W E E K S E V E N

Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ ~ John 14:6 ~

As you read John 14, take time to notice the characters, their responses and the themes you encounter.

What path leads to a true, eternal kind of life?

Notice…

14:1 – 14:21

JOHN 14

Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.’

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus the way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Jesus promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

14:22 – 14:31

22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

“Come now; let us leave.”

Her story

Naina: ‘I am able to experience God’s love’

Naina comes from the Banchhada tribe in Central India. Her story can be better understood in the context of her community. The Banchhadas, a tribe from west Madhya Pradesh, practise socially sanctioned prostitution as a tradition. The eldest daughter of the family is brought up with the knowledge that she will enter this trade when she comes of age, which is between 12 and 14 years. She is called a khilawdi (one who plays). The men in the community operate as pimps. In the old tradition, the women from the tribe would grow up to become respected courtesans, a respect that isn’t given to women in the sex trade anymore. The only way out of this life is for the woman to find a suitor who agrees to pay her parents the expensive dowry they demand for her. This family-based prostitution is a means of livelihood for the entire family and, therefore, ironically, in a country where girl children are despised and killed, in this community, the girl child is welcome, for she will bring in money. The community is largely poor, uneducated, and, not surprisingly, has a large number of HIV infections.

Naina is one such khilawdi from this community that is also involved in making alcohol and other unlawful activities. Her mother is a sex worker, and is HIV positive. Naina was infected at birth. She is unhealthy, struggling with weaknesses. Poverty led to an irregular school and college education. Through the long-term efforts of a Christian organisation, Naina received counselling intervention and was able to study nursing. Through them, she also got to know about Jesus and the Word of God. She says, “This is a place where I have heard the Word of God continually, participating in daily devotions has helped me know how God has a plan for my life. During my journey, I am able to experience God’s love through Bible words and people. Now I have accepted him as my Saviour and Lord.”

This family-based prostitution is a means of livelihood for the entire family and, therefore, ironically, in a country where girl children are despised and killed, in this community, the girl child is welcome, for she will bring in money.

Reflect

The way

This is a claim made by Jesus as an answer to a question by Jesus’ disciple, Thomas. Jesus was telling his disciples that they already knew the way to the place to which he was going. But Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answers him, “I am the way …” (John 14:6).

A way usually implies a destination. One needs to know the way only if one has a destination in mind. The destination that Jesus was talking about was his Father’s house. Jesus knew this house from his prior experience of having lived there, and it was a place of beauty, comfort, pleasure, rest and joy. A place of shalom. It was a home unlike Naina’s father’s home, which was a grooming ground for sexual exploitation. Jesus longs for those he loves to enjoy this peace and this place. He stated that he alone was the way to that destination because he had come from there, and he had made the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of human beings on the cross. That is what Jesus meant when he said he was going to “prepare a place” for his disciples (John 14:2). It was not that heaven was in disorder and needed to be set right. Rather, Jesus needed to complete the requirement of paying the price with his own blameless life to allow human beings entry into heaven.

To the abused woman who wonders if there is any way out of her pain and suffering, any way to erase the scars that constantly remind her of her yet raw wounds, any way to lose the memories of the violence that stole her dignity, any way to resolve the anger and bitterness she feels against her betrayers that eats away at her soul, Jesus says, “Come to me, my dear child, I am the way. I know the place of rest that you are longing for. I am the way to that beautiful place.” The price that men paid for Naina and girls like her enslaved them into further bondage. But the price that Jesus paid with his blood sets them free from every bondage so that they can enjoy shalom. He invites his followers to point such precious suffering girls and women to Jesus, the way to her freedom. And what’s better? As they accompany her, they are likely to find for themselves, increasingly, a way out of their own struggles and challenges where there seemed to be none.

Jesus says, “Come to me, my dear child, I am the way. I know the place of rest that you are longing for. I am the way to that beautiful place.”

Her story

Kishwar: ‘He rescued me and gave me hope’

The three-year-old smiles, his eyes lighting up when he sees his mother. Isaiah has just woken up from an afternoon nap, his curly hair more tousled than usual. Kishwar carries him, and he quietly lays his head on his mom’s shoulder. The moment is tender.

“I want Isaiah to be a pastor. That’s my dream for him,” Kishwar says with conviction. “I want God to be first for my son.”

Kishwar grew up on the outskirts of Bangalore as the only child of loving parents. She recalls her childhood with fondness. “My appa and amma gave me whatever I asked for,” she remembers. But by the time she was 15, both parents had died, leaving Kishwar with no money and no close relatives. Kishwar was left with little choice but to enroll in a hostel for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. Life was very different from the one she knew previously. Suddenly, food was scarce, and the wardens worked the girls to the bone. Kishwar was looking for a way out when a seemingly perfect opportunity presented itself. The hostel warden told Kishwar that a neighbour, Lakshmi amma, had lined up a job for her. It involved mostly household work, but it came with a good salary, she explained to Kishwar. Little did Kishwar know that she had unwittingly become a commodity in a ghastly business. She had been sold for ₹50,000 to Lakshmi amma.

