Passage
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
John 14:5 (WEB)
Nearby Context
John 14:3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
John 14:4 Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
John 14:5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
John 14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "thomas", "said", "lord", "where", and "going". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thomas" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Where I go you know and you..." into verse 6's "Jesus said to him I am the...", so "thomas" and "said" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thomas" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.