Where I Go You Know, and the Way You Know

Jn. 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye 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. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 4 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

I got a pleasant shock one time, at a temporary-hire agency I wandered into. 

It was 1991, and Iâ??d been working in a local church for eight or ten years.  Needing some extra money, and scratching my head over how to get it, it occurred that perhaps my ability to use Word and PowerPoint might get me into a data-entry job somewhere.  We gathered up some class booklets, overhead sheets, lesson transcripts, class curriculum, etc., hoping to prove that we could type in Word and be a secretary or something.

The Volt representative looked the stuff over.  â??Well, you could do data processing, but thatâ??s about ten dollars an hour.  Weâ??d have you more in mind for a technical writing job.  Thatâ??s about twenty-five.â?

Tech writing?  I didnâ??t take any of that in school.  Sorry.

â??You know more than you think,â? the lady smiled.  â??This stuff right here, thatâ??s what we mean by tech writing.â?

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Thatâ??s what Jesus tells Thomas and Phillip.  You know more about being reconciled to God than you think.  Youâ??ve been living with Me, getting along with Me, and you like Me. 

That makes you the kind of people who would fit in, in Heaven.

Too often, in our immaturity, we think that Jesus taught that Heaven was the reward of a flattered Father, and we think that he taught that Hell was the punishment of an offended, senile old egomaniac.  Not so.  Jesus taught that Heaven and Hell were a natural divorce:  the people in each realm want different things�

 John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

Bear in mind that if Rev. 12 is anywhere close to an accurate representation of the spiritual realm, then the Devil knew exactly what Heaven is.  He knew who Jesus was, who the Father was, and he simply didnâ??t want the take-one-for-the-team shtick.  He sought his own interests.  In this account, evil wasnâ??t malice:  it was self-absorption. 

Not everybody liked Jesus, apparently:

John 15: 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.

I mean, whether you and I believe the Bible or not â?? *somebody* crucified Jesus for *some* reasonâ?¦ itâ??s a Koan worthy of the greatest Zen master.  W-H-Y would somebody dislike Jesus?

Many people did not like Jesus, including those who left heaven.  But Thomas and Philip did, and so Jesus told them â??Where I go you know, and the way you know.â?Â 

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Simply having a friendly attitude towards Jesus was not The Way.  That was "necessary but not sufficient."  In chapter 15, Jesus elaborated on all of the specific things that were expected of the apostles.  The good news was, everything on the list was something that would come naturally for one committed to the Heaven way of doing things.

"These things I have commanded you, that your joy may be full," Jesus said in John 15:11.  Implied in this is the idea that every specific command that Jesus gave, was there to promote love, peace, and harmony.  Every violation of His commands represented a reaction against Love itself.

Did the apostles know the way?  Like Daniel-San learning karate blocks while waxing cars, they had been acclimating themselves to God all along.

Kind regards,

Jeff

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image:  http://adventus.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/road_to_emmaus.jpg