She was taken by an overnight bus to an undisclosed new city. Lakshmi amma handed her over to another lady, who pawned her off to a third madam, and maybe a fourth. She was a piece in a board game, moved from one square to another. “I didn’t know where I was. I asked the lady, ‘Where am I?’ but she refused to answer,” recalls Kishwar.

With the little Hindi that she knew, Kishwar pieced together that she was now in Mumbai. She was taken to a small room crammed with about 15 girls, many of them from Nepal. “I was made to wear a short dress,” she says. Almost immediately, Kishwar witnessed the brutality of the industry. When the girls around her refused to service a client, they were beaten. She even witnessed one girl beaten to death and quietly buried in the ground near the brothel’s bathroom. The madam of the brothel slept in front of the only door of the house so that no one could get past her. Fear gripped Kishwar’s heart. There was no possibility of leaving this place. It was either life here on their terms or sure beatings and maybe even death.

Every night, from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m., she would have to service men, usually about 12 customers in a day. She was then allowed to sleep for a few hours before the day clients arrived. The girls were forced to eat to more than their capacity as they needed to stay strong to meet the needs of their clients.

When the brothel was tipped off that there would be a raid, Kishwar recalls that they were forced to go up into the attic space above a false ceiling. They were warned to keep perfectly still. No talking, no coughing, no breathing. Those were the instructions. “If they knew beforehand that the raids would take place, we were taken to the beach or a park,” she says.

After close to a year of being exploited, Kishwar was finally rescued when the police stormed the brothel. She was one of the few who were willing to testify to the torture the girls had undergone. She stayed in a rescue home in Mumbai and went through the entire court proceedings till her captors, including Lakshmi amma, were behind bars. She was then moved to a hostel in South India. Life was still far from ideal. The prostitution had ended, but she was not living a life where she felt valued. Again, food was scarce, and the work was hard. Then she met a man who sold flowers next to the hostel. The two eloped. Kishwar believed she had found true love. But soon the beatings started when her husband came home drunk. He began having affairs with other women. When he discovered that Kishwar was pregnant, his anger grew. “He beat me up with a slipper when I was pregnant,” she recalls.

Kishwar was determined to stay in the relationship despite the physical abuse and her husband’s affairs. She still loved him. He offered her a sense of security, though it was fleeting.

It was only when she realized that her child’s life was in danger that she made the decision to leave. “He wanted to sell the baby. He was always desperate for money,” Kishwar recounts. If there was one thing Kishwar knew it was that this curly-haired baby would stay with her, no matter what. One afternoon, while her husband was out, she picked up her baby boy and walked out. She walked for miles past the railway tracks near their house. She was finally rescued by an NGO and brought to the shelter home where she now lives with her son, Isaiah.

“I changed his name to Isaiah when I knew that he would be a man of God,” she says, her eyes shining with the love that only a mother knows for her child. Kishwar first started experiencing God through visions. In them, she saw the cross and the blood of Jesus. She saw a bright light and felt the healing warmth of God’s love flowing through her. “I am now God’s child,” says 30-year-old Kishwar, who has taken baptism.

Yet, life is not always easy. Kishwar still experiences deep rage that lasts several days. She refuses to talk to the other girls in the home and even takes her anger out on her child. As with the other girls who have been rescued from abuse, complete healing may take years.

Meanwhile, Kishwar is learning new skills and is especially interested in cooking. “One day, I want to open my own bakery and employ people with disabilities. I want my son to know that God helped his mother,” she says. “He has done so much for me; he rescued me and gave me hope. I have a family here in the home.”

Reflect

The truth

Many people claim to know the truth. Jesus is the only person in history who could make the stunning claim: “I am the truth.” Truth, therefore, is a person. Jesus does not merely know or have the truth, he is the truth! This is the truth that every human heart longs for. This truth alone reveals the lies and distortions of Satan, the father of lies, who seeks to blind and deceive.

Through his schemes in the world, he has propagated many lies, especially to the vulnerable person who has suffered abuse. These lies might include: “You deserved this, this is your lot.” “There is no way you can survive this trauma, just give in.” “No one will believe you, no one has seen you.” “You are to blame.” “You are unlovable.” “God has forsaken you, he does not care,” and as he said to Job through his wife, “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).

Jesus encounters this lonely sufferer and says to her, “My child, I am the truth! I am the overarching truth that calls out all these lies. I am the only truth you need to be able to find every truth you ever sought.” In that encounter with the person of Jesus, every lie and distortion melts away as he speaks truth into the abused woman’s life. The truth affirms how precious she is, how much she is loved. The truth of God’s grand narrative took Jesus to the cross so that the narrative of her life could be redeemed!

