I Am Going Home!
May 3, 2026. John 14:1-14. Rev. Edward Skutshek
When I read today’s Gospel lesson it brought to mind and exceedingly important part of my ministry. I have officiated at more than 250 funerals over almost 26 years of ministry at Grace Lutheran Church, West Kelowna, BC. I officiated at about a dozen during the time I was studying at Lutheran School of Theology in Saskatoon, SK. I have even officiated at a few here at St. Andrew’s. I would say that John 14:1-6 was the Gospel text for 1 in 3 funerals.
The family comes to me troubled. They are reeling from a loss. Mom is gone. She’s gone for good! They can’t call her up on the phone anymore. They can’t visit her. Who will comfort them as she did? Who will love me the way she did? She was with me from the beginning. Now she is gone. I am an orphan.
People wonder: “What happens when you die?” This question takes on special urgency on the loss of a beloved parent, grandparent or spouse. They wonder: “What happened to Mom or Grama?”
At the same time they ask the question: “What will happen to me?”
In some cases the deceased or the family asks me to preach on a particular text. However, most of the time the surviving family has no idea what scripture to use in the funeral service. I have a list of scriptures that I routinely share. I read the passages aloud one after another; then I get to John 14:1-6:
“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.”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.
The Lord’s words wash over them.
The reaction to Jesus’ words is amazing; most especially among those whose connection to the church has grown weak. A peace washes over them that is visible and palpable. Often their response is:
“That’s the one. That’s the Bible lesson I want for my mom’s funeral. What beautiful words…. How comforting…… I don’t remember ever hearing this Bible lesson.”
Like the son or granddaughter in my office the disciples were also reeling emotionally. They were filled with grief and fear. Jesus spoke these words on the first Maundy Thursday. In John Chapter 13 Jesus had declared that he was going away and they could not follow him. Jesus said: “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” (John 13:33) He declared that he would betrayed by one of them (Judas) and denied by another (Peter).
These words shocked the disciples to their very core. They were convinced that Jesus was going to set up an earthly Messianic kingdom in real time and they were going to be citizens and even rulers of his kingdom. Their mindset is revealed on the road to Emmaus, when Cleopas and his companion spoke to the risen Christ (whose identity was hidden to them): “He [Jesus] was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. (Luke 24:19-22) To redeem Israel was to renew the earthly kingdom of Israel and establish the nation as the preeminent world power.
Jesus’ announcement of his immediate departure, brought about by his betrayal by one of them and Peter’s looming denial of Jesus, had thrown the disciples into a state of fear and panic. Jesus spoke to them and called them from fear to faith and from panic to peace. He called them to put their trust in God and in him.
Jesus revealed that the place he was going. His Father’s house. Into the presence of God almighty. To heaven. To eternity. He revealed that heaven is a real place. It is a household with real rooms. Heaven is a family, a community that God has chosen. There is a room there for all the chosen. Jesus promised to prepare a room for them and to come back for them, so that they could be where he was. Jesus reminded them. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas immediately protested: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). He admitted that did not even know the object and goal of their Master's going away; so how could they possibly know the way!
Thomas’ statement sounds so foolish to us today. The disciples knew where Jesus was going. Jesus had taught them. Fear and dread had paralyzed their thinking.
Jesus called them to their senses. He made a statement that is repeated almost as often as John 3:16: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
The words are so warm, smooth and familiar. If someone asked you to explain each term, how would you respond? How is Jesus is the way, the truth and the life?
Jesus is the way to heaven because he came from heaven. He said: “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven —the Son of Man.” (John 3:13)
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus declared that it was his calling to shepherd his flock into heaven. He had to go before them. He had to go places the disciples couldn’t go with him. The place he had to go was the cross and he had to go there alone. He had to suffer and die alone. John the Baptist had declared of Jesus: ”Behold the lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world.” (John1:29-39). There can be no forgiveness of sin without spilling blood of a sacrificial victim. (Hebrews 9:22 and Leviticus 17:11).
