5/3/26 – Pastor Chris Warneke
John 14:1–14
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for our meditation today is the Gospel reading from John chapter 14, in which Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
This is really the perfect summary and encapsulation of what our church teaches. This is the Christian faith: our way to salvation is in Christ alone, all truth, especially the truth of salvation, is found in Christ alone, and that we find our life in Him.
That’s what these girls have been studying in confirmation for the past two years. That’s what their parents have been teaching them. That’s what they have been hearing in church week in and week out throughout their whole lives. And that’s what they get the opportunity to profess before you today: they believe that Jesus is the way, truth, and life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
So it’s really the perfect text for confirmation. It wasn’t planned this way—it’s just the text for the Fifth Sunday after Easter—but it fits so well.
And that’s the message that I have for them. That’s the message that I have for you today as well, even if your confirmation was so long ago: Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.
Jesus tells us that He is the way. But what does that really mean? The way to what? The way to where? He tells us at the beginning of our reading: Jesus is talking about the way back to God. He’s talking about the way to the Father.
Why is it necessary that we need a way to the Father? Why is it necessary for all of us to be with God? God is our source of life. God is the One in whom we live and move and have our being. We see this in creation in Genesis chapter 1. Everything that exists comes from God and from His Word.
God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Without God, Adam was nothing. The same is true for each and every one of us. All of us are nothing without God. All of us need God. God is the one who supports each and every day of our lives—each and every breath that we take, each and every time our heart beats. It is God’s gift to us.
All of us need God. We need to know Him by faith in order to be saved and be with Him eternally, because all of us are born into this world separated from God. It wasn’t originally like that. We weren’t created to be separated from God. We were created to be in a relationship with Him. But the sin of Adam and Eve separated them from God, and the same thing is true for us as well.
We are all born sinful, as Psalm 51:5 tells us. We have all inherited the sin of Adam and Eve, and we have all committed sins of our own. And our sin is to turn our back on God and say that we don’t care about Him and we don’t care about His will. In our sins, we are separated from God and even enemies with God, as St. Paul says in Romans 5.
But God sees us in our sins and He doesn’t leave us there. He sees us in our sins and He goes down to us to redeem us, to bring us back to Himself. He did this through His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jesus took on human flesh. And then He took on our sin—that sin that makes us enemies of God, that sin that separates us from God. Jesus took it into His own body, and He paid the penalty for it on the cross.
He paid the penalty for our sin. He died our death in our place, and He washes our sin away through His blood. And He gives the promise that anybody who believes in Him receives the forgiveness of sins. Anyone who believes in Him is reconciled to the Father again.
That’s what St. Paul tells us in Romans 5:8: “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And then Romans 5:10: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by His life?” And then 2 Corinthians 5:19: “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”
Jesus brings us back to the Father once again. Jesus reconciles us to God through His own blood. And in doing that, He makes heaven our home. That’s why Jesus promises His disciples in our reading for today from John chapter 14: “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.”
Because Jesus has forgiven your sin, He is the way to the Father. He is the one who brings you back to God. He is the one who prepares a place for you in heaven. This is not something that you could ever do by your own power. We’re too stuck in our sins. Jesus has to do it for us. And thanks be to God that He has through His own blood shed on the cross. Jesus is the way of salvation alone. Like He said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
This is contrary to what the world will teach you. The world will say that there are many paths to fulfillment, and many paths to salvation. "Maybe you just need to dig deeper into yourself." "Maybe you just need to find yourself, and then you’ll find fulfillment." "Maybe you need to find yourself in the things of this world like work, hobbies, money, or the pleasures of this life." "Maybe you can find real fulfillment in another religion or spirituality." People will even say, “All these different religions—they’re really just different paths to the same God, aren’t they?”
Jesus responds: No. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The more you look to yourself, you’ll just find sin. The more you look to the things of this world, you’ll find that these things never really bring us true fulfillment. Other religions are not just different paths to the same God. They are the religion of demons taking us further away from the one true God.
God is the only one who brings us truth. God is the only one who brings us salvation. Christ alone is our way. Look to Him alone for salvation. Follow Him on that way.
Jesus says, “I am the truth.” And what is He saying when He says, “I am the truth”? He’s declaring the truth that He is true God in human flesh.
This is the truth proclaimed in John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus is constantly proclaiming that He is not just an ordinary man, and He’s not just speaking the opinions of men. He is God in the flesh speaking the Word of God. As He said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” And then in our reading from John 14:7: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.” And then also from our reading: “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” Jesus is true God in the flesh. His Word is truth.
So what does this mean for our lives? When Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, the voice of the Father came from heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son… listen to Him.” So dear Christians—confirmands—listen to Him.
