Year A, Easter 5 Our Gospel this morning is one of my favorite passages from the Gospel of John—and it’s my favorite gospel too. Today’s passage is special for two reasons: first of all because it contains a verse that has been very meaningful to me, and secondly because of what it reveals about God. How many of you are lifelong, cradle Episcopalians? We are increasingly rare birds, did you know that? I was baptized in the Episcopal Church as an infant. When I was growing up we moved a lot—I lived in 8 states in 10 years because my Dad was a civil engineer in heavy construction, moving up the ranks I guess, and we went to where the jobs were: dams, bridges, pipelines, those kinds of things. Some of the towns we lived in didn’t have Episcopal churches, so my sister and I went to Sunday school in various denominations, but on Christmas and Easter we would usually drive to a town that had an Episcopal Church. When I was 10 we settled in Littleton, Colorado, and St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church became our church. I was confirmed there, active in youth groups, and it was a very important part of my life. I had friends in Young Life and some of those more evangelical groups, but I was perfectly happy in the Episcopal Church. Even when I went off to college and then got married, I was active in the church. Then in my mid-twenties, for a variety of reasons, I drifted away from the church. It wasn’t a priority for me. I had a sense of spirituality, sometimes even a sense that church somewhere was a good thing, but it didn’t have much impact. Larry and I dabbled in a charismatic church, and in a bible church, but nothing really stuck. For a total of about 15 years I stayed away! I dabbled in New Age religions a bit, read a lot of spiritual sounding books, thought about Buddhism and Native American religions, and mostly I just felt like I was a spiritual person. But I got to the point where I felt like I needed a relationship with God, that I needed to find him. But how to get there? What path? This verse came to mind and I couldn’t shake it, where Jesus says “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.” And that settled it. Jesus said it, and by God’s grace I believed it. It’s had a lasting impact on my life. But there’s much more to this reading than this one verse, so lets explore a little: This passage takes place within the greater context of the Last Supper (Beasley-Murray 244). Jesus’ public ministry is complete; he is engaging now with the Disciples. In chapter 13, just before our reading, the community of disciples is cleansed, both literally and figuratively. Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. Judas is exposed as a betrayer, and he leaves their company. And then, immediately preceding our passage, Peter boldly states that he would lay down his life for Jesus, and Jesus responds by predicting that Peter will betray him that very night—not just once but three times—before the rooster crows. Needless to say the disciples were stunned. It was becoming clear to them that Jesus was going to die—and soon. Not only that, “the prediction of Peter’s denial would have shaken all of them. Peter did not always have the right answers, but his fierce loyalty to Jesus was very clear. If he is going to deny Jesus, what hope was there for the rest of them? Jesus’ talk about departure and denial gave them much to be disturbed about” (Whitacre 346-7). In light of this distressing night “when of all times it would have been appropriate for Jesus’ followers to lend him emotional and spiritual support, he is still the one who gives, comforts, instructs” ( Carson 487). Jesus tells his disciples, “let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” ( ESV 14:1). In verse 2, Jesus tells the disciples, “ In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” ( ESV). “My Father’s house” is generally taken to mean heaven. Some versions say there are many mansions, because in Old English, mansion simply meant dwelling place, and not necessarily a palatial home as we understand it. Basically, the idea of many rooms in the Father’s house tells the disciples—and us—that there is ample room for all who believe in Jesus. In verse 3, Jesus says, “ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” ( ESV). What does it mean that Jesus will come again? Perhaps this suggests that he will come in the form of the Holy Spirit, but more likely he is referring to the 2 nd coming, when he will come to judge the world and reign over his kingdom. He will take us to himself, and we will be with him for eternity. Jesus continues, 4 “You know the way to where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” In the Old Testament, the WAY of truth was to follow the Law. But in John’s gospel, “Jesus is the way because he is the revelation of the Father. . . Jesus is the way in a twofold sense: first, as a mediator of salvation; second as a norm of life. For John, truth is . . . action as well as . . . believing and knowing” (Brown 628). In our text, Jesus is the way because he is the truth and the life. Whitacre explains “Truth and life correspond to Jesus’ roles in this Gospel as revealer and life-giver. God alone is truth and life, and when our rebellion separated us from God, we plunged into ignorance and death. It follows that the way to the Father requires both revelation [or truth] because of our ignorance, and life, due to our death” (351). The Christian community also became known as “the Way”, “perhaps because its life was the way that prepared for the ultimate coming of Christ, a way of life commanded by Jesus and motivated by the Spirit” (Brown 629). IN verse 7Jesus continues, saying 7 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. 8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Show us the Father; that will be sufficient! Philip seems to be asking for a theophany, a revelation of God. Both Moses (Exodus 33) and Isaiah (ch 6) seem to have seen God, or at least his glory, and Philip appears to be asking for the same vision of God’s glory. “He has a very exalted view of Jesus since the thinks Jesus can enable such and experience” (Whitacre 353). What Philip doesn’t “see” is that “In Christ Philip has before him the full embodiment of God as it can be seen by humanity. . . In seeing Jesus, Philip is seeing God. This is one of the high points of John’s Christology. Jesus is not simply a religious teacher or guide, nor is he simply the means to some other destination. He is also the end, the goal. He is the One in whom God can be found” (Burge 393). So there are a couple more things we can learn from this passage. The first has to do with the exclusive claims of this text. If we have any kind of a view of Scripture as truth, and of Jesus as truth, there is no way getting around the exclusivism presented in Jesus; claim to be the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can get to the Father except through Jesus. It is clear that Christianity is not just one path against many equally valid paths. My seminary professor Rod Whitacre, who wrote a Commentary on John, explained that “this verse does not address the ways in which Jesus brings people to the Father, but what it does say is that no one who ends up sharing God’s life will do so apart from Jesus, the unique Son of God who is, not just who conveys, truth and life” (352). The truth is that before Jesus, the world was alienated from God. There was no way to the Father, and Jesus provided the way. As such, Jesus is inclusive! Another point is that Jesus reveals God the Father. In verse 9 he said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:9 ESV). Before Christ, “no one, including Moses, beheld God’s full glory . . .In Jesus . . . God had become unveiled” (Keener 944). Not only is there no other way to the Father, there is no other way to see him except as revealed in Jesus. While different religions and even some “contemplative” traditions claim to point to God, in reality God is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Martin Luther’s said “True theology and recognition of God are in the crucified Christ” (Lull 44). God’s glory is revealed in that which is most unbecoming, the revolting death of Christ. Jesus is God in human flesh: knowable, approachable, and at least somewhat understandable. In Jesus the truth of God is revealed as sacrificial love and mercy, willing to send even his own Son to die in our place. In his book, The Imitation of Christ, Thomas a Kempis offers this meditation: Follow thou me. I am the way and the truth and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way which thou must follow; the truth which thou must believe, the life for which thou must hope. I am the inviolable way; the infallible truth, the never-ending life. I am the straightest way; the sovereign truth; life true, life blessed, life uncreated. Amen |