I AM the Way (Palm Sunday)

Read John 14:1-31

I remember a really hard moment in my life right before I entered seminary. I was doing full-time ministry, I was running my dock business, I was going to school full-time, I was raising a family, and our church was in an extremely difficult season. In the midst of all of that, partly because I was stretched so thin, I felt like a failure. I felt like I was running my business poorly. I felt like I wasn't doing ministry well. I didn't think I was being a very good husband and father. I felt like I was slacking in my school work. I felt like our church was falling apart. I felt hopeless and helpless to do anything in that moment. I was in over my head. It was too much to bear. I couldn't sleep. One night I was pacing around the house praying and slammed my hands on the table and cried out, "Lord, I can't do this anymore!!! Help!" And in that moment, whatever you want to call it, a thought passed through my mind: "It's about time" and peace swept over me, and I knew that I had been relying only on myself and my strength and my abilities and I needed to trust in God.

This is the cry of Palm Sunday. As we sing songs and shout, "Hosanna!" we are crying out "Save us!" That's what I was crying out that night. Save me. We cry out Hosanna because we find ourselves in situations where we finally realize we are not strong enough to do it anymore, or we're not smart enough to figure out the path forward, or we're not powerful enough to make something happen. We're in a position or a situation where we're beyond our abilities. We feel like we're in over our heads or that it's too much to bear, too long to wait, that everything is lost. So, what do we do? Where do we turn? We turn to God and we cry out "Hosanna!, Save us!" It's a cry of faith and trust that God is the one who can truly save us and meet us in our time of need.

The disciples find themselves in a really difficult situation that's only going to get worse. Remember what had happened last time I preached. Jesus had just informed his disciples of two really difficult things: 1) that one of them would betray him and 2) that Peter would deny him three times. Think about how much difficulty and turmoil that would cause among them. Think about what it would be like if I stood in front of you and said that one of you was going to lie about me, betray me, so that I would be arrested and executed. How would you feel? Then, on top of that, I told you that one of the pillars of this church (let's say Don Slager) was going to deny Jesus Christ. It would throw everything into turmoil and difficulty, right? It would cause you to question much of what you thought you knew.

And it was only going to get worse for them. Soon, they would see Jesus arrested, beaten, sentenced to death, hanging on a cross, and buried in a tomb. They would find themselves in one of the deepest darkest, most despairing moments of their life. They would see one of their own betray Jesus Christ; they would see one of their strongest followers, deny Jesus; and they would see their hopes and dreams buried in the tomb with Jesus. This is definitely one of those situations when they realized they were beyond their abilities, beyond their strength, and beyond their understanding.

So, Jesus begins preparing them for that moment by saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1, ESV). This is how he begins. He tells them that they don't have to have troubled hearts in these moments. Actually, it's a command. So, he's telling them not to allow their hearts to be troubled in this moment. Rather, they are to believe in him. They are to have faith and trust in him. This is how they are to overcome the despair they are about to face. This is how they are to overcome the situations that are beyond themselves. It's by faith. Faith is the foundation of an untroubled heart.

He also reframes what's about to happen. He says, “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.” (John 14:2–3, ESV). When they see Jesus die on the cross and buried in the tomb, everything in them is going to think that he is gone forever. Yet, Jesus is telling them that he may go away from them, but it won't be forever. He's going to come back and then bring them with him. Not only that, but Jesus is teaching the disciples that he HAS to go away in order to prepare a place for them, and at just the right time, when everything is ready, he will come back and take them to be with him.

When talking about Jesus coming back to them, it's important to recognize that the Bible talks about Jesus coming back in a few different ways. The most common way for people to understand Jesus' coming back is at his second coming, when he returns to the earth, defeats Satan and his armies, and establishes his kingdom fully on earth as it is in heaven for the rest of eternity. Yet, the Bible talks about Jesus' coming back in a couple other ways. In a sense, when was the first time Jesus came back to his disciples after his death? At the resurrection, right? He rose from the dead and went right to his disciples to show them what had happened. In a way, this was Jesus coming to his disciples in their despair and saying, "See, I told you I wasn't going away forever. I came back." This is really important because it helped the disciples understand that Jesus' death wasn't the end, but the beginning.

But there's one more way in which Jesus comes to the disciples. It's a little more nuanced. Jesus comes to his disciples in and through the Spirit on Pentecost. Now, we don't want to confuse Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because they are different persons in the Trinity, but there's a sense in which Jesus comes through the Spirit. It's one of the reasons why Jesus can say, "I will always be with you" because the Spirit is always with us.

Because of these truths, Jesus tells his disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1, ESV). They are not to let their hearts be troubled when they see him dead and buried. Why? They are to believe him when he says that he's coming back and that he will not leave them as orphans. They are to trust him when he says that he will always be with them to the end. Their faith in him should help them see that his death is not the end, but a glorious beginning. Faith is the foundation of an untroubled heart.

And this faith is essential, not only to an untroubled heart, but to being able to be with Jesus. We read, “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.” (John 14:4–6, ESV). Faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. It's the only way to be able to go where Jesus goes and, as we'll see in a bit, do what Jesus does. That's why Jesus says, "I AM the way...No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6, ESV). There is no path toward salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ. He's the only way to the Father.

