Spring Bible Study - The Gospel Lesson for 10 May - 5th Sunday of Easter
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READINGS AND QUESTIONS FOR 10 MAY 20
John 14:1-12: The Upper Room Discourse
[Jesus said to his disciples:]
1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
a. In what circumstances do Jesus and the disciples find themselves?
b. What exactly is Jesus trying to convey to his disciples? Why is it so exceptional? Have you ever shared in an 'upper room discourse' with an acquaintance or family member?
c. Humanly speaking, what options are open to Jesus and his disciples at this point?
d. Look at Matthew 16:23 and relate it to next Sunday's Gospel passage:
21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. 22 Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” 23 He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
e. For what reasons is it so hard for the disciples to understand and accept what Jesus has always maintained about the result of his ministry? Can you relate this experience to that of your own?
2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.
f. What is 'my Father's house' and what are these 'dwelling places?' What do you know (or think you know) about these dwelling places? Look at 1 Cor. 2:9 and 1 John 3:2
g. What assurance does the Lord offer the disciples? What assurance does this bring you?
h. Jesus always maintained a 'holy resignation' to the will of God. What does this mean for you and me and at what point can it be wrongly applied as a sense of 'fatalism' about life?
4 [Jesus said:] Where I am going you know the way.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; 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.
i. In v. 4, Jesus Christ again perplexes them when he says ,'...you know the way.' Does his response in v. 6 help explain what he means? These
j. These words are very similar to last Sunday's Gospel where Jesus said he was the gate for the sheep. Can you relate these two statements and apply them to yourself?
k. Notice Jesus speaks to us individually. How do we live through him?
l. 'The Way,' was a name for believers who followed Jesus as the Messiah (see Acts 19:23). How do you encounter the Lord Jesus as 'the Way and the Truth and the Life?' For example, how does the Lord correct you with the truth when you are mistaken, how does he show you the way? how do you experience the life that he offers you daily?
7 If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
m. What is Jesus telling his disciples in v. 7? What does he mean when he says 'From now on'? How is 'now' different from 'previously'?
n. Can you 'flesh out' (literally) what Jesus is telling his disciples in v. 9? (Bear in mind John 1:18 tells us No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.)
o. Do these words give you the comfort Jesus was offering his disciples? Explain.
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.
p. How do these verses further explain what Jesus means when he says to see him is to see the Father?
q. What exactly does it mean to be saved in the context of our relationship with the Father and the Son? How do they relate to Jesus assuring them of their dwelling in his Father's house in v. 2?
12 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.
r. Perhaps immediately we think of the great works of the apostles in Book of Acts after reading v. 12. But is this what the Lord is referring to? What works are they that we are to do?
s. How does Jesus 'going to the Father' influence the greatness of the works of The Way? What event is he perhaps referring to?
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