed and what it’s all about, but Jesus asserts that life can only be understood accurately in light of himself. He is the life. When we look at Jesus, we get a snapshot of the final picture: a man who perfectly encapsulates love, joy, sacrifice, purpose, power and gentleness, mercy and justice—all the glorious things we value and aspire to perfectly lived out. 

Friends, when we follow Jesus, we receive all these things: the way, the truth, and the life. He has given us both our destination and our directions—we know where we’re going and we know how to get there. And the reason we can follow him without fear is because he’s proven himself to be faithful. If we fast forward just a few chapters in the book of John, we’ll come to 20:17. Jesus doesn’t stay dead, he doesn’t leave his disciples as orphans. Instead, he returns to them after winning their freedom from sin and says to them “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Just as before, and in an even more powerful way now, Jesus is still speaking words of comfort to his people. He is saying to them, and to you, “I’m preparing a place for you. We’re going home.” 

That dramatically transforms the way Jesus’ disciples approach life. Read the rest of the New Testament and you’ll see followers of Jesus facing every kind of change, every kind of hardship and transition with direction, certainty, and hope. Jesus’ disciples can face all the changes of life because they know where they are going and they know how to get there. 

The question that leaves us with is, are you Jesus’ disciple? Are you a follower of Jesus? Maybe you are, maybe you’re not, maybe you’re not sure—you might describe yourself as a Christian, but how are you handling all the changes that life brings? In other words, where are you going? 

It might be helpful for you to answer these questions for yourself: What is your way? What is your truth? What is your life? 

What is your way? What are you treating as your manual for life? What directs the way you live your day? What leads to you choose where you work, where you live, what college you want to go to, how you raise your kids, how you spend your money? Many people today chart their way with self-preservation, working to achieve financial security and personal safety. Others chart their way with comfort, aiming for a life with as much pleasure and as little pain as possible. Still others chart their way with religion or morality, doing their best to make the right decisions and justify their every action. None of these things are the same as having Jesus be your way. 

What is your truth? Who do you trust? How do you explain who you are and the world you live in? Does God fit into your truth? Does Jesus? Modern atheist materialism claims to be based in the truth of science, but science is limited in what it can make truth claims on—and it ultimately doesn’t give us a base for ethics or meaning. And not all religions are the same. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, and all other world religions make exclusive claims to truth which cannot be held in balance. Jesus is saying in our passage that only he is the truth. 

What is your life? How do you envision “the good life?” What are you working toward? Both short term—your career, marriage, etc—and ultimately—the end of your life? Are you banking on accruing enough wealth to provide for your next generation? Are you hoping to gain enough influence to become famous? Are you trying to be as kind and generous as possible to leave a positive legacy? Will that be enough in the face of death? Jesus tells us that none of that will ultimately be satisfying. Our hearts are created with a longing for eternity, and eternal life is only offered by Jesus. 

What would it look like for all of us to make Jesus our way, truth, and life? What kind of community would we become if we followed Jesus like this? If we let this gospel truth sink deep into our bones? I bet we’d be a lot more confident and a lot more humble in making decisions. We’d trust Jesus with what we don’t know and step out in faith. I bet we’d give a lot more time to prayer before we rush into change. We’d be far more concerned with where God wants us than what next step helps us achieve our own goals. I bet we’d be a lot more eager to share our joy and freedom and hope with our neighbors. If we really believed Jesus was the only way home, the only way to be with the Father, and we really felt that love and safety, it’d be a joy to invite people to follow Jesus with us. That sounds like a compelling community to be a part of. 

Here’s one closing application for you today so we can take a step toward becoming that kind of community. Reach out to one friend this week, ask them about one change that’s on their horizon, and pray for them as it approaches. This can be a Christian or non-Christian friend, it can be as blunt and to the point as “Hey, what’s one big thing in your life I can be praying about” or more subtly catching up on life and listening for one thing. You can tell them you’ll be praying for them or not—or you can even offer to pray with them. Either way, commit that friend to the Lord in prayer and ask that he might lead that person home to himself and away from fear. If we all do that for one person this week, there’s no way that won’t have an impact on our community. Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit would forge us into people with that kind of faith as we go home.