Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event the Way.
This is found in John, chapter 14, verses 1 through 14. Follow along with us as we read.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: 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.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: Philip said to him, lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do, and greater works than these will he do. Because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name. This I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
I love this section here. This is probably one of the more famous Bible verses and people probably recognize it more for the in my Father's house of many mansions. But this is a more accurate translation. In my Father's house of many rooms. This is a wedding terminology, isn't it? He's talking about the bridal husband process. How is this similar to the marriages of the day?
[00:03:08] Speaker B: In the time of Jesus Christ, Wedding was a multi day event and towards the end of this process, as revealed in Matthew 25, the parable of the Ten Virgins, the groom will go to take the bride and they're heading to his Father's home.
And on the way he will tell her, look, in my Father's house are Many rooms. I've been there, I prepared a place for you and it is my joy to welcome you into our own rooms.
So this is the language that Jesus Christ is using here. He's the groom, the disciples are the bride. And by extension we are the disciples. Disciples, Disciples. We are part of the bride and in his father's house there are many rooms enough for us. We can start a life there together.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And it goes a little bit beyond that because they had multi generational dwellings and I think of my in laws farmhouse, it's been in the family for over 200 years and there are multiple additions onto the house, little rooms put here and there.
And what would happen back in the day once you were engaged, once they made the arranged the marriage, everything was set as set up. You would go back to your father's house and you would build an expansion on if there wasn't room for you, you would build a little house, a little addition to the house and that would be for you and your wife. And once that was finished, that's when you would come back and take your bride back to the house. And so this is what I love about this. Jesus is saying, I'm going back to my father's house to make us a room.
And you know, so often we think of my mansion. I'm going to be up there in my own room, in my own house and have my own stuff. But Jesus is like, no, in saying this, I want to dwell with you and I want to be with you and we're going to have a place to share together up in heaven.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Yeah. We are going to live in the Father's house.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: And that is beautiful because that ties into and it is the backdrop for this close unity between Father and Son and also between Father and us. This unity will happen by dwelling in the same place.
[00:05:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
And Thomas responds, lord, how can we follow you if we don't know where you're going?
[00:05:49] Speaker B: That's a very good question.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: It's like in the leadership today, if you don't know the destination, if you don't have a vision for the future, you cannot develop the strategy to get there.
[00:05:59] Speaker A: Yeah. And I love Philip because it seems like Philip is trying to one up Thomas here.
Lord, show us the Father, it's enough for us. And Jesus gets into him for that. But going back to the answer that Jesus gave Thomas, he says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known the Father also.
The early Christian church, they didn't take for themselves the name Christian.
They chose the name, the Way.
They called themselves the Way. And it was only later on that the term Christian came from outside. And they. They eventually adopted it, but they were known as the Way. And it came from this statement, I am the Way, the truth, and the life.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: The first Christians didn't see themselves as a static organization or entity.
They saw themselves as being part of a journey.
[00:07:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: So we are the Way. And that is good because that means they are always open to make steps forward, to advance, to learn something new, to embrace new spiritual realities.
Because the revelation, at least in the Bible, is progressive.
Jesus Christ revealed the fundamental of the Gospels. The Apostle Paul came with different practical aspects, how to live those, how to live the Gospel.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: So in this, we also kind of unwrap that mystery of the Trinity, this Godhead, this three in one. And Jesus saying, you know the Father. If you've seen the Father, you've seen me. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I do the works of the Father. The Father's in me and I'm in the Father. I don't know even when we're up in heaven for a million years, if we'll fully understand the connection between the Godhead.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: It's the Way.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: So it's a journey, it's a progression. And I like how Jesus Christ started this dialogue with Philip. Philip said, show us the Father.
And Jesus answered in verse nine, you still do not know me.
It's very interesting.
Show me a different reality. Philip asked, and Jesus said, that reality is here. It is in front of your eyes. It is me, because Father and I are one. And this idea of oneness of God has to be better understood. It comes from the Old Testament when it says here, o Israel, the Lord your God. The Lord three names. The Lord your God name is one.
