The Way, the Truth, and the Life

Question 1

What is this prayer’s central petition, and what does it lead you to expect from today’s readings? Consider especially the phrases “among the many changes of this world” and “where true joys are found.” If the Collect asks God to fix our hearts on something permanent in the midst of a changing world, what might the readings that follow reveal about where those “true joys” are located and how we find them?

Question 2

Jesus opens with the command, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (v. 1). The disciples have just heard Jesus predict Peter’s denial (13:38) and announce His departure (13:33). In this context of fear and confusion, Jesus commands faith in Himself alongside faith in God. What does it reveal about Jesus’ identity that He places trust in Himself on the same level as trust in God the Father?

Question 3

In verse 2, Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms” (en tē oikia tou patros mou monai pollai). The Greek word for “rooms” is monai (from menō, “to remain” or “to abide”), meaning permanent dwelling places, not temporary lodgings. In John’s Gospel, the language of “abiding” carries deep theological weight (see John 15:4–7). If Jesus goes to prepare a place of permanent abiding in His Father’s house, what does this promise say about the nature of the eternal life He offers? How does the “Father’s house” differ from the merely earthly temple in Jerusalem, which would be destroyed within a generation?

Question 4

In verse 3, Jesus promises, “I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (palin erchomai kai parале̄msomai hymas pros emauton, hina hopou eimi egō kai hymeis ēte). The verb parале̄msomai (“I will take to myself”) expresses a personal gathering: Christ does not merely open a door and leave His disciples to find their own way. He comes to fetch them. What does Christ’s active role in this promise reveal about the nature of salvation? Is eternal life something the believer achieves, or something Christ personally delivers?

Question 5

Thomas responds honestly: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (v. 5). Thomas’s confusion persisted until after the resurrection (see John 20:24–29). In what sense is Thomas’s candid admission a model for honest questioning in the Christian life? How does Jesus treat Thomas’s doubt here, compared to how He will treat it after the resurrection?

Question 6

Jesus answers with one of the great “I Am” statements of John’s Gospel: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (v. 6). The Greek is egō eimi hē hodos kai hē alētheia kai hē zōē. Each noun carries a definite article (hē): Jesus is not a way but the way, not a truth but the truth, not a life but the life. In the biblical tradition, the Greek word hodos (“way”) functions as a near-synonym for entolē (“commandment”), since to walk in God’s way is to walk in His commands. Jesus does not merely receive the Father’s commandments as external demands to obey; He is the commandment of the Father incarnate. What does it mean for your daily life that Christ Himself, rather than a set of rules, is “the Way”?

Question 7

The second half of verse 6 is the exclusive claim: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Read Acts 4:12, where Peter declares, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” How does Peter’s proclamation after Pentecost echo what Jesus teaches here on the night before His death? Why is this exclusivity not a limitation to be apologized for but a comfort to be received?

Question 8

Philip makes the request, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (v. 8). Jesus responds with evident surprise: “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?” (v. 9). Philip’s request reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of who Jesus is. He assumes that the Father can be seen apart from the Son. What does Jesus’ reply teach about the relationship between the Father and the Son? If “whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (v. 9), what does this claim tell us about Christ’s divine nature?

Question 9

In verses 10–11, Jesus speaks of a mutual indwelling: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” He then points to His words and His works as evidence. Notice that Jesus appeals first to His words (“the words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority”) and then to His works (“the Father who dwells in me does his works”). Read Colossians 1:15, where Paul calls Christ “the image of the invisible God.” How do Jesus’ words in John 14:10–11 and Paul’s confession in Colossians together establish that access to the Father comes only through a true knowledge of the Son?

Question 10

Jesus makes a staggering promise: “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” (v. 12). The phrase “greater works” has puzzled readers for centuries. Read Acts 2:41, where three thousand souls are baptized on a single day at Pentecost. How does the explosive growth of the early Church illustrate what Jesus means by “greater works”? In what sense do these works surpass the geographic limitations of Jesus’ earthly ministry, not in quality (since no one surpasses the Son of God) but in scope?

Question 11

In verses 13–14, Jesus promises, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The Greek verb for “ask” is aitēo, the characteristic Johannine verb for requesting things from God. In Johannine theology, prayer in Jesus’ name is not a formula that compels God to act against His will; it is an act of total dependence in which believers ask for what they do not possess, trusting that God freely gives out of His grace. How does this understanding of prayer differ from the notion that prayer is a tool to manipulate God? What does it mean in practice to pray “in Jesus’ name”?

Question 12

Acts 6:1 marks the first time in the book of Acts that the Christian community is called “disciples” (mathētōn). The disciples are “increasing” (plēthynontōn), yet this very growth creates a practical problem: the Hellenist widows are being neglected in the daily distribution. The apostles respond by calling for seven men “full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (plēreis pneumatos kai sophias, v. 3) to manage the distribution. What does the fact that the apostles require spiritual qualifications even for a practical, administrative task reveal about the nature of service in the Church? How does this connect to Jesus’ promise in the Gospel that the Father will act through those who believe in Him (John 14:12)?

Question 13

Acts 6:7 reports that “the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” Luke uses three imperfect verbs in a single verse to paint a picture of continuous, living growth. This is precisely the kind of “greater works” Jesus promised in John 14:12. How does the conversion of a “great many of the priests” underscore the radical nature of the apostolic proclamation?

