John 27 The Way Truth and Life
THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE
#27
John 14:5-7
“5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.”
How Do We Know the Way?
I hate being lost. In my lifetime there have been some dramatic changes in how one travels from one place to another. For those older than me, the changes are even more dramatic. When I first started driving, maps were the way to travel from one place to another.
There was a time or two when I actually had to unfold a massive roadmap (one I could never fold back properly) and, find where I was, and trace the roads with my finger to where I needed to be. You could even get a highlighter or a pen to mark down your proposed path so you could find your way quickly.
Soon though, I started using this wonderful website called MapQuest. When driving from Denver to Texas, or through the Rocky Mountains to find some park or some church to preach for, I would just get on MapQuest and print out a map with clear step by step directions for how to reach my destination.
Now, I put just about zero thought into directions. I just need an address. Put it in the phone, and it does all the heavy lifting for you. The GPS lady tracks you wherever you are and, at the moment, tells you exactly where you need to go. Sometimes, she can be a little bossy, but she's pretty good at her job. Road unexpectedly closed? That is no problem; she can find an alternate route in seconds.
You can get out on the road and start driving before you even know what turns you will eventually need to take. A lot of people, myself included, put a lot of trust in our phones to lead us home.
Jesus is going ... somewhere. And no one can follow Him (John 13:36). His disciples are still puzzled about where and how to get there. Jesus tells them He is going to His Father's house and "that they know the way where I am going" (John 14:3). Do they really?
The Gospel of John repeatedly shows people misunderstanding Jesus. I am curious exactly what His disciples are thinking here. Thomas asks, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?" (John 14:5). I wonder if he is waiting for directions to Jesus' Father's house. Is he looking for a road leading to Nazareth? Where is the map? Where is the road? How do we get there?
I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life
Jesus' response makes it clear Thomas is asking the wrong question. "How do we know the way?" Jesus IS the way! You don't need a map, directions, or a road. You need Jesus. Follow Him. The word translated as "way" (odos) is the standard word for "road" (Acts 8:36; 9:17). It is a path, a road, a way. It came to be used in a special way to refer to the early Christian movement.
The word "Christianity" is never used in the Bible. Instead, the preferred moniker was "The Road" or "The Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:23, etc.). Acts 18:26 uses the phrase "the way of God" to describe a proper understanding of baptism. So the word comes to be used in a number of important ways, but I think perhaps the most important for understanding Jesus' meaning is found all the way back in the Book of Isaiah.
Isaiah paints the picture of a remarkable trip home. Imagine being in slavery, in bondage, in subjugation in a foreign land by cruel pagan leaders.
Israel found themselves in this situation on a number of occasions. The two that overshadow all the rest in the Old Testament are Egyptian slavery and Babylonian captivity. Both of those tumultuous times in Israelite history saw God's people in utter misery. Yet both of those tumultuous times came to an end.
The people were freed, and what stood in between slavery and home was a wilderness, a desert. From Egypt, it took 40 years of aimless wandering to make it to the Promised Land. The return from Babylon will go much more smoothly, better than the Exodus from Egypt. That is the picture Isaiah paints on numerous occasions.
The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom ... encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble ...'Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.' Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.
For waters will break forth in the wilderness ... A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness ..." (Isaiah 35:1-8).
Compare this journey through the wilderness with the sin-fraught, death-plagued 40 years in the Book of Numbers. There is rejoicing, strengthening, and salvation from God. The blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk. Waters cover the wilderness, and a highway appears. The Greek word odos, "the way," appears three times in the Septuagint translation of this passage. The idea of a smooth highway prepared through the wilderness, or a new path through the sea, and a more glorious Exodus is repeated by Isaiah over and over again (Isaiah 40:3-5; 43:16-21; 51:10-14; 52:1-12; 55:12-13). "The Way" is the road from slavery to home. It is a path from lies to truth. It is a path that leads from death to life. Jesus is that way.
Exclusively Open for All
This passage in the Gospel of John ends with one of Jesus' most radical claims. It is claims like this that made the Christian faith a target for Roman persecution. It is claims like this that make the Christian religion unpopular to so many today. It is claims like this that offend and anger pluralistic societies. Nevertheless, claims like this must be accepted by followers of Christ. Jesus is the road or highway that leads to God. There is no other. "No one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6).
In keeping with the highway illustration, if I want to go from New Orleans to Dallas, I can't take any highway I want. I can't go in any direction I choose. Although I have the freedom to get on any road I want, they won't all take me where I want to go. The path to God is exclusively found in Jesus, but it is free for anyone who wants to be on the road.
No matter what color you are, what language you speak, or what your nationality is, you are welcome on the road. No matter what sins you've committed in your past, how much money you have, how thin or fat, ugly or beautiful, educated or ignorant, everyone is welcome on that road. You cannot be too old, and no one is too young. It is the most open, inclusive, and welcoming road in the world. It is open to anyone and everyone. You just need to be on it. The way to the Father is for everyone.