Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me. NKJV
At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion he would not answer his
accusers when they asked who he was.
That is because he had been telling his disciples all along whom he was
and why he was there. Since these
interrogators had not listened to what he had been teaching, he chose not to
answer their questions. Besides, they
were only looking for a reason to kill him, but he was not there to help them,
his focus was on the work he was about to do on the cross.
With his disciples he had been completely open and told them
exactly who he was. They did not always
understand what he was saying, at least not until later, when they saw the
risen Savior and he once again laid out for them what had to happen and
why. Looking back at them we think they
were very dense, but then we have the advantage of 20/20 hindsight. But if we are to be honest, there are many
times in our lives that we do not understand why things are happening the way
they are. If we are lucky, we might get
an understanding later on.
We are going to focus on one of the statement that Jesus
made. He claims some outlandish things here that no one else in history has
ever or will ever be able to claim. It
stands in direct opposition to what humanity apart from Christ believes. In fact, making any of these statements in
the present world’s atmosphere about Jesus can potentially get one into a great
deal of trouble. Obviously it got Jesus
into trouble, because sayings like these are what caused all the different
factions to finally work together and send him to the cross.
In this section of John Jesus is preparing his disciples for
the fact that he will soon no longer be with them. Thomas does not understand and asks for
clarification. Jesus has just promised
them that they know the way to the Father, but they cannot imagine that they
really do. They are worried that if
Jesus goes somewhere without them they may never be able to find him again.
So Jesus answers Thomas’ question with the amazing statement
that we are focusing on here. “I am the way”.
Now wait a minute, our society is OK with Jesus being a way, one of many
possibilities; a path for some to follow but definitely not one for
everyone. After all, we all come from
different backgrounds and it would be unfair to tell everyone in the world that
there is only one way; especially, if they had never heard of such a way.
What is taught by many modern thinkers? It’s all good. Follow your heart. You do what is best for you and let everyone
else do what is best for them. It is
seen as supreme intolerance if you try to change people’s minds to come and
follow Jesus. Especially if you are
saying that without Jesus there can be no acceptable way to come into God’s
presence. But it is acceptable to
convert others to your way of thinking if you are not Christian or you at least
give them the option of doing it a different way than what is written in the
Bible.
Maybe this is why many get so angry at Jesus for this
statement. How dare he claim to be the
way? How dare he categorically in one
phrase say that every other way that people try to get to God is wrong? They see this as complete arrogance and
totally unfair. It makes them angry, but
most of all I think it makes them scared.
They cannot be wrong or their whole life will be meaningless. So instead of reading the Bible with an open
mind they argue, and quite loudly, that there is no way that there is only one
way.
But Jesus does not stop there, the next part of his
statement is even worse, ‘the truth’.
Again Jesus is making a pretty outrageous statement here. How in the world can he claim to be the
truth? The Jews had the law which the
Pharisees held above all things, even God.
The Romans had their military might and power which Jesus was not
intimidated by and the Greeks had their philosophy and intellect which Jesus
called foolishness. Yet this Jesus is
saying it is all for naught without him being the truth from which all other
truths must be compared.
So now that most of humanity does not think that truth is
absolute but depends completely on personal experiences and situations why do
so many get so angry when someone claims that they know what the truth is? Mankind has gone from “I think therefore I
am” to “I think therefore it is a truth and don’t you dare and try and prove me
wrong”. Truth has become so subjective
that unless it fits your model of the world you do not have to believe it even
if someone can prove to you without a doubt something is true.
Even many Christians seem to fear listening to others’ ideas
of truth because they may be swayed by the reasoning. So they put up a wall and do not let anyone
discuss their ideas with them. Maybe that is because they do not know
themselves what it is they believe to be true and why. They have not spent enough time getting to
know Jesus and the truth that he is, to be able to withstand the onslaught of all the other worldly truths out there.
And then there are those that do listen and because of their lack of
depth in the Word they are swayed by worldly ideas and they too fall prey to
the idea that there is no absolute truth and their churches become more and
more like the world around them.
The final part of this three pronged statement, I am the
Life, is what got me thinking about all of this in the first place. We live in a world that seems to worship
death. Instead of fighting to live life
and to help others live the best life possible, the world is fighting tooth and
nail to make sure everyone has death available to them as needed. Death is seen as a valuable alternative to
life’s problems. Of course, that is
usually someone else’s death but at times it does include someone’s right to
end their own life.
Where do we see this attitude towards death? The first and obvious answer would be in the
almost evangelical spread of abortion around the entire world. Besides abortion there are many countries
that are legalizing euthanasia in one form or another for the old, the infirm
and even the newborn that are a “drain” on the society and its people, either
monetarily or emotionally. What was once
the horrible secret of Nazi Germany has become the open policy of many
countries.
This society of death has hidden its face in the mask of
rights and compassion. It is seen as a
right to not be burdened with an unwanted child. To be able to make a choice about whether
someone is born or not is no longer held as God’s choice but we want to be like
God and choose who lives or dies. Of
course women in an unplanned pregnancy are not thinking that they are usurping
God’s authority because they have listened to the lie that this is their body
and they can do whatever they want with it.
All the decisions we make in our life boil down to who we
consider to be in charge of that life.
Does Jesus have the right to tell us what to do and how to live? Or do we have the ultimate authority to
decide what is right and true and just and fair for our own lives. Each and everyone of us decides daily if we
will be like Adam and Eve and listen to the voice of the serpent and do what is
right in our own eyes. The alternative
is to live like Jesus who did nothing unless the Spirit told him to, as Jesus
said during his life on the earth he came to do only the will of the Father.
Think as you go about your day; do you truly believe Jesus
when he says he is the way, the truth and the life? Are you falling for the world’s opinion that
you can find a better way or truth? Do
you always choose life or do you sometimes choose death as the way to go?
Obviously, I am writing this from a Christian perspective
and since I am a Christian I will make no apologies for that. I do believe Jesus and I do believe in the
work he did for me on the cross that has taken me from the kingdom of death
into the kingdom of life. And from that
perspective I want to live my life each and every day living for the One who
has given me eternal life but I must admit that it is a daily struggle to keep
my mind from the influences of the world around me. It is so easy to fall into the trap of doing
what is easy or convenient rather than following God’s way each and every
day. Fortunately for us Jesus did not
choose the easy path, but took the hard one to Calvary and died for you and me
so that we could know the way, the truth, and the life that is Jesus.
