God at Work, Here and Now (John 14:1–14)

What opportunities to love have you noticed lately? Explore this week’s Gospel reading and consider what it means for us today.

Each week, we post a passage from Sunday’s Scriptures; share links to resources that give context and inspire new ideas; and offer a few questions to get you thinking about what we’ll read together in church.

The Gospel for May 3, 2026

John 14:1–14

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

Read all of Sunday’s Scriptures

Step Into the Story

3 Ways to Go Deeper

Commentary

This week’s passage is about more than finding comfort in the promise of a reality beyond the present. It also invites us to look for God at work in the world here and now, writes the Rev. John Odegard. “Whenever the opportunity to love arises, that is the place that Jesus has prepared for us, so that we might be closer to him as we love our neighbor.”

Spiritual Practice

As Jesus prepares a place for us, how do we make room for each other? By integrating friendship into the lives we’re already living. “Christian hospitality is not about entertaining,” says the Rev. Kristin Kaulbach Miles. “It’s about being present with one another.”

Poetry

In “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” poet Ada Limón reflects on “the strange idea of continuous living despite the mess of us” and the beauty that meets us in all of life’s seasons — if we’re open to receiving it.