Jesus comforts the disciples!
John 14-21 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I will prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that, wherever I am, you too may be. 4 Even you know where I am going and you know the way. ”
The news of Jesus to the disciples, that He would return to the Father and leave them soon, so disturbed the minds of those men that they despaired. So Jesus intervened with words of comfort, saying that He was going to prepare a place for them, but then He was going to return and take them to be with Him always.
Vers. 5 “Thomas said to him, Lord, do we not know where you are going and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you knew me, you would also know my Father; and from now on you know him and have seen him. ”
During His ministry, Jesus repeatedly implied that He came from God and was returning to God (6:62; 7: 33-34; 8: 21-23). But the disciples did not understand their language (cf Mark 9: 30-32; Luke 9: 44-45). Among them was one who was an honest man in his beliefs and strict to accept ideas and figurative language. It was Thomas. He was not satisfied with the news from the other apostles, that they had seen the risen Jesus. It was necessary for him to see and feel His wounds to believe (John 20: 24-29). Much less, they understood that the path that Jesus followed was the path of the cross (cf Matthew 16:21).
Thomas, when he said: “Sir, we do not know where you are going; how to know the way? ” this gave Jesus the opportunity to teach one of the greatest truths in the gospel.
“The way”, is well explained as the way of conducting yourself before God, in Deuteronomy 5: 32-33; 31: 29; Isaiah 30:21; 35: 8. The only way to reach God is by listening and obeying Christ's teachings and following His example. It indicates, not just the path. He goes ahead, because He is The Way.
Second, "the truth". The ideal of the Old Testament righteous people was to know the truth of God in order to practice it (cf Psalm 86: 11; 26: 3; 31: 5; 25: 5). It is possible for a moralist to preach morality and live in immorality.
Third, Jesus said, "I am ... life". The richest and most complete teachings about “life” are to be found in this Gospel of John, in which this concept receives the greatest prominence. The author states that he wrote this Gospel "... so that ... you may have life ..." (20: 31). Jesus himself says: "... I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance" (10: 10b).
It also represents Jesus, the Word (Logos), as the origin and means of all life for the world. Like the pre-incarnate Word, He was the source of life for the universe (1: 4). As an incarnate Word, He said that His life had been given by the Father who has life in Himself (5:26; 6:57; 10:18). So He is the mediator of life for man.
