We have spent this summer working our way through the Gospel of John to study the words of Jesus, as he walked around Israel speaking to the crowds, performing miracles, and teaching in parables. People were following him around everywhere, everyone wanted to know who he is. Who is this man who makes blind people see, and who makes paralyzed people able to walk again? Why is he here, what does he want, what is he going to do? Everyone wanted to know!
Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?” They said, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Everyone was guessing, trying to figure out just who this man is!
Today, lots of people have opinions about who Jesus is too. Some say he was a great moral teacher, here to help people achieve moral excellence, maybe even transcendence. Some say he was one of many prophets who have come over the centuries. Some say he was a liar, trying to gain a following and name for himself. Some say he was a revolutionary, here to bring social justice to the world as an activist, marching for peoples rights. And some people just think he was crazy, but that everyone around him was too superstitious to realize.
There are tons of opinions about who Jesus is, both in the first century, and today. And this series is all about ignoring all of those voices, and letting Jesus speak for himself.
So far we have seen Jesus reveal himself through five I AM statements, and with these I Am statements, he is revealing things about who he is and what his mission is, as well as declaring himself to be God. We talked the first week about how the phrase I AM is actually the name of God, and by using it in these ways, Jesus is also claiming to be God.
So for a quick recap, the statements we have studied so far are these: I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the door for the sheep, I am the good shepherd, and then last week, I am the resurrection and the life.
So with that said, lets pray, and then we will dive into week six of this series.
So each week, I have been kind of filling in the blanks around these statements, to let you know what has been going on beforehand. The Gospels are a story, and just like you wouldn’t open up a novel and start reading in the middle, we need to understand what is going on before this section of the Gospel.
Last week we ended off with Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in Bethany, and a lot has taken place in this gospel since then, I’ll just give you the coles notes. So right after that took place, the Pharisee’s called a meeting of the Sanhedrin in response, to try and figure out what they should do with Jesus. As a result, they began plotting to have Jesus killed.
In the meantime, Jesus and his disciples hid for awhile until the Jewish passover festival. Six days before the passover was supposed to take place, Jesus went back to Bethany, where a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor, and Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet.
The next day, Jesus left Bethany to head into Jerusalem, and this is that triumphal entry we looked at on palm Sunday, where he comes in on a donkey. He goes into the city, and while at the festival, he predicts his death and preaches about his mission.
After this, they went to the upper room for the passover meal, and Jesus washes his disciples feet. He predicts his betrayal, and identifies Judas as the one who will betray him. Then he predicts Peters betrayal, and tells them that he is leaving, but that they cannot follow him now, but that they will follow later one.
And then we come to this passage in John 14:
John 14:1–7 (NIV)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Verses 1-4
So first we have this sort of cryptic message by Jesus, about where he is going and how they know the way, and not to worry. He says:
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John 14:1–4 NIV
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
This is a really interesting few verses. Christians quote it a lot, sometimes you’ll hear it at funerals, or when someone has passed away. Often when people hear this passage, they think that Jesus is talking about going to heaven to get things ready for us, and then when it says he is coming back, that it is talking about the second coming of Christ.
But most of the resources I was studying actually points this towards his death, and then his return from death in the resurrection. By going to his death, through his betrayal by Judas, and his crucifixion, he made it possible for them to live in the immediate presence of God. His leaving that evening was actually for their benefit. And then he did come back for them when he was resurrected from the dead.
Jesus is about to face crucifixion, one of the most painful deaths imaginable. And yet his concern here is for his disciples. He tells them to calm their hearts. He is going away to secure their future destiny, and even though he is leaving, he will be back.
Jesus isn’t GOING to prepare a place for us. He HAS prepared a place for us in the presence of God, it is already done.
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John 14:5 NIV
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
They didn’t understand at all what he meant. Honestly, it’s hard to not be a little irritated with the disciples cluelessness, but I would have to assume that if we were in their shoes, we wouldn’t have understood either. After all, we do have the full picture, and the holy spirit living in us, which they did not at this point. And it was normal at the time as well for disciples to ask their rabbi’s clarifying questions.
But one thing that these questions of the disciples do is draw out important responses and clarifications for the disciples, as he often revealed himself or clarified himself to the disciples in ways he did not with the larger crowds.
It is natural to want the facts when we don’t understand. Often Thomas is portrayed as a doubter, you know, doubting Thomas. But the truth is that Thomas captures the inner mental workings of most people today. We want the facts. We need to understand how everything works. I think personally, Thomas captures something that we can relate too quite well.
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John 14:6–7 NIV
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
So here is our sixth I Am Statement: I am the way, the truth, and the life. And this is an important response for a number of reasons. It is probably one of the most quoted of the I Am statements, but what it reveals about Jesus is very, very important. He says, NO ONE comes to the Father, except through him. And it really is almost a summation of his mission to the world, and it is a preparatory statement for the last I Am statement, which we’ll talk about next Sunday.
So lets remember the context here. Jesus told them he is leaving, and that he is going to prepare a place for them, then he will return. They can’t come with him now, but they will follow later. But he tells them they know the way to where he is going, which is into God’s presence, through death. So when they ask for clarification, Jesus says, I AM the way. I AM THE WAY into GODS presence, and that is what he is saying here.
I want to talk about this statement further, but in more of an application sense: What should you take away from this statement? There are three things that Jesus says about himself here, I AM the Way, I am the TRUTH, and I am the life.
1. Jesus is the exclusive way to God the Father
First of all, he is THE WAY. Not A way, not one Way, THE way. You know, there might be five or six ways to get to Summer side, some are quicker and some are longer, but the truth is that we could all set out in our cars right now, and it would be possible for each of us to take a slightly different route from each other to get there.
