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Day Seven: Monday

I Wish I Could Have Been There

Read John 14:1-8.

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (v. 5).

Back in the early 1980s I read a little book titled If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, You’ll Probably End Up Somewhere Else. The central idea was not far removed from that of books like The Purpose Driven Life, or The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Too many of us live without any clear sense of vision and, as the Bible points out, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Prov. 29:18, KJV).

So Jesus talked with his friends, going over the highlights one more time, telling them about the place he is preparing for their future. And Thomas, never one to hold back his true feelings or his doubts, asks the obvious question: “We don’t have any idea where you’re going, so how can we know the way?” (author’s paraphrase).

Jesus must have paused in the moment, maybe raised an eyebrow or inclined his head, and reflected on all that he had said, all that he had taught during the years that he had lived with these men and women. And I can envision him leaning back and smiling knowingly, opening his hands expansively to take in every single soul in that room. They must have sensed it too, capturing the moment with rapt attention, leaning in as one body to hear the Jesus’ response to the question Thomas had posed.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus says, his eyes overflowing with love and compassion. “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

I can see Jesus pausing, making eye contact with each of his friends in the room, and deliberately and lovingly drawing them into his spirit. “If you really know me,” he continues, willing them to know him, “you would know my Father as well. From now on,” and here he too leans forward into the tightening circle, “you do know him and have seen him” (v. 7, author’s paraphrase).

I imagine that you could have heard a pin drop. It was one of those defining moments, an experience from which you emerge with more clarity than you ever imagined.

I WISH I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE

I wish I could have been there, sitting at the table, leaning in toward Jesus, hanging on to the words of life. There are many scenes from the Gospels that I am drawn to. But this one, where Jesus dropped such an incredible truth right into the disciples’ laps, would have been special.

Of course, such illuminating moments are always a possibility, even today, because the ministry of Jesus is not merely historical, it is current, right here in the middle of real life. How would we choose to respond to such an opportunity today? What would we have our best friend and teacher share with us, right now, at this moment? How much of the truth are we prepared to hear now, where we are, on our knees?

This would be a good moment to talk with Jesus about it, one on one.

Prayer: It is hard to kneel. Yet we do: contrite, submissive, and eager to learn. Teach us, heal us, and love us, we pray. Amen.