Jesus challenges his followers and church communities to look up to him, the truth that challenges all the half-truths that people succumb to as they shy away from standing up in the defense of the defenseless. He calls us to draw on the power of that truth and banish every lie of the evil one that enslaves, oppresses and maligns. As empowerment, he promises to send another advocate, the Spirit of truth:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” – John 14:16–17

The truth of God’s grand narrative took Jesus to the cross so that the narrative of her life could be redeemed!

Her story

Maitri: ‘Cry to him; he sees you, he knows your heart’

“My mom tried to sell my sister and me in Mumbai. I was ten. My sister was seven.” This is how 29-year-old Maitri started her story. At that point, her dad intervened and saved them. But he couldn’t do so again, a couple of years down the line, when her mother introduced them into the flesh trade.

Her parents fought a lot. Her mom, she recalls vaguely, had other male relationships. One such fight led to the separation of her parents, and the girls went with their mother. Soon, their mother set up Maitri for prostitution.

At that tender age, Maitri had only a sense that something was wrong, but reasoned within herself that if mom was doing this, then it couldn’t be that wrong. In time, as shame and a sense of dirtiness enveloped her, she numbed her pain by dissociating from herself when she was with men. She started binge eating, the effects of which she suffers even today. She damaged her back due to excessive and premature sexual activity. She says that the worst of it was when her mother decided to introduce the younger sister, who was 12 by then, into prostitution as well, and she wanted Maitri to be the one who told her about it.

One day, when their mother was negotiating a deal with a client in a hotel for both the sisters, a rescue team from an organisation, along with the police, raided and rescued them. The mother was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The girls were sent to a government home. Eventually, supported by the organisation that rescued her, she went on to complete college. She and her sister were also reunited with their father who, from then on until his death, remained a supportive presence in their lives.

Today, Maitri is married, with a son. She is a care worker with an organisation working in the area of justice and rescue. When asked how she looks at all that happened in her life, she says, “I often used to ask God, how could he allow such things to happen to me? My physical father did not abandon me, then how could he?” She laughs as she says, “I would hear God say—you complain about one stone that hit you. You don’t realize that I have been shielding you and not letting the many stones hurled at you touch you.” Maitri shared her fears too. Would she be able to manage a family, would she be able to care for her son?

Yet, there is a strong undertone of hope that resounds in her narration. “Whatever happened, happened for a purpose. So many people are now getting healed. God taught me how to love others. I see myself now as an example, a model, a leader—as God’s daughter.” She continues, “Cry to him. He sees you, he knows your heart. He is our friend and Father.”

“I often used to ask God, how could he allow such things to happen to me? My physical father did not abandon me, then how could he?”

Reflect

The life

Jesus personifies himself as life itself. He doesn’t say that he gives life, but that he is life! In other words, to be apart from him is to be dead. Jesus says again to his disciples, “Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). Scripture reaffirms this claim of Jesus repeatedly. Human beings were dead in their transgressions but have been made alive in Christ by God (Ephesians 2). So, this life that Jesus claims to be is an integration of ourselves in him, just as he is in the Father. “On that day,” Jesus says in John 14:20, “you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Now what makes this offer of life peculiar is that it involves dying in order to receive the new life. It requires the relinquishing of autonomy and handing over one’s ownership to Christ, who becomes life itself. Paul testifies to his own death and new life in Jesus eloquently in Galatians 2:20:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

To put it simply, the only true life that is to be had is life in Jesus. How does Jesus envision this life for the person who suffers abuse? Is it even possible? The situation seems impossible, the wounds so deep! Jesus probably burns with fury at this destruction and multi-dimensional brokenness of his good creation marred by sin. He knows that there is an alternate agenda by the prince of this world to steal and kill and destroy precious people. He aches with grief and anger on the abused woman’s behalf. He also knows that the perpetrators of the crimes against her are themselves in bondage to this wicked thief, and desperately in need of freedom. He knows that he has overcome this agenda with the only fitting answer, the only sufficient price, his shedding of his own precious life-giving blood on the cross. He holds out the offer of life instead of death:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
—John 10:10

He calls his followers and the community of believers to be mediators of reconciliation to those who are hurting. He longs for those who have tasted what true life in Jesus really is, to drink deeper of that life in greater surrender to him. He desires for us to be the spring of water welling up to eternal life (John 4:14) and pouring out that life for all who are thirsty. He asks his followers to live fully in the world and to be sensitive to the root of the problem, realising who the real enemy is and fighting with the weapons God has provided:

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."
—2 Corinthians 10:3–4

He wants his disciples to be channels of that eternal abundant life, even as they themselves experience it increasingly in practical ways every day.

Engage

What path leads to a true, eternal kind of life?

  1. Identify
  1. Interpret
  1. Involve
  1. Intercede