Holy Week - John 14:8–14 | Dwelling, Trusting, and Living the Works of Jesus

Welcome to the 2025 Lenten Devotional

John 14:8–14 | Dwelling, Trusting, and Living the Works of Jesus

Artwork: The Last Supper by Simon Ushakov, 1685

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…”

Dwelling, Trusting, and Living the Works of Jesus

As we begin Holy Week, we step into Jesus’s final conversation with His disciples—the farewell discourse. These are His last words before His arrest. Words of comfort, of calling, and of commissioning.

We’ve already spent time reflecting on parts of this chapter in earlier devotionals.
We explored John 14:1–7 when we looked at Jesus’s statement “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, and we returned to John 14:15–31 last week when we looked at the Spirit. So today, we’re focusing on the powerful and often overlooked verses in John 14:8–14.

📎 If you missed the earlier ones, you can catch up here:

In John 14:8–14, Jesus continues to reveal the deep unity between Himself and the Father, a unity not just of identity, but of mission and action. He offers His disciples—and us—not only reassurance, but an invitation to live into that very mission.

🧡 1. Seeing Jesus, Seeing God

“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (v9)

Jesus doesn’t merely speak about God—He reveals God. Every word He speaks, every act of compassion, every moment of mercy flows directly from God’s heart.

We don’t need to wonder what God is like—we see it in Jesus:
→ In the way He touches the outcast,
→ Feeds the hungry,
→ Forgives the broken,
→ Confronts injustice.

🪞 Reflection:

How do you see God when you look at Jesus?
Do you struggle to believe God is near, approachable, or kind?

Allow Jesus’s life to reshape how you see the Divine.

🙏 2. Believing: More Than Agreement

“Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” (v11)

In John, believing is never passive—it’s not just agreeing intellectually, but entrusting your entire self to Jesus.

🪶 One of my favourite illustrations of this kind of belief is from the story of Charles Blondin, the tightrope walker at Niagara Falls.
He walked across with ease, even with a wheelbarrow. The crowd cheered—until he asked who was willing to get in the wheelbarrow. Silence.
That’s the difference between saying you believe and trusting enough to step in.

🪞 Reflection:

Are you standing in the crowd cheering, or stepping into trust?
What areas of your life need to move from intellectual belief to active faith?

✨ 3. Greater Works, Deeper Mission

“Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do...” (v12)

This isn’t about miracles that outshine Jesus—it’s about participating in His mission:
→ Healing the broken,
→ Feeding the hungry,
→ Restoring dignity,
→ Calling people into community,
→ Reflecting the love and justice of God in everyday acts.

Through the Spirit, the reach of Jesus’s mission is extended beyond His earthly ministry—through us.

🪞 Reflection:

How are you reflecting God’s heart in the world?
Are you participating in the healing, restoring, liberating mission of Jesus?

🔁 4. Prayer and Self-Transformation

“If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” (v14)

This verse has been used—and misused—as a blank cheque. But prayer, as Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz (watch here) insightfully teaches, isn’t about changing God. It’s about transforming us.

In Hebrew, the word for prayer (lehitpalel) carries the sense of self-reflection and inward transformation.
Prayer becomes an act of aligning ourselves with God—so that when we ask, we’re not demanding but participating in God’s work.

We aren’t manipulating God to act.
We are inviting God to shape us, so that our requests, our desires, and our actions are aligned with the Kingdom.

🪞 Reflection:

When you pray, are you trying to change God—or letting God change you?
What would it mean to pray as an act of transformation and not transaction?

🪔 Holy Week Reflection: Are You in the Wheelbarrow?

This week, we journey with Jesus to the cross. It is a path of humility, obedience, and love.
But He doesn’t walk it alone.

He sends us with His peace.
He calls us to trust fully.
He invites us to reflect God’s presence to the world.
And He promises: “You will do the works I have done.”

The question is not: Do you believe Jesus can walk the tightrope?
The question is: Will you get in the wheelbarrow?

✅ Reflection Questions

How does seeing Jesus change the way you see God?
What would deeper trust in Jesus look like in your everyday life?
In what ways are you participating in Jesus’s works—bringing healing, restoration, and love?
What is one area where your prayer life can shift from asking for things to aligning with God’s heart?

🙏 Closing Prayer

Jesus, You reveal to us who God is—kind, near, and full of compassion.
Help me to trust You not just with my mind, but with my whole self.
Teach me to live the works You began—bringing love and healing into the world.
Shape my prayers into acts of transformation, and help me to live this week with courage and faith.
Amen.

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