The one sacrificed for our sin would not stay dead. In John 10:14-18 Jesus promised that he would lay down his life for his sheep and take it up again. Another time some Jewish leaders challenged Jesus for a sign that he had authority to do what he dis and say what he said. He answered: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” But the temple he had spoken of was his body. (John 3:19-21)
The crucified and risen Christ could usher his sheep from this life to eternity. There is no other who can do this. Jesus is therefore the way to God and God’s house.
How is Jesus the truth. In the Old Testament the truth of the matter is established by two witnesses. Jeus had declared that he had two witnesses. John the Baptist and God the Father.
John testified regarding Jesus: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
Jesus said: “And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.” God’s testimony is recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus chided the Jewish leaders: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” They refused to hear God’s testimony.
Jesus testified for himself. His preaching and teaching and miracles fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah’s earthly ministry. His death and resurrection were also a fulfillment of God’s testimony.
Jesus is the truth because he fulfilled God’s word in his life, death and resurrection continues to fulfill God’s word as the clock ticks towards his second coming.
Jesus is the life. The disciples knew this. Just a few days before, Jesus had raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. All hope had been abandoned, except for Martha who believed Jesus could help. Jesus went to the Lazarus’ tomb and called for the stone sealing the entrance to me moved out of the way. He called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. (John 11:43-44)
Jesus raised a man to life who had been dead for four days. He was the life.
Jesus declared that God the Father could be accessed only through him.
Philip then spoke: “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus’ response: “If you see me, you see my Father. The Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”
Jesus response: “Philip don’t you get me? You have been with me for a long time. You heard me preach and watched all I did; you were a witness to my ministry. You know that my words were not my own, they came from the Father. You know I gave God the credit and glory for all that I said and accomplished. Philip you were a witness to the mystical communion between my Father and me.
If you see me, you see the Father. I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
Jesus unity with God the Father would become manifest when Jesus ascended to heaven and enjoyed communion with the Father as he had before his incarnation. Then the Father would send out millions into the world who would preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ a transformation would occur. “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
Those sent out would do even grater things. The Gospels would be written; the other Books of the New Testament would be penned. As of 2024, the full Bible has been translated into over 740 languages, the New Testament into more than 1,660 languages, and portions of Scripture into over 3,600 languages. Over the centuries thousands books would be written about the Bible. Missionaries would be sent to every nation in the world in Jesus’ name. Who can count the people who have become Christians in the last two thousand years? Evidence of their number and their presence is marked in the chapels, churches, basilicas and cathedrals found across the world. Statistics kept by the UN and various authorities contend that the world’s 8 billion people remain highly religious at 88%, with Christians still the world’s largest religion at 32.3%, or 2.6 billion. Missionary work continues until this very day and the Church of Jesus Christ continues to grow in our world. These statistics are astounding. Jesus’ words 2,000 years ago became flesh. We are witnesses to their accuracy.
Jesus reminds us that this legacy is not random. Jesus invited his disciples in Palestine 2,000 years ago and invites us to pray to him. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. The prayers Jesus asks us to pray are not for material things, but to pray that his kingdom on earth would grow and advance.
The Apostle Paul was always zealous for the growth of the Church. He taught his disciples that interactions with others should not to be seen as random or coincidental, but many times are divinely inspired and directed and thus an opportunity to bring Jesus into the conversation.
This is the prayer that Paul prayed for the members of the church at Colossae: “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:5-6)). Paul asked the church at Colossae to pray for him: “That God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.” (Colossians 4:3-4). These are prayers that Jesus stands ready and able to answer for his sake and the Father’s sake.
He wants his words in John 14:1-6, to wash over them. He wants them to believe that Mom was a child of God who followed Jesus through this life, and in the end, when she drew their last breath, Jesus came to her, called out her name, said get up, its time to go home, and home they went.
Jesus wants them to believe that this promise is open to them and to all who hear his word and believe him and in the Father who sent him.
Amen.
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