In John 14:6, Jesus identifies himself as the way to the Father. He is answering Thomas, who asks how the disciples can know the way when they do not know where Jesus is going. The conversation also explains why seeing and knowing Jesus matter for knowing the Father.
Thomas asks an honest question
The chapter opens with troubled hearts. Jesus speaks about his Father’s house and going to prepare a place for his disciples. If he goes, he says he will return and take them to be with him. The emphasis falls on being with him.
Thomas says the disciples do not know where he is going and asks how they could know the way. His question makes sense if the disciples imagine an unknown place with a route they need to learn. Jesus’ answer identifies the way with himself and names the Father as the one to whom people come.
Read the three terms inside the Gospel
John has already linked Jesus with grace and truth in the opening chapter, and he repeatedly speaks of life that Jesus gives. Those strands belong with his identification as the way. The reader can hear truth as connected with what he reveals and life as something received in relationship to him.
Each word can be studied on its own, but the verse gives them one speaker and direction. In the surrounding sentences, what the disciples need is confidence in the one who is speaking to them. The three terms answer their disorientation together.
Philip asks to see the Father
The conversation does not end with Thomas. Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father. Jesus replies that whoever has seen him has seen the Father and speaks of the Father dwelling and working in him. Verses 7–11 give detail to the direction named in verse 6.
Read the strong claim that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus in the tone of the conversation. It is addressed to people troubled by his departure. Its force includes both the unique role Jesus claims and the reassurance he offers to these disciples.
Put the two disciples’ questions next to each other
Read verses 5–9 and copy the questions from Thomas and Philip. One asks how to know the way. The other asks to see the Father. Then note how Jesus brings each answer back to what they already know of him.
If you want a second reading, look at the opening lines of John 1 and return to John 14. Ask what the Gospel wants readers to know about God through this person, and how the answer changes when the speaker is about to leave.