In each of his “I am…” sayings, Christ uses metaphorical language to illuminate his understanding of himself as the Divine Messiah. In our exploration this week, we will be focusing on Christ’s claim that he is the way, and the truth, and the life. This metaphor occurs in John 14:6.
In
order to fully understand and appreciate this saying, we will need to look at
the context in which it appears in John’s Gospel. Most scriptural scholars recognize that John
14-16 is intended to be read as a specific genre of literature, which was
prominent in the ancient Mediterranean world:
It is the genre of the “Farewell Discourse.”
This genre occurs at several important places in the Hebrew—or, Old
Testament—scriptures:
Genesis
49 Jacob’s farewell and
blessing his 12 sons
Joshua
22-24 Joshua’s farewell
1
Chronicles 28-29 King David’s
farewell and instructions to his royal court
The Farewell Discourse is defined by certain
characteristics: “the gathering of
family and/or followers by the dying or departing man, the announcement of
approaching death or departure, prophecies and/or promises and blessings, a
review of the man’s life, the naming of a successor, final instructions, and a
prayer.”[i]
Jesus
begins his Farewell Discourse by reassuring his disciples, seeking to calm
their fear and anxiety. Jesus says, “Do
not let your hearts be troubled. Believe
in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1)
Then, Jesus invokes the
metaphor of a house to comfort his disciples.
Jesus intends to reassure his followers that his looming death on the
cross is not a termination of his existence, or his relationship with
them. Instead, his death will mark a
transition point from this life and his current relationship to a new life and
relationship at the end of time as part of God’s New Creation:
“In my Father’s house
there are many dwelling places [rooms].
If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place
for you? And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am,
there you may be also. And you know the
way to the place where I am going.”
(John 14: 2-4)
This
passage of scripture is commonly used at funerals and memorial services. It has offered comfort and healing to so many
Christian mourners, down through the ages.
To reiterate, it reminds and reassures us that for Christians, our death
does not mean the termination of our existence, or our essence. Instead, death marks a transition point as we
transition from our current existence into a New Creation, through God’s love
and power. To use a different metaphor,
as persons of Christian faith, we believe that death marks a radical transformation
into new creatures, just as the process of metamorphosis marks the radical
transformation of a caterpillar into a beautiful, free butterfly.
Some
care is required in interpreting this metaphor used by Jesus. Jesus’ reference to “my Father’s house”
recalls the same imagery in Jewish tradition, which refers to our “Father’s
house” as the heavenly dwelling place. (See
Psalm 113: 4-6 and Isaiah 66:1.) It is,
therefore, tempting to interpret Jesus
use of the words, “my Father’s house,” as a reference to a physical heaven. Yet, in the Gospel of John, the key to Christ’s
Messiahship is relationship; that is, the mutual indwelling of God and Jesus. For the Gospel of John, location consistently
points to and symbolizes a close relationship.
As the biblical scholar Gail R. O’Day points out, “a description of
Jesus physical location (in the bosom of the Father) communicates the intimacy
of Jesus’ relationship with God. …To
know where Jesus is from is to know his relationship with God.”[ii]
When
Jesus tells his followers that he goes to prepare a place for them, he is using
the domestic imagery of a home to reassure them that his return to God will
make it possible for them to join into the intimate, divine relationship which
exists between Christ and the Creator.
His claim to return and “take you to myself” represents an eschatological
promise that all of his followers will indeed be transformed into New Creation
at the eschaton and be joined in the divine, mutual indwelling of Jesus and
God.
But,
Thomas, the disciple, does not quite understand. He thinks that Jesus is referring to a
geographical destination, so he asks: “Lord,
we do not know where you are going. How
can we know the way?” (John 14:5)
Jesus
responds to Thomas with his “I am…” saying.
Jesus say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(John 14: 6) Again, this is a metaphor which
Jesus uses to describe how he understands himself as the Messiah.
As with the previous metaphor of “my Father’s
house,” this “I am…” saying has roots in the Jewish tradition. In the Hebrew (Old Testament) scriptures, the
“way” can be used to describe a “way of life,” or a lifestyle, of living
faithfully, following God. As an
illustration, consider the words of Psalm 119:1, “Happy are those whose way is
blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord.”
Here, walking the way refers to living a life of faithfulness to
God. (See also, Psalm 119: 3, 5, 27, and
33.)
The
nouns, “truth” and “life,” serve to simultaneously inform
and elaborate on Christ’s self-description of himself as “the way.” In describing himself as “the way,” Jesus
reveals that he provides access—and, also the embodiment of—living a life in intimate,
divine relationship with God, the Creator.
Before
concluding, it is important that we address a question which this “I am…”
saying appears to raise for other religions.
This question may be framed as follows:
If Jesus is the way,
and the truth, and the life, does that mean that
other religions, such as Buddhism and Islam, are false and invalid? We live in a very religiously pluralistic
world, with neighbors who may profess and follow many different religious faiths. Does this “I am…” saying by Jesus imply that
people of other faiths cannot enter into a loving relationship with the
Divine? Given our pluralistic context,
such an exclusive understanding of Christianity may invalidate it as a viable
faith for many of us.
Biblical
scholar Gail R. O’Day suggests that it is important to understand the First
Century context in which the early Christian community would have heard and
interpreted this claim. She points out
that for John’s Christian community, the most important aspect of the
Incarnation was that it decisively reveals for the first time how deep and
awesome God’s love for each human person genuinely is. Through the life, ministry, death, and
resurrection of Jesus the Christ, humans finally gain a glimmer of this awesome
love which the Divine extends to each and every person.
It
is only through Jesus Christ that the members of John’s church were able to
grasp and appreciate the awesome love which God has for humans, but that does
not mean God’s love is restricted just to Christians. No.
For God’s love to be authentic it must extend to all humans, Christians
and non-Christians alike. Thus, it may
be better to translate John 14: 6b this way:
“None of you [my disciples will come] to the Father except through me.” That is, for the community of Christ, Jesus
is the way, the truth, and the life because that has been our experience of the
Divine.
Yet, our experience of
Christ as the way does not
negate or invalidate other experiences of the Divine through other
channels. We must not limit God. O’Day concludes by observing that the Fourth
Gospel was not focused on “Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, nor with the
superiority or inferiority of Judaism and Christianity as they are configured
in the modern world. These verse are the
confessional celebration of a particular faith community, convinced of the
truth and life it has received in the incarnation. The Fourth Evangelist’s primary concern was
the clarification and celebration of what it means to believe in Jesus.”[iii]
Come, join us this
Sunday, July 17th, at Christ United Methodist Church, as we continue our study
of the “I am…” sayings of Jesus. Christ
United Methodist Church is located at 4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our classic worship services are at 8:30 and
11:00 on Sunday mornings. This week, I
will continue to offer my short-term study of these “I am…” sayings, between
the two worship services at 9:45. We
will use Rob Fuquay’s The God We Can Know
as our resource.
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