Sermon – 14th October 2007
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life – John 14:6
To continue on from what Joy has already said about going back to the bible, and rereading the familiar words, and meditating on them we found ourselves exploring what these words may have meant to the disciples, and what they mean to us today.
There are some people in the Bible who seem more human than others, and I am really grateful for Thomas. Because his reaction to Jesus is so honest and open, because he did not pretend to understand and he asked the question that many of us may also have wanted to ask: “We don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” His example means that none of us should ever be ashamed of having doubts or questions. Because Thomas was honest in expressing his lack of understanding we have this amazing statement from Jesus. “I am the way and the truth and the life.” These were three of the basic conceptions of Judaism, and may even have been names of door ways in the Temple. Jesus made the claim that all three found their fulfilment in Him. “I am the way etc……” and we will find the way to the Father through our relationship with Jesus.
However, there is also the significance of the words ‘I Am’ to consider. As we have been discussing at Alpha, by using the words ‘I am’ Jesus was claiming the name of God for himself. When Moses was talking with God at the burning bush, about returning to Egypt and rescuing all the Israelites, he questioned God as to what he should say his name was. God answered “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.” So when Jesus used those words they had great significance; he was saying two things – that God is the way, truth and life, and that because ‘no man comes to the Father except by Him’, he also was ‘I am’ and he had the same name as God.
Through the history of the Old Testament, the Jews talked about the path or the way of God in which people must walk. God had said to Moses: “You shall not turn to the right or to the left. You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you.” ‘Exactly’ – a tall order to live as God is perfect.
Isaiah speaks of the Way of holiness, and the psalmist writes the prayer: “Teach me your way, O Lord.” So, when Jesus called himself the way he was pointing to the way that God wants us to live as explained and out lined in Scripture. Jesus lived the perfect way, not turning right or left from the path God had set before him.
The psalmist also wrote: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth” (Psa 86:11) Before Jesus, no-one had embodied truth. Many had taught it, but no-one could claim to be Truth, especially God’s truth. Jesus lived the truth, he was and is the truth in a way that no-one else has been able to be. If someone claims to be the truth in the way that God is truth, they cannot just teach it; they must live it all the way through – like the words going through a stick of rock. Their character and integrity makes all the difference.
Again the psalmist writes: “You show me the path of life”. Thomas asked the question of Jesus in the context of Jesus preparing his disciples for his death. It seems strange to talk of being life, whilst facing death – and perhaps this did not help the disciples to understand what was going on. The way by which Jesus was going was the way of the cross; but Jesus was able to make the claim that he is the life, because of the other two claims – because he is the way and the truth. God is life, the author and originator of life. Life comes from Him, and when we are with Him we can say we are fully alive. If you have ever been in love with someone, perhaps you can agree with Robert Browning who tells of two people who have fallen in love and say: “I never knew what life was until I saw it in your eyes.” Love has brought life.
But speaking personally, how does knowing that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life help me on the way God has set before me? Imagine you are visiting somewhere unfamiliar to you. If you ask for directions someone may tell you the way to go, but better still, they may take you. Jesus takes us on the way and because he is truth and life, we can trust him; he becomes the way because he walks with us. As the writer to the Hebrews put it: Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” Jesus really does know the way to live.
When Jesus answered Thomas with words which are so familiar, his reply was personal – he did not claim to just know the way, the truth and the life as a formula: he personally claimed to be the answer to Thomas’ dilemma.
We can see perhaps something of this journey, this path way in our church. I saw ‘the way’ into church from the door; we have to make a decision to come into the presence of God, away from the world, but still in it. We come through the door of the church and at some point join in the body of Christ through baptism.
We learn to walk in the way of ‘truth’ as we share the words we read from our bibles. And we celebrate and share ‘the life’ at the Eucharist.