{"id":139,"date":"2008-03-07T00:01:45","date_gmt":"2008-03-06T23:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/?p=139"},"modified":"2008-03-07T00:07:05","modified_gmt":"2008-03-06T23:07:05","slug":"lent-devotions-2008-friday-7-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/2008\/03\/07\/lent-devotions-2008-friday-7-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Lent Devotions 2008: Friday 7 March"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.<\/em> (John 14:6)<\/p>\n

Details are important to us. So we can sympathise with the disciples in John 14. Jesus is talking about going ahead of them to the Father to prepare a place for them. Despite His assurances that He\u2019ll return for them and take them to Himself, the disciples get a bit antsy. Thomas says, \u201cLord, we do not know where You are going. How can we know the way?\u201d Philip adds, \u201cLord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.\u201d They\u2019re not asking for much, really, just a few details \u2013 a road map, a high-definition photograph, a colour brochure \u2013 anything! And what is Jesus\u2019 reply? \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.\u201d In other words, \u201cKeep your eyes on the road!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the hours and days that follow this scene, Jesus fulfils the meaning of \u201ctruth\u201d and turns this world\u2019s understanding of \u201clife\u201d on its head! The disciples are there to see it all. No doubt, they would have preferred the road map or the detailed how-to list rather than the suffering and death of their beloved Teacher. We sure would.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting for us to think that Christian lives ought to be predictably free from struggle, sickness and sin. It seems like it would be quite reasonable for God to give us a ten-step self-help plan for curing our separation from Him. But Christian life is rarely a cake-walk, and we\u2019ve failed at our ten-step plan before we\u2019ve even begun. If we\u2019re honest, we realise we can\u2019t even handle the details we\u2019ve been given.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 words to his disciples are for us too. \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life.\u201d The details of our future \u2013 in this world and the next – may seem a bit hazy to us, but we are not without glimpses and landmarks, as it were. In God\u2019s Word and in His Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion we are joined to Christ\u2019s Death and Resurrection. They point us to the Way \u2013 to Jesus Christ. We have been eternally restored to our Father by the forgiveness of our sins won in Jesus\u2019 Death and Resurrection. We keep our eyes on the road – on Him.<\/p>\n

Prayer: God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Often our futures seem unclear, and we are bewildered by the changes and chances of life. Despite our preoccupation with details, we often see our good intentions marred by sin. Please forgive us, and through Your Word and Sacraments keep our eyes of faith firmly focused on Jesus. By His keeping every detail of the law, You have saved us. By His suffering and death, bridge our separation from You and by His resurrection give us sure hope in Life Everlasting with You, Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) Details are important to us. So we can sympathise with the disciples in John 14. Jesus is talking about going ahead of them to the Father to prepare a place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lent-devotions-2008"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christlutheranchurch.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}