Hear His Word as it is given to you in the Holy Scriptures. The Holy Scriptures are not just ordinary. They are not just the opinions of men. They are the Word of God that endures forever. They are your life. They are your salvation. They are the air that you breathe. That’s what Jesus says in John 6:63: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
So therefore in the life of the Christian, we rejoice in the Word of Jesus, the Word of God which we receive in the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures are the treasure of the Church that show us the way of salvation and also show us everything that is true for our lives as well.
Now, they learned a lot of information in confirmation class. And if you were in Bible study, you heard them say a lot of that information. But we run into trouble if we think of it as just information—like, “I’m going to cram for a test and then I’m just going to throw it away after the test.” That’s not what it’s for. The Word of God is not just a mere academic exercise. It is our life.
They didn't memorize the Small Catechism in confirmation class just as an academic exercise. They did it so they would have it with them, have it in their heart, and that the Holy Spirit would continue to work through that Word that is now in their heart to bring them closer to Christ day after day after day.
And that’s the same thing for everyone in this room—all Christians. We are given the Word of God to treasure, to cherish, to meditate on, because in the Word we receive Christ.
Jesus says that He is truth to the exclusion of all other truths in this world, because the world is going to put forward a lot of different truth claims for you. Maybe the world says to find truth in some other system, philosophy, or religion apart from Christianity. Maybe the world says look to yourself and find your truth. Maybe the world says that there’s no such thing as truth at all. And when you’re bombarded with all this day in and day out, it’s easy to throw up your hands and say, “What is truth?” like Pontius Pilate says to Jesus when Jesus is on trial.
But then here comes Jesus in the midst of all this chaos, when you’re being bombarded with all these different truth claims, and He says: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
He comes speaking to you a word of forgiveness. He comes speaking to you a word of mercy. He comes speaking to you a word of life. The thoughts and opinions of men just lead us astray. And the thoughts and opinions of men are going to fade eventually. But the Word of God never fades.
The Word of God is not trivial. It gives us life. As the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 40:8: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.” The truth of Christ will stand forever because He is truth.
And then finally, Jesus says, “I am the life.”
He is the one who gives us the forgiveness of sins through His blood shed on the cross. He is the one who saves us from eternal death, giving us life with Him forever. He is the one who conquered death under His feet through His resurrection from the dead.
And because of this, we have the promise as He Himself spoke in John 3:16: “Whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
And you have the promise that all who are baptized into Him will rise with Him.
This is what St. Paul says in Romans chapter 6:
“Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His."
Dear Christians, this is your hope in the midst of life. You all know that life is not going to be easy. We are going to face hardship, our own sickness, the sickness of those we love, perhaps even persecution in this life, the death of those we love, and then unless Christ comes first, eventually even our own death. And it is at those times when the hope of Christ dwells within you—this proclamation of Jesus that He is the life—it is your hope and consolation even in the midst of those trials. Because when you are staring straight into your own grave and there seems to be no way out, you have the promise that because you are in Christ Jesus, and because He has risen from the grave, you too will rise again with Him.
So therefore, like St. Paul says in Romans chapter 8, if you have the promise of resurrection, what can anything in this world do to you? Nothing can take that away from you. No one and no thing can take heaven away from you. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life is not just a statement. This is something you carry with you throughout your life and then carry with you for eternity. Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He is your hope, your life, your all.
Now to the confirmands: you have been baptized into Christ. And today you have the opportunity to confess that faith into which you were baptized before the whole body of believers. You will for the first time today receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.
And this isn’t just a one-time thing. This is not graduation—even though it is around graduation season—but rather confirmation leads you into a lifetime and an eternity of confessing Jesus’ name with joyful hope and confidence in Him.
This is what Cara proclaimed to us in her confirmation verse from Psalm 98:4: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and praises.” Because of what Jesus has done for you, you can make a joyful noise to the Lord, proclaiming His mercies.
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Be where Jesus is. Where does He give Himself to us? In the gifts that He gives His Church: the Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. And if that is where Jesus makes Himself available to you, be where Jesus is. Be where Jesus is receiving His gifts. Be where Jesus is receiving His forgiveness. Be where Jesus is so that you can be with Him in the kingdom of heaven forever. That is what He said: “I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am you may be also.” Trust in Him for life and salvation.
Like He said in the first verse of our reading: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.” When the world seems like it is in turmoil, when your life seems like it is in turmoil, let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus Christ.
This is what Lyla proclaimed to us in her confirmation verse from Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Throughout your whole life, look to Jesus as He is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. Amen.
And now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Whether you're a lifelong Lutheran or simply exploring the Christian faith, the best way to continue your journey is by visiting.
worship with us