A Passion for Life 2022
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I wonder if you were to look back on times past, as I do from time to time, whether you can identify certain words or concepts that have changed over time?
‘When I were a lad’…there was no such thing as mobile phones.
What my children experience in a school day seems far removed from teh educations system I went through.
How I access and use money is almost entirely online - very rarely does it hit my wallet and if it does, with the myriad of things you can do these days with your time, it certainly doesn’t sit there for long.
Words too have changed, haven’t they. Can you think of any?
When I was a child a ‘swipe’ was something your Mum gave you when you stepped out of line - now it’s used more often to describe moving your fingers across a touch screen to change from one application to another.
A tablet was generally something you got over the Chemist’s counter - now the word is more likely to be used for a computer contained within a small touchscreen panel device.
Other words that come to mind are Text, Troll, Tweet - to name just a few.
Sadly, one of the words or concepts that I think has changed dramatically over my lifetime is the use of the word, or concept even, around TRUTH.
If you want to get a sense of today’s concept of truth, you need look no further to the great oracle that is Oprah Winfrey.
When she stood up to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, this is what she said:
"What I know for sure is that speaking ‘your’ truth is the most powerful tool we all have." - Oprah Winfrey 2018
“Your truth.”
“Your truth.”
At first glance the full force of that statement might not seem so odd.
That’s probably because these two words together have become so entrenched in our speech today; we no longer recognize them for the incoherent nightmare that they actually are.
Among other things, the philosophy of "your truth" destroys families when a parent suddenly decides "their truth" is calling him to a new lover, a new family, or maybe even a new gender.
It's a philosophy that can destroy entire societies, because invariably one person's truth will go to battle with another person's truth, and devoid of reason, only power decides the victor.
I see that kind of dialogue almost every day on social media.
"Your truth" also puts an incredible, self-justifying burden on the individual.
Becuase, when you think about it - If we are all self-made projects whose destinies are wholly ours to discover and implement, life becomes a rat race of performance driven individuality.
"Live your truth" autonomy is as exhausting as it is incoherent.
Depression is the inevitable result and “the inevitable counterpart of the human being who is his or her own sovereign.”
And what’s even more concerning - this philosophy has gripped the church. Perhaps, though a bit confronting I know, you are sitting here as someone who lives out their life and faith under that same philosophy.
I say all that before we actually come to our main focus on the text, because from what we read about the words and teaching of Jesus - this tinking is completely foreign to him and needs to be challenged as we hear his words uttered at John 14 verse 6:
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.
So what did Jesus mean?
Well, as Steve introduced our gospel passage to us last week, we looked particularly at the opening phrase:
I AM THE WAY
I AM THE WAY
I’ve still got an image in my mind of Steve’s map the size of a pillow case in my mind.
Confession time - I’m more of a satnav kind of guy.
However, one year at Keswick, I got the OS Map bug and bought a couple. I even downloaded the app that gives you (for a fee) access to the map that relates to the specific area of the UK that you are currently in - how’s that!
This is th OS map for the Langton Matravers area.
Those who were with us that day soon realised that I had all the gear with no idea! Having a map is one thing - deciphering it is quite another!
In a way, in this 6th of 7 ‘I am’ sayings, Jesus IS saying one thing, but expressing it as three things - if we are to understand what Jesus seeks to communicate to his disciples then and now, it’s really imporatnt that we see them all as interconnected, relevant and supportive of the message as a whole.
The central term is ‘I am the way’ - we know that because of the way the conversation has unfolded to this point.
As Steve highlighted last Sunday, the question was where is Jesus going and how will the disciples know the way.
Jesus could have just left it as ‘I am the way’, but in saying he is the truth and the life, Jesus wants his disciples not just to accept the fact, but to understand how he is the way.
When we look forward to another event, we can see how Pilate’s ignorance around Jesus being the way and the life was no doubt a factor in his inability to understand what Jesus was talking about when he said.
In fact, for this reason I was born…SLIDE/s
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
All he could muster in response was - “What is truth?” Though not completely in an Oprah Winfrey kind of way I expect.
As Jesus reaches out here with compassion and concern for his disciples - as his death draws near - he is genuinely committed to helping them see WHY they should follow him - WHY He is the way.
(Pause)
If you ever get time to look at John’s gospel in any depth, you will see how central presenting the evidence is to the author of this biography about Jesus.
