John 14:1-14

The Central Idea of the Text is that Jesus comforts His disciples by telling them He’s going to prepare a place for them in Heaven, that He is the Way to get there, and that they should believe in Him and pray in His name. Jesus had been rejected by the leaders of Israel (John 11:57), and He’d told the disciples He was going to die (John 12:32-33; cf. Matt. 17:22-23; 20:17-19), that one of them would betray Him (John 13:21), that He was leaving them (John 13:33), and that Peter would deny Him three times (John 13:38).  All of this troubled the disciples.  Though Jesus is facing the cross, He seeks to comfort His troubled disciples by having them look to Him in faith.  Jesus also points them to the future in heaven, where He is going to prepare a place for them and will return to take them there (John 14:1-4).  Thomas asks about the way, and Jesus declares, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).  The early church was called the Way because of its identification with Jesus (see Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22).  Philip asks to see the Father—a theophany—and Jesus explains that if one has known Him, he also knows the Father.  This is because Jesus and the Father are closely identified, and the works of the Father can be seen in Jesus (John 14:7-11).  Jesus then points out that because He is going to the Father, that His disciples will perform greater works than He’d performed, and that whatever they asked in His name, that He would do for them (John 14:12-14).  To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray according to His will (see 1 John 5:14-15).