Day 20 | John 13:31–14:7

Read John 13:31–14:7

This passage is a great example of how chapter breaks can be misleading. If you only read one chapter at a time, let alone one verse at a time, you might miss the connection between Jesus’ teaching in 13:31–35, Peter’s dialogue in 13:36–14:4, and Thomas’ dialogue in 14:5–7. Jesus says He is going away, and where He is going they cannot come. Peter asks where Jesus is going, and He responds that Peter cannot follow now but will later follow to where He is going. Then Thomas asks the way to this place Jesus describes. In response, Jesus reveals Himself and His nature in one of His most famous quotes—“I am the way” (14:6).

So what does this teach us about Jesus? First, Jesus is here with us now. He was physically present with His disciples as He shared this teaching, and He is spiritually present with us today through His Holy Spirit. At the same time, Jesus is in a place we are not. He has gone to prepare a place for us and is awaiting the day we will
be rejoined with Him. How are we to be rejoined with Him? What is the way from where we are to where He is? He is the way. He is the only way.

Hopefully this passage has washed away any idea you may have had that Jesus is just someone content to be on the outskirts of your life. Jesus isn’t a side character in the grand narrative of your own life, watching from afar as “you do you.” Whether we recognize it or not, He is in fact at the center of our lives, at the end of everything we do, and everywhere in between. Have you found truth? That truth is Jesus. Have you found life? That life is Jesus. And if you haven’t found the way, the way is Jesus.

Begin praying with Psalm 16:11:
“You reveal the path of life to me;
in your presence is abundant joy;
at your right hand are eternal pleasures.”