There is a pattern all the way through - first evidence, then belief - then life - and the only road to this life that John is so keen for his readers to grasp, is through faith in Jesus as God’s only Son.
Truth is incredibly important to John - truth that is certain, trustworthy and backed up by verifiable evidence.
In presenting his gospel, his good news about Jesus, John doesn’t expect us to know all that there is to know about Jesus - there will be some fuzzy edges and we can’t know everything. In fact he alludes to that doesn’t he in
30 Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.
31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
BUT - what the apostle John DOES NOT DO - is call us to a ‘blind faith’, a ‘leap in the dark’ faith - Faith for John is a step out of our darkness into that blinding light of Jesus that exposes us for what we are and our need for Jesus as our Saviour.
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”
It’s astonishing - or at least it would be for a Jew - Jesus presents himself to his disciples in John 14 unambiguously as the object of faith:
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.
So many today either swing between the extremes of either downplaying the ability to know anything - or that knowledge is somehow hidden and mysterious that only a few people can really know anything at all.
Jesus doesn’t seem to think that is correct or an acceptable position to take.
After all, he appeals to the disciples knowledge about him when he says in verse 4
4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus isn’t asking them a question - Do you know?
Thomas thinks he is talking about a location and the best direct route to get there.
But Jesus is saying, even here - you know the way, because you know me.
He doesn’t say - you will know when you have completed a Theology Degree, or reach some higher plain of spirituality, or you do this or achieve that...
You know - already - because the way there is through knowing me.
And... you can trust in that and the hope of life that will come your way - because -
I am the TRUTH
I am the TRUTH
I am the revealer - of the God who created you.
The reality and truth of God our Creator are incarnated - made flesh and visible to all who would see JESUS as he is.
You see, here’s the thing, here’s the reason Jesus called those who would be his disciples in every age to share the good news -
Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father and the way to the Father requires revelation - the ONLY truth about who God is, and the ONLY one who can give life that overcomes the natural consequences of the death to which we are travelling.
Jesus is not just a law-giver, prophet or teacher that conveys the truth ABOUT God. He IS the truth.
The one who John has already introduced us to back in chapter 1 of his gospel:
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
I sometimes hear the claim that we cannot know the truth about God.
when I hear that it reminds me of the story about the six blind men and the elephant?
Have you heard it?
One blind man touches the belly of the animal and thinks it's a wall.
Another grabs the elephant's ear and thinks he's touching a fan.
A third blind man touches the tail and thinks he's holding a rope.
On they go, each grabbing a part of the elephant without any one of them knowing what it is they really feel.
What's the point of this story?
Well, what the originator of this story wants us to believe is that we are all blind when it comes to God.
We know part of him, but we don't know really know who he is, we are all just grasping in the dark, thinking we know more than we do.
But friends, there are two major problems with this analogy.
First, the whole story is told from the vantage point of someone who clearly knows that the elephant is an elephant.
For the story to make its point, the narrator has to have clear and accurate knowledge of the elephant.
The second flaw with this story is even more serious.
The story is a perfectly good description of human inability to know God by our own devices.
But the story never considers this earth-shattering question: What if the elephant talks?
What if the elephant tells the blind men: "That wall-like structure you have just touched is my side.
That fan is really my ear.
And that's not a rope; it's a tail."
If the elephant were to say all this, I wonder...
would we consider the six blind men wise or even humble for ignoring this talking elephant and remaining stuck in a conundrum of, let’s face it, their own making... walking away believing that it is impossible to work it out?
Friends as we begin Holy Week as we journey towards Good Friday and Easter Sunday - may the words of our Lord Jesus ring in our ears from his conversation with his disciples.
Perhaps we are in the same place Philip is when he said
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Still not feeling we are 100% sure who Jesus is or that we need to see just a little bit more and then we will be convinced.
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Why not consider joining our new focus group - Introducing God after Easter - you can pick up an invitation at the door and write your interest down on the sign up sheet. Why put it off any longer?
Or maybe you have been coming to church all your life, but you still don’t quite see the significance of Jesus, of knowing him, the words he uttered about himself, about the Father, about life and the future.
Maybe we know people who have not considered Jesus as we think and pray about who (or even why) we should invite to our Easter Sunday Service.
May Jesus and what he says at John 14: 6 ring through our minds and prompt us into action this Easter:
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.