This is such an important truth for us to get deep down in our soul. Listen to John Calvin explain this passage further, “If any man turn aside from Christ, he will do nothing but go astray; if any man do not rest on him, he will feed elsewhere on nothing but wind and vanity; if any man, not satisfied with him alone, wishes to go farther, he will find death instead of life.” (Calvin, 85). You can try many different things, and many different paths, but none will lead you to the Father apart from Jesus Christ. You can rely on your own wisdom and strength, but they will not lead you to the Father. You can try to be the best person in the world, doing all the best things, giving the most money, saying all the nicest things, and none of that will get you to the Father apart from Jesus Christ because NO ONE comes to the Father apart from Jesus. Actually, if you try to get to the Father apart from Jesus, not only will you fail, but you will dig yourself deeper and deeper in the hole you're in and things will only get worse. You will find death, instead of life. Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only way to the truth, and the only way to life itself.

This is the faith I'm talking about that is the foundation of an untroubled heart. Not some generic faith. A generic faith--faith in some general thing--does nothing for you. That's some fluffy bunny faith that will be crushed the moment any difficulty comes your way. However, faith in the one who died and rose again from the dead has some weight to it, some firm foundation. That's the faith I'm talking about. Not only does that faith bring you to the Father through Jesus Christ, but that faith is what will also calm a troubled heart. It calms a troubled heart because it's faith founded on the one who was raised from the dead and overcame the world and has told us that he will never leave us nor forsake us and that he will be with us to the very end of the age. THAT kind of faith will calm a troubled heart.

Then Jesus not only tells his disciples not to be troubled by what's about to happen, but he also tells them what they are supposed to do while they wait for him to come back. He doesn't tell them to go out into the woods or go up to the mountains or run out into the desert and wait for him to come again. Rather, he says, “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.” (John 14:12, ESV). If they truly believe in him--if they have a true faith--then they will do the things that he did while they wait for him to come back. Not only will they do the things he did, they will do GREATER things than he did. That's their calling and mission from Jesus while they wait for him to come back. That's why we hear Jesus make these two statements in this passage: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments...Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me...If anyone loves me, he will keep my word...Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” (John 14:15, 21, 23, 24 ESV). A true faith in Jesus Christ not only gives us access to the Father and cleansing from our sin, but it also changes our hearts so that we love Jesus and obey him and do the works that he does, even greater works. And that's the task of God's people as they wait for Jesus Christ to come again.

That's kind of overwhelming, isn't it? How in the world will we do greater works than Jesus did? We know how weak we are. We know how finite we are. We know how easily we're led astray. That's why Jesus says, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26, ESV). This is how we do the greater things. The only way we do them is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Now, there's a lot of talk about what those "greater things" are because some people wonder how we could possibly do greater things than Jesus. I mean, he did some pretty intense miracles. He calmed a storm and raised someone from the dead. Are we going to do greater things than that? I don't think that's what Jesus is saying here. At a minimum, Jesus is saying that the work he did on earth was just the beginning. And I think that he's using the term "greater" to mean something more along the lines of "more" because while Jesus was on earth, he was limited to his body. When he is raised from the dead, ascends into heaven, and sends the Holy Spirit to fill his people and empower them to do the things he did, that work will spread like wildfire throughout the earth. That's powerful.

And I like to remind us of this often, but the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to take the work of Jesus Christ and apply it to our lives. As the Holy Spirit applies the work of Jesus Christ to our lives, he works in us and teaches us and guides us so that we begin to do the works that Jesus did.

Now, I realize that this may not seem like a Palm Sunday sermon, but it totally is. Everything we've been talking about this morning is at the heart of Palm Sunday. What does it mean when we read, “So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”” (John 12:13, ESV). What does it mean that Jesus is the King whom they are calling on to save them? We read this earlier in the service but let me remind you here of the question from the Heidelberg Catechism that asks, "What do we mean when we pray 'Your Kingdom come?" What does it mean for Jesus to be King and for his kingdom to come? What does it mean for him to truly answer our cry of "Hosanna! Save us!" Here's the answer from the catechism: "It means: Rule us by your Word and Spirit in such a way that more and more we submit to you." When we cry out "Hosanna! Save us!" we're crying out to Jesus to rule us by his Word and his Spirit in such a way that we submit to him more and more. We're asking him to forgive us and cleanse us and shape us and mold us to become more like him each and every day through the power of his Word and Spirit. This is how Jesus rules us as King. This is how Jesus saves us. That's what Palm Sunday is about.

So Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me...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.” (John 14:1, 12 ESV). These are powerful words for every day of our lives, especially on those days when we've been taken far beyond ourselves and our abilities, when we realize we can't go on in our own strength. Jesus comes to us and says, "Don't be troubled. Trust me. I told you I'm not going to leave you or forsake you. I told you I'm with you always to the end. I told you I would give you everything you need. Don't be troubled. Believe me. Believe me and do the work I've given you to do. I'll keep giving you what you need. The Holy Spirit inside you, guiding you and teaching you and strengthening you, giving you everything you need. Let not your heart be troubled. Believe in me."