Moments to Ponder
Pondering is a lost practice today.
The idea that we might actually take a few moments to think deeply about anything seems indulgent in our busy, full schedules. Yet, our souls crave rest and space to breathe, process our lives, choices, and walk with Jesus. I invite you to join me fora few moments to take in Scripture and take away a few thoughts to ponder throughout your day.
Moments to Ponder
Episode 139: The Way, The Truth, The Life (John 13:31-14:11)
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The Upper Room glows with candlelight as Jesus gathers his eleven disciples close, Judas having already departed. What follows is one of the most intimate and profound conversations recorded in Scripture—the farewell discourse that spans several chapters in John.
Jesus begins with a revolutionary command that will become the hallmark of his followers: "Love each other. Just as I have loved you." This isn't merely an echo of ancient law, but a transformation of it. The standard has changed; no longer is it sufficient to love your neighbor as yourself, but to love with the same selfless, humble, foot-washing love that Jesus demonstrated. This love, he tells them, will be the unmistakable evidence of discipleship.
The disciples, however, fixate on something else entirely—Jesus' troubling statement that he's going away. Peter, with characteristic boldness, declares his willingness to die for Jesus, unaware that before sunrise, he'll deny even knowing him. To their anxious hearts, Jesus offers comfort: "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me." He speaks of his Father's house with many rooms, of preparing a place for them.
When Thomas admits confusion about this path Jesus speaks of, we hear those words that have echoed through centuries: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." In our pluralistic age, these words often create discomfort. Yet this exclusivity isn't about building walls but opening a door—one that all are invited to walk through.
The farewell discourse invites us to recognize Jesus not merely as a teacher pointing toward truth, but as Truth itself, embodied and accessible. As we journey through this Lenten season, remembering Christ's path toward sacrifice, we're challenged to embrace both the uniqueness of Jesus and his command to love others as he loved us. For in doing so, we not only prove our discipleship but become living signposts to the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
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Hey friends, welcome to Moments to Ponder. This is a podcast designed to help you spend a few moments in God's Word, gain fresh perspectives and find meaningful takeaways to ponder throughout your week. I'm Betsy Marvin and this is episode 139. As we move into the next few chapters in John, we step into a remarkable conversation between Jesus and his disciples. It's often called the farewell discourse. It's often called the farewell discourse Now that Judas has left the room. Jesus pulls the eleven close and for the next few chapters he'll try to help them understand that he's going away and that they can't follow him Yet. It's as if we've been given an exclusive audience to what Jesus needed to share. It's personal, intimate and precious In your mind's eye.
Speaker 1:Imagine the upper room. It's dark outside by now and there's a hush in the neighborhood. The candles within the room bring a warm glow over the crumbs left on the table as the disciples bring their pillows around and recline closer to Jesus, a few of them might still be sipping their wine, others might be nibbling the dessert, but Jesus looks at each of them with deep love. Their time is short and there is still so much they need to understand. We begin in John 13, verse 31. As soon as Judas left the room, jesus said the time has come for the Son of man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives the glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer and, as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can't come where I'm going. So now I'm going to give you a new commandment Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. This is where Jesus begins. A new commandment, a commandment to love each other is found way back in Leviticus, so it doesn't seem new. Yet Jesus makes it new by adding Love as I have loved you. The disciples haven't even mastered loving each other yet, and now Jesus is saying Love like I do, the foot washing, the patience, the eye to see the unseen, a love that values others before yourself, one that is humble and open, and this is the love that will tell the whole world of Jesus. Yet the disciples seem to miss this as they focus in on something else. Jesus said he's going away and they can't come.
Speaker 1:Verse 36 Simon Peter asked Lord, where are you going? And Jesus replied you can't go with me now, but you will follow me later. But why can't I come now, lord? He asked I'm ready to die for you. Jesus answered Die for me. I tell you the truth, peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.
Speaker 1:Peter, always all in and in this moment. We believe him. He would have died for Jesus right then. His words, based on the emotion of the evening, were completely true then. Yet Jesus tells him the truth of what is to come and although I'm sure Jesus said this with sadness and gentleness, his words must have crushed Peter a bit. In fact, as Jesus continues, we know that his leaving is being deeply felt by all of them, because he continues with these words in John 14, verse 1.
Speaker 1:Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my father's house. If this were not so, would I have told you I'm going to repair a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am and you know the way with me where I am and you know the way to where I'm going.
