8 - I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life

SLIDE: John 14:6

John 14:6 (NLT)

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

BUMPER:

SLIDE: Welcome Home

SLIDE: Open your Bible to John 14

Scripture: John 14:1-7 (read here)

“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.”

SLIDE: TITLE

Introduction

We’re coming to the end of our series, What’s in a Name, where we’ve been looking at the “I Am” statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John. There are seven of them, and each one tells us a little more about Jesus’ understanding of himself. But perhaps even more important is beginning each one with the phrase, “I Am.” This was the ancient name of God revealed to Moses at the burning bush, “Yahweh,” which is a form of the verb “to be.” So here was Jesus, seven times, identifying himself with God.

The Disciples had a knack for asking the wrong questions. Let’s just go ahead and call them the Duh-ciples.

But Jesus had a knack for answering the questions they should have been asking. Which may explain why he ended so many teaching sessions with the phrase, “The one who has ears to hear, let them hear.” He seemed to know that many would not understand what he was saying. When we keep asking the wrong questions, we risk missing—or misunderstanding—the whole meaning of Jesus’ life and teaching.

SLIDE: Life on Earth:

Example: Jesus’ life and teaching are not primarily about how to go to heaven when you die. They are about how to live a heavenly kind of life here on earth, what Jesus called the Kingdom of God.

The good news: sometimes the duh-ciples’ wrong questions led to some of Jesus’ most memorable and important answers. And that is certainly true of the “I Am” statement we’re looking at today.

Main Teaching

This is part of the lengthy section that records Jesus’ conversation with the Duh-ciples in the Upper Room.

In John 13:21 Jesus tells them one of them is going to betray him. The disciples are stunned and dismayed. Who could it be? Jesus reveals it is Judas Iscariot by, of all things, sharing communion with him…Judas storms out.

Next, in John 13:33, Jesus tells them he will be with them only a little while longer. And where he is going, they can’t follow. This had to be disturbing for these men who had left everything to follow him. It was their whole identity. But now Jesus says they can’t come with him? But here’s what they can do, he says: keep loving one another. This is how everyone will know they are truly followers of Jesus.

Then comes the first of three wrong questions from the Duh-ciples,

A wrong question from Peter, of course.

“Where are you going?” (John 13:36)

Jesus responds, “Where I am going you can’t follow now, but you will follow later.”

This echoes what Jesus had said to James and John earlier, (Matthew 20:20) when their mother asked that be allowed to sit at Jesus’ right and left in his kingdom.

On that occasion, Jesus asked, “Can you drink the cup that I will drink?”, referring to his suffering and death.

“We can!” they answered arrogantly.

“You will drink from it, but not now,”Jesus answered. “Now it is time for me to do this alone, as the fulfillment of my unique calling.”

Peter brags, “Why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” (John 13:37)

And Jesus responds, “Will you really? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times!” (John 13:38)

This sequence of events is the background for what happens next. This is what caused the disciples to be deeply troubled. It led directly to Judas’ betrayal, followed by Jesus’ announcement that he is going away and they can’t follow. Also, Jesus’ prediction that Peter will also betray him. This is why John 14 opens with Jesus’ words, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” They had to be deeply troubled by everything that had just happened! Wouldn’t you be? We need to give the disciples some slack for being human, just like you and me.

Thomas’ turn: another wrong question.

Jesus continues, “My Father’s house has many rooms. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And then I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:2-4)

The word translated “rooms” here is monai, from meno, which means “to stay.”

So, the idea is not of specific rooms, but places to stay, or abiding places. (Spoiler alert: Jesus will say more about this in next week’s “I Am” statement, “I am the true vine,” and then tells us to “abide” in him.)

For now, understand that Jesus is probably not talking about heaven. Rather, he is talking about a place of intimacy with the Father; the Father’s family, or the Father’s house. And Jesus coming back to take them there with him is probably not referring to what we call The Second Coming. He is talking about his resurrection, something much more imminent.

We know this from Jesus’ comments later in this chapter; “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you…On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you…Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John 14:18;20;23)

Jesus is referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit after his ascension, who will be the means by which Father and Son make their home in us.

Thomas’ response: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” He, like Peter, has a chronically low get-it factor. So, he wants to come back to Peter’s question, which Jesus didn’t answer because it’s the wrong question.

