John 14:1-14 (NRSV)
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Chapter 14"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. Verse 2In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? Verse 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.
Verse 4And you know the way to the place where I am going." Verse 5Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Verse 6Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Verse 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Verse 8Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Verse 9Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Verse 10Do 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; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Verse 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
Verse 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Verse 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Verse 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
Devotion
Christians know they are to witness about Jesus and to at least work at making disciples of their neighbors. But what of the multi-faith culture in which we live? How do we point to Jesus as the only “way?”
In the March issue of Southwest Airlines magazine Spirit was an article on hoaxes. Author Tim Brookes wrote about imposters in America's past such as P.T. Barnum, who drew huge crowds and made his name selling Joyce Heth as the 161-year-old nurse of George Washington. He convinced people that someone could live a hundred years past the life expectancy of the time. He pointed them to the unbelievable and they believed!
We seem quick to believe in the wildest of theories, all believing their own stories instead of the true story. Barnum based his story on the absurd. We base our story in the Spirit. Whose story might we be willing to share?
Prayer
True God, we are so often duped by what is false. Lead us upon the paths that bring us to our home in you. May this be what we ask for in your name. Amen.