Speaker 1:No, we don't know, lord Thomas said we have no idea where you're going. So how can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is From now on. You do know him and have seen him. Philip said Lord, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. Jesus replied have I been with you all this time, philip? And yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father, who lives in me, does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe, because the work you have seen me do After three years of doing life 24-7,.
Speaker 1:The disciples are confused. Why would Jesus leave them. Why, would he say they know where he's going. Yes, it'll all make sense at some point, but right then, in that upper room, I think they're feeling a bit abandoned. Yet Jesus asks will you trust me? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and he is in me? He goes on to say you will join me, my Father's house has room for you. He goes on to say you will join me, my Father's house has room for you, and you do know the way, because you know me. To get to the Father's house, you must go through Jesus.
Speaker 1:This section of scripture is rich in so many things to talk about the Father's house and the temple and loving one another as Jesus loves. But for today we're going to focus on the words of verse six, when Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life. I want to focus here because these words have become a sticking point in our current culture. In fact, for the last maybe century, there's been a lot of pushback on Jesus being the way I've heard things like. Isn't it arrogant to think that Jesus is the only way to get to God? How dare the church or John or anyone else say that kind of thing. How can people who say they're Christians tell other people that they should give up their own way and follow Jesus instead? Isn't it really narrow-minded to think that there is only one way? We live in a world that believes that everyone should be able to get to do what they want to do in any way they want to do it because, well, that's tolerant, that's nice and that includes religion. What I've discovered is that people don't like to have to admit that they need Jesus or that Jesus is the way, because then they have to choose and they don't want anyone to have to choose. I've even heard isn't every religion just a different way to get to God? Well, nt Wright, my favorite commentator. He shares this in his commentary on John. He shares this. In his commentary on John. He says dead.
Speaker 1:The belief that all religions are really the same sounds nice and democratic, but through the study of religion, it quickly shows that this isn't true. What you're really saying, if you claim that they're all the same, is that none of them are more than distorted image of reality. You're saying that reality or God or the divine is unknowable and that neither Jesus or Buddha or Moses or Krishna gives us direct access to anything. They all provide a way toward the foothills of the mountain, but not the way to the summit. From the beginning, humans have wanted to be more than they were created to be. From the beginning, humans have wanted to be more than they were created to be. We have this deep arrogance and pride of wanting to create the way ourselves. Even the Pharisees had trouble with the Messiah. They wanted him to look like the one they created in their minds, right.
Speaker 1:Yet this denies the very truth we're seeking, doesn't it that there is something we can all depend on? I mean, if we can create a way or a truth, then it's pretty flimsy because it might be based on emotion. I mean, think of Peter who said I'll give my life, as if that was his truth, but then hours later he denies he even knows Jesus, making it untrue. We lose the whole of the gospel if we lose the uniqueness of Jesus. Christianity insists that there is one true and living God, the Creator, the God of Israel, and that, as God, he acted decisively within history to bring Israel's story to its ultimate goal to rescue the world through Jesus.
Speaker 1:When we get all vague on truth, we're not walking in the Christianity that Jesus taught us the truth, the life through which we come to know and find the way, which is Jesus, the one who washed feet and told us to follow his example, the one who wept for his friend and touched lepers, the one who gave his life out of love. That's the one to follow. He's the one who is saying I am your way and in that way you will find truth. And the truth is that I bring life. When we don't know where we're going, jesus shows us the way. And when we're confused and don't know what to think, jesus is the truth. And when we feel at the end of our rope and don't know how to go forward, jesus is the life.
Speaker 1:Dear one, you can know the way and the truth and the life because you can know Jesus. And the more you come to know him, the more you see that he is true, and the more you experience a life lived as he directs, the more you become alive. And the more you walk with him, the more you discover that his ways are more than we could ever ask or imagine. But within that, he has given us a new commandment love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other, your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
Speaker 1:Knowing that Jesus is the way doesn't make him exclusive. It makes him the door all can walk through. And all who come through his door are not all going to think alike, look alike, practice alike, but within that, jesus says love as I would love. And that's where it gets hard. So, dear one, as you're walking in this season of Lent, may your mind be aware and your heart be open to ways that God, truth that you know. Is there someone who needs to know the way, to follow the way that you are walking? May your love for others spark their curiosity. May your love for others spark their curiosity. May how you love them show them that you are different and that they can be loved just as you are and, in turn, love others as you do. In this season where we remember Jesus' sacrifice, may we love well, amen.