But Thomas can’t leave it alone. You can hear the frustration in his voice. “We don’t even know where you’re going! How can we know the way?” (John 14:5) This is not a request for information; it’s an expression of confusion. He doesn’t even know what to ask!

And Jesus’ response is not an explanation or answer; it’s simply reassurance. He has just said, “Don’t be troubled. Trust God. Trust me.” (John 14:1)

SLIDE: Trust...

Pause: This may be the essence of the entire Gospel message. Instead of having to explain, or define, or argue, or prove anything, maybe all God wants is our trust. Jesus said it here: “Trust God; trust me.”

Now he repeats the reassurance: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know the Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7)

It’s like Jesus is saying, “Listen, you don’t need to understand all this. You simply need to trust me. Don’t look for a ‘way’ apart from me. Don’t look for a route or destination—some concept or technique or system of thought that is separate from me. I’m not going to give you information or instructions so you no longer need me and can instead depend on the information or instructions. No, just trust me. Everything you need is in me. I will bring you to my Father’s abiding place. ‘The way’ or ‘the truth’ or ‘the life’ aren’t things separate from me. I am these things, so you’ll find them in me! Whether or not you know what I’ve been talking about, if you know me, you know the Father, you know the way, you know the truth, you know the life.”

Jesus’ response is also a play on the word “know.” Thomas is asking, “How can we have intellectual clarity on where you’re going and the route to get there?” But Jesus replies, “You don’t need intellectual clarity; you need personal knowledge. It’s not a matter of ‘knowing about,’ but rather ‘knowing.’ He comes back to this idea in chapter 17, when Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

SLIDE: Without...

Illustration: Thomas a Kempis wrote, “Without the Way there is no going, without the Truth there is no knowing, without the Life there is no living.”

“Non-Get-It” Factor

Now the “non-get-it” factor continues with Philip.

Notice again the theme of “knowing.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.” (John 14:8-11)

The dynamic core of this whole conversation is right there in John 14:9: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” This is why Jesus seems almost baffled by their not getting it. When Thomas says, “Show us the way to the Father,” Jesus says, “I am the way…” Now Philip says, “Ok, just show us the Father.” And Jesus says, “Do you still not know me? I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” If Jesus and the Father are one—“I in him and him in me”—then of course there is no other way to the Father. No one can come to the Father apart from Jesus because the two are inseparable in this relationship of mutuality and love.

Conclusion

Doesn’t it seem ironic to you that the conventional approach to John 14:6—giving us information about who will be in heaven and who won’t—is perfectly in synch with the general cluelessness of the Duh-ciples? We show ourselves to be their descendants—duh-scendents—wanting clarity, technique, intellectual knowledge, apart from personal confidence in Christ. We want to know with clarity exactly who’s “in” and who’s “out.” We want to be the gatekeepers… We talked about that a couple weeks ago.

SLIDE: Truth for your life:

But Jesus gives us not the in-and-out information we may want, but what we actually need: he reassures us that we don’t have to understand everything as long as we trust him, and the vision of the Father we have seen in him. If we trust him, we will have what we need, even though we may not have all the answers. That includes conclusive answers to our persistent curiosity about who is in and who is out.

If we keep asking the wrong questions, we may receive the same answer Jesus gives to Peter in the last scene recorded in John’s gospel. After the resurrection, Jesus and Peter are walking alone on the beach. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. And three times Peter says he does, to which Jesus responds simply, “Feed my sheep.”

This is perhaps Jesus’ way of restoring Peter’s shattered spirit after denying Jesus three times.

But Peter turns and sees John walking a little way behind them, and says, “What about him?” (John 21:21) (I shudder to think how much this sounds like me, multiple times over the course of my life! Thank you, Peter, for holding up the mirror to my childishness, and thank you John for recording it!)

Jesus responded, “What is that to you? You must follow me!” (John 21:22)

SLIDE: Life Application

In other words, “Stop asking the wrong questions!”

Let’s pray together.

Prayer: “Father, we thank you today that you chose people just like us to which to entrust your message. Forgive our slowness to understand, our reluctance to let go of old categories that you were never interested in, and our tendency to behave just like your first followers. Thank you for choosing them anyway. Thank you for choosing us today.”