Jesus said, I am the Way   

We've spoken of Christianity and other religions in an open way - but didn't Jesus say, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6)?

   Email has the same problem as the Bible: you never can pick up tone of voice, or facial expressions. When Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life," were his words punctuated, firm, brows furrowed, using his hands to narrow the scope? Or was he tender, hands outstretched, his heart almost breaking?

   We Christians have this notoriously bad habit of taking the words of the Bible and twisting them into a barbed wire fence, to protect ourselves and shut others out, instead of letting God's Word manifest itself as a window flung open, the arms of God's love embracing us. What prompted Jesus to say "I am the way, the truth and the life"? and what might it mean for us?

   Consider the context. Jesus is not delivering a dogmatic lecture or conducting a discussion group on the relationship between Christianity and the world religions. He has just finished an ominous dinner, his last with his beloved friends, the room thick with fear and sorrow. He has just washed the confused disciples' feet; they are dazed, forlorn, dimly aware he is about to leave them, and they don't know whether to cling doggedly to him or flee for the exits. To his companions riddled with gloom, Jesus begins: "Let not your hearts be troubled... I go to prepare a place for you." But they plead with him: "We do not know the way."

   By "way" they don't mean the one and only thought pattern that purchases salvation; they mean a road, a door, the literal path where Jesus is going. And Jesus, typically (just as he had said "I am the light of the world" to people groping in the dark, "I am the bread of life" to people hungry for bread, "I am the living water" to those with a gnawing thirst in their gut) says "I am the way. Stay close to me, I am the road, the door."

   I do not believe Jesus was slamming the security gates of heaven shut to keep the riffraff out. I believe he was comforting the hopeless by saying "Don't despair: there is a way, you aren't stuck down here with nothing but your own resources, I am God come down to carry you on the wings of grace to your destiny." When we listen to Jesus, when we follow him, when we gaze into his heart and mind, we see clearly the character, heart and very being of God. Jesus is not only the way, but also the truth (in a world of lies and deception) and the life (in the realm where death seems to trump in with the final word).

   But how could Jesus conceivably be the way for those who reject him, or don't know him - or are just really fuzzy about him? We will try to think about this on Thursday.

James

james@mpumc.org

You can watch my 7 minute YouTube on this, "Jesus is THE Way?"