Question 14

Stephen’s opponents from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (6:9) “could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” (6:10). The Greek verb for “withstand” is antistēnai, and Luke notes that they “were not able” (ischyon, imperfect tense), painting a picture of continuous, repeated failure. Read Luke 21:15, where Jesus promises His disciples, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.” How is Stephen’s experience a direct fulfillment of this promise?

Question 15

In his speech, Stephen declares that the “God of glory” appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia (7:2a), long before there was a temple or a holy land. His central argument is that God is not confined to a single building or geographic location. He then charges his audience with being “stiff-necked” and “uncircumcised in heart and ears” (7:51), people who received the Law but did not keep it (7:53). Stephen also insists that God does not dwell in houses “made with hands” (7:48). How does Stephen’s argument prepare the way for Jesus’ teaching that He Himself, not the temple, is the dwelling place of God (John 14:2, 10–11)?

Question 16

As Stephen is about to die, he “gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (7:55). He cries out, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (7:56). Two things are remarkable here. First, Stephen applies the title “Son of Man” to the risen Jesus at God’s right hand. In first-century Jewish theology, no human could share God’s glory. Second, Jesus is standing, not sitting. Read Luke 22:69, where Jesus tells the Sanhedrin, “From now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” If Jesus is ordinarily depicted as seated, what does His standing at Stephen’s martyrdom suggest? Is Christ rising to receive His faithful witness?

Question 17

Stephen dies with two prayers on his lips: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (7:59) and “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (7:60). Compare these to Jesus’ own words from the cross: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46) and “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Stephen dies in the pattern of his Lord. In the Gospel, Jesus says, “I am the way.” How does Stephen’s death demonstrate what it means to follow that Way even unto death?

Question 18

Peter urges his readers to “long for the pure spiritual milk” (v. 2) so that by it they may “grow up into salvation.” During the Easter season, the Epistles frequently serve as postbaptismal instruction. Peter’s audience consists of the newly baptized, people who have just “tasted that the Lord is good” (v. 3). How does Peter’s image of newborn infants craving milk describe the ongoing need for the Word of God after Baptism? If Christ is “the truth” (John 14:6), how does feeding on His Word sustain the life that Baptism bestows?

Question 19

In verses 4–6, Peter describes Christ as “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,” and he quotes Isaiah 28:16: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” Peter then says that believers are themselves “living stones” being “built up as a spiritual house” (v. 5). In the Gospel, Jesus speaks of His Father’s “house” (John 14:2). How does Peter’s image of the Church as a “spiritual house” built on Christ the cornerstone illuminate what Jesus means by the “Father’s house”? If the temple in Jerusalem was rejected by Stephen as “made with hands” (Acts 7:48), what is the new temple that replaces it?

Question 20

In verse 9, Peter declares, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” This language is drawn from Exodus 19:5–6, where God first addresses Israel at Sinai. Peter now applies these titles to the baptized Church. In the Gospel, Jesus promises “greater works” (John 14:12). How does Peter’s declaration that every baptized Christian is a member of a “royal priesthood” called to “proclaim the excellencies” of God give concrete shape to those “greater works”?

Question 21

Peter closes this section with a stunning contrast: “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (v. 10). This echoes Hosea 1:9–10 and 2:23. The movement from darkness to light, from “not a people” to “God’s people,” is the movement of Baptism itself. How does this transformation parallel the movement in the Gospel from Thomas’s and Philip’s confusion (not knowing the way, not seeing the Father) to the clarity that Christ provides (“I am the way”; “whoever has seen me has seen the Father”)?

Question 22

All three readings address the question of access to God. In the Gospel, Jesus declares Himself the exclusive way to the Father (John 14:6). In Acts, Stephen argues that God is not confined to a building made with hands (Acts 7:48) and then sees the risen Christ at God’s right hand (Acts 7:55–56). In 1 Peter, the Church is called a “spiritual house” built on Christ the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:5). Consider the Second Article of the Nicene Creed, in which we confess that Christ “came down from heaven” and “was made man.” How do all three readings illuminate this confession by showing that God has made Himself accessible not through a geographic location or an earthly building but through the incarnate, crucified, risen, and ascended Son?

Question 23

Our congregation never hears John 14:1–14, Acts 6:1–9; 7:2a, 51–60, or 1 Peter 2:2–10 on a Sunday morning in the One-Year lectionary. Having studied them together, what has been missing from our understanding of how God dwells with His people? How does the combination of Christ’s “I Am” claim, Stephen’s martyrdom, and Peter’s declaration of the Church as a royal priesthood deepen your grasp of what it means that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”?

Question 24

Martin Luther observed that when Christians are baptized, partake in Holy Communion, or hear the Absolution, “heaven is open, as St. Stephen saw it open.” In the Gospel, Jesus promises to prepare a place for His disciples in the Father’s house (John 14:2–3). In the Lord’s Supper, Christ gives His true body and blood to nourish the Church until He comes again. How do the Sacraments function as the present-tense fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that “where I am you may be also” (John 14:3)? In what sense is the Father’s house not merely a future destination but a reality into which believers are drawn every time they receive Christ’s gifts at the altar?