But in winter, there is only one way to get from PEI to New Brunswick. If we all wanted to drive to Moncton in February, whether we like it or not, we are all driving across that bridge. There is no other way to drive there. It is the one and only exclusive way to drive across the Northumberland strait in winter.
Similarly, Jesus is the one and only EXCLUSIVE way to God the Father. There is no other path to having a relationship with the Father.
1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV)
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus
You can claim to be a good person, and try to follow the 10 commandments, but Romans 3:23 says that ALL have sinned, and ALL fall short of the glory of God. You can try to argue that your sin isn’t that big of a deal, because you know, you’ve never killed anyone! But Romans 6:23 says that the penalty for sin is DEATH. Not just murder, sin, in general. There's no distinction.
At the end of the day, we are all guilty, and we are all separated from God by our sin. But JESUS has come, as THE WAY, to restore that relationship, and make us right with God. Romans 3:23 may say that we all fall short of the glory of God, but the next verse says that and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.. Romans 6:23 may say that the penalty for sin is death, but you know what else it says? It says that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Acts 4:12 says,
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
He is the way to God the Father, first of all because he has revealed the Father to us, as we see in our passage today in verse 7, when he says:
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John 14:7 NIV
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
He is also the way to God the father, secondly, because he has opened the way to him, as we see in Hebrews 10:19-20:
Hebrews 10:19–20 (NIV)
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body
There is no other way to have access to God the Father. It is through Jesus, and Jesus alone, that we can have a relationship with him.
2. Jesus is the exclusive truth.
Truth is such a relative concept in our post modern world today. I was speaking with someone a while back, and we were talking about facts. And they made the comment that “a fact is really just something that people generally agree on, so really a fact can be anything, as long as enough people agree”. And I was surprised by this! I responded and said, well no, that isn’t what a fact is, that is an OPINION. A FACT is something that is verifiable as true and real and accurate. A FACT, in it’s very nature, cannot be subjective.
This idea, while relatively new feeling to us, is not new in history. During Jesus’ trial, he said to Pilate, I have come into this world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. And Pilate responded by saying, “What is truth?”
Truth is truth. It cannot change, because it is not, by nature, subjective. Another friend of mine has a severe intolerance to gluten. And by that I mean that if you use the same spatula to cook for him that you did to make something with Gluten, he will be sick for DAYS. Now, suppose he saw a really delicious looking cinnamon roll, and he said, you know, that looks delicious! I don’t think I identify as having a gluten intolerance today, I’m going to have that cinnamon roll. He would be miserably sick for days and days.
Why is that? Because it is TRUE that he has a gluten intolerance, and it is not subjective to his own personal opinions or desires. It is TRUTH. It doesn’t MATTER whether he wants to have an intolerance or not, his personal desires will not affect his body’s response to gluten, because truth is what is real, and he really does have an intolerance. We can’t choose what is and is not truth, it just is what it is.
Jesus is the exclusive truth. John 1 says of Jesus,
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John 1:1–2 NIV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
So we see that Jesus is the word of God. But then in John 17:17, Jesus says this:
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John 17:17 NIV
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Jesus is the word, and the word is truth. Truth is what is real, and Jesus is in fact what is real. There is no other truth. He is the only truly true truth. There is only one road, one path, and one truth that leads to heaven. The other truths therefore cannot be truth. Jesus is exclusively true.
3. Jesus is the exclusive source of life.
Ephesians 2:1–2 (NIV)
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
We are all, without Jesus, living in death. There is no path to life without him, we are dead in our sins. Eventually, we all die, there is no avoiding it. Science and medicine can prolong our lives, and work to keep us healthy for as long as possible. But eventually, our bodies will fail, and we will pass away, because we live in a broken world, under a curse.
But in last Sundays I Am statement, Jesus said, I Am the Resurrection and the Life. There is one, exclusive source of life for us to receive, and that is Jesus. No other path, no other so called “truth” will give it to us. 1 John 5:11-12 says that:
1 John 5:11–12 (NIV)
God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
He is the source of life, and without him, we have no life, we are already dead. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says:
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1 Corinthians 15:22 NASB95
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
What this means, is that Jesus is the only way to be right with God, and to find new life both here on earth, and everlasting life after this world has passed away. There is no other way, it is exclusively offered through Jesus.
So as I conclude, I want to make sure that with all the conflicting messages in the world around us, we know without a doubt, that Jesus is not just A way, A truth, or A life that we can choose. He is THE way, he is THE truth, and he is THE life. There is no other. He is exclusive in that he is the ONLY path to God the Father, the ONLY path to being right with him and to find eternal life. But he is INCLUSIVE in that the door is open to anyone who wants to walk through it.
While the world around us wants you to believe that you can choose whatever truth you like, or follow whichever religion, all paths lead to heaven - we know better. As Billy Graham said in the video at the beginning, Jesus begged God to spare him the cross if there was ANY other way to save us, but there was no other way.
God wouldn’t have sent Jesus to the cross if you could be saved by trying to find transcendence through Buddhism, or by worshiping Allah, or by being a good person. He would never have sent Jesus to the cross if there were another way, but there wasn’t.
Jesus is exclusive. He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. As we leave here this week, lets consider the implications of that. If he is THE way, then it is that much more important that we are being light to the world, because it is only by him that they will be saved. So as we go about our lives, and go to work, interact with friends and neighbors, lets be light to them. The world is hurting and broken, and Jesus has come to give us a path out of it, so lets honor him by continuing his mission to the lost and hurting people around us.
