I remember reading a sermon from a popular minister on what heaven would be like. It was a very generic sermon, promising that our lives and hobbies would continue very much in the manner to which we have become accustomed. Very little mention was made of any important issues. His focus was primarily upon what his people obviously wanted to hear. Anyone who read or heard his meditation would have no doubts about getting there. How very much different from the concern of the Apostle Thomas, who when told about arrangements already having been made, asked a vital question:"Lord, we don't know where you are going,so how can we know the way?"
This question reminds me very much of our oldest son's trip to Long Island, New York. It was very exciting to hear the good news, that because of his Science Fair project he was being rewarded with a two-week study session at a national laboratory! One of the family's first questions was: "How is he going to get there?" Where was Upton, New York? We were all faithfully assured that his way would be provided. As promised, the airline tickets arrived with a very good set of instructions. The way there and back had been adequately provided. Now, when it comes to the Christian to know the way to heaven, in a similar manner, Thomas' question must be our own: "how can we know the way?" And just as my son's summer institute had taken the responsibility to show him the way, in a like manner Jesus Himself shows us the way home to heaven.
It is this question which is so essential: "How can we know the way?", that should involve the Church's interest more so than what heaven will be like! Unfortunately, there are ever so many answers to this question provided by the world's religions. The ancient Babylonian Humanists built their tower and in their language called it Heaven's Gate. The ancient Chinese served the Son of Heaven, and the followers of the first modern cult were promised by Mohammed that death in battle was the key that unlocked the door to heaven.
Today's humanists downplay any difficulty about getting to any afterlife generally because they are more interested in setting up their version of heaven on earth. Why should they want to go on to another life once they have completed perfecting this one? And so, the essential question: "How can we know the way?" remains generally unasked in our time and tragically unanswered. However, we who belong to Christ are encouraged to ask the question so that we may know the answer that was given to Thomas. Think of it this way, you are in a strange town, you stop to ask directions. You hear the words "go five stop lights, turn left, second right and you are there." Simple enough, but at the third light the street is blocked off and you are back to square one! Off course, if the jokes coming out of East Germany are true, most of the taxi drivers are former security police. Supposedly you have only to tell a taxi driver who you want to see, and day or night they take you to the person! Now that would be service.
But, what if like these fictional taxi drivers, the person said, "come, I'll take you there myself?". This in essence is the promise of Jesus Christ when we ask Him the question of Thomas this morning: "How can we know the way?". Calvin observes on the words in this passage that we should begin with Him, continue with Him and end in Him. Jesus is as He says,
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
That sentence is a hard pill for people in our time to accept. A popular Christian pastor in Ohio wrote an article several years ago where he too, suggested that there were many paths to heaven. Like the Hindu peoples of India, very many people believe that there are many roads to heaven and thus they reject the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. They cannot conceive that there is only one way to God.
This is very similar to a problem reported by my brother who worked as a Christian Missionary at three American colleges in the seventies. He reported that a large number of young Americans have drifted into a mindset similar to that of the Hindu as a result of their "theological training" in America's major denominations. These young people accept the view, like the Hindu philosophers, that there are never any absolutes! They have been taught that the Bible is not directly the Word of God, but it may contain that Word for specific persons at irregular and unpredictable moments.
Further, most have been indoctrinated with the idea that the worst sin in this twentieth century is to claim that the Bible has any final authority. After all, only uneducated radicals or raving fundamentalists believe that anymore! I can only support my brother's view with my own experience of fifteen years in contact with high school students. Like the college students, many young people are neither moral nor immoral, they just do not know and in some cases do not care to know the difference. A growing number have even learned in our humanist society to be completely amoral. After all, man has come of age; and the worst sin in our society is to suggest that there might be one particular way, one truth and one life to live in Jesus Christ. Yet this claim to uniqueness as being the Gate to heaven is just that. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. We cannot teach anything less in Christ's Church.
Verse seven is a transitional question of Thomas to another of Philip:
"If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
Philip seems to think he has missed something:
"Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."
The answer Jesus gives to Philip confirms the authority of the answer given to Thomas. In Christ, God the Father is speaking directly to all men. "Don't you know me?" Jesus asks. Anyone who has seen Jesus, has seen the Father. It is He who speaks through Jesus Christ assuring us that a home has already been prepared for us at the end of life's journey. If we will trust His word and accept His invitation to believe in and obey His Son, we may know that heaven is indeed our home.
I remember a story a few years ago about a family that moved clear across the country. The father went on ahead to pick out the home and get established in his job. Being what is called a strong silent type, his letter home gave his wife three things she needed to know. First, the fact that he loved her. Second, the address for the moving people and family. Third, a list of window sizes and room colors. Now how many of you wives would be ready to follow your spouse three thousand miles, on that little bit of information? Before you answer that, consider that in this fictional story, you are actually getting more information than God has given us about the home prepared for us! One Irishman I know, in commenting on the beauty of this earth, would be willing to guess on the color scheme. He, like many of the Irish believe that our Father's favorite color is green. However, I will not go that far.
It is enough to hear from Jesus Christ that yes, He has a home already prepared for His people. And more importantly, He loves us so very much that He gave up His life so that we could come home to be with Him for eternity. May the Lord make us content to accept those essential facts as we learn to believe more fully in Him. Amen.
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