But this word one is better explained in its context. From Genesis 2:24, the man will leave his father and mother and will join his wife, and they will become one. Many translations say one flesh, but the word flesh is not there in Hebrew. They will become one. And the word for that one is not a numeral. From two, they become one. It is a complete, a perfect unity into a new entity that is called marriage.
And the secret or the mystery of marriage is that there are two.
But at the same time, they are one.
And should be room for each one of them to grow, to be a free agent. But at the same time, they are one in their goal. In Their plans and their desires.
And the purpose of a marriage is to grow into this oneness.
And we evaluate our marriage, looking back after years or decades, by how much we became one.
That bonding between two different people, that allows two different personalities. But at the same time, we experience this oneness as in no other place.
And Jesus Christ is later the Apostle Paul. They are using this imagery from the Old Testament to discuss the unity between us and God.
Jesus Christ was one with the Father, even if Jesus Christ was on his knees talking to the Father in heaven. They are two different entities, two different beings, but they are completely united. Jesus says, I didn't even use a word of myself. I use only what I receive from the Father. And that union was very much strengthened every night, every morning, every time Jesus Christ spent time in prayer.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: And I like how you equated that to marriage, because I see that with my spouse, that the more we spend time together, the more we're on the same page. And when my kids come and ask me, hey, dad, can we stay up late? You know, I'm fine if they stay up late. I don't care if they stay up late.
But I'm not the one who deals with them when they're tired the next day because I've got to go off to work and I'm not around them. But my wife does. And I know that my wife doesn't want, want them off the schedule because I know she really has their best interest in heart. And so I will tell them, no, it's time for bed. Not because of me, but because of my wife.
And I think the more I spend time with my wife, the more we're in sync. So the more we want to do things together and she wants to, I see this in her. She honors my wishes and my desires. And I likewise honor her wishes and her desires.
And as you said, and this is the point that I think we need to hit on, as God and Jesus are in each other, Jesus desires to be in us.
Now, we need to make it very plain that we are not God. We're not growing into God. We're not going to become God, that that's not who we are.
So there is a difference in this relationship.
But Jesus wants to dwell in us so that our thoughts, our sayings, our actions are His. And that is the beauty of the relationship that he's offering, is that he's willing to come and to work in our lives so that we can serve and bless and be an agent for good in a world full of sin.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: And in this way, Jesus Christ says, I am the life.
And this is how we should live our life, in that unity with Jesus Christ and the Father. And as we'll see in the next episode, the unity with the Holy Spirit.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: We want to end with this. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do that. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Verse 13 and verse 14. This so often has been used by people to say, God, I want a Ferrari. In Jesus name, give me a Ferrari.
This is not what this is saying when we tie it in with the context before.
This is I and you, you and me being one with the Father. We are as Christians, described as ambassadors for Jesus Christ that we go out. And as an ambassador, you speak on behalf of the country or the person that you're representing. We're out there representing Jesus Christ. And when we're out there representing Jesus Christ, the things that we ask for should be things that he desires.
And when we ask for those things that he desires, he fulfills those.
Prayer is powerful. And I've seen prayer work. When we. When we ask something in God's name, he does.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: And we should look at Jesus prayers, how he communicated with the Father, in what regard they were one, how Jesus prayers were answered.
Because we will see. In John chapter 17, Jesus prays, Father, if it's possible, have this cup of suffering and death on the cross be removed. Go around it. But he added, but not my will, but your will be done. Because their wills were bonded together.
They were welded together.
And if we ask everything that is part of this unity with the Father, that will be given to us.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: Yeah, let's pray.
Father God, we want to do your will on this earth.
[00:15:29] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: We want Christ living in us that we may love one another as he has loved us. We want to follow where you go. We want to be there and be present.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:42] Speaker A: And so we ask that Jesus will come and live in our hearts and that our wills, our desires, our. Our plans will line up with your plans.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: And that we can bless those around us because Christ lives in us.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:15:57] Speaker A: So we ask that you will be present in every aspect of our lives in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:16:03] Speaker B: Amen.
