The Way

 

Jesus said,

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:6

Time after time Jesus told his disciples throughout his ministry that he was going away. The disciples really did not grasp what he meant by that. Nor did his disciples ever imagine that the way he eventually goes away would be “The Way of the Cross”. When Thomas frankly asked Jesus at the last supper where he was going, Jesus spoke of himself as the way, the truth and the life. What did Jesus mean when he took three themes of the Jewish faith and declared that it was fulfilled in him? Eugene Peterson says, there are two biblical characterizations for people of faith disciple and pilgrim. Disciple (mathetes) are apprentices to our master, Jesus Christ. We live in a growing-learning relationship. The Pilgrim (parepidemos) are people who spend their lives heading home. To be a disciple and pilgrim is to make a conscious decision to go the way Christ leads us, believing that all our concerns, desires, and talents, find the way to integrate all our interests, passions, and gifts, with our present problems and needs, and our eternal hopes and expectations. It is following the way the Lord leads us to green pastures that nourish and strengthen us for the growth and understanding of the work he gives us to do. He empowers us to persevere and endure the hardship that come our way by standing beside us and guiding us along the way to our eternal home.

1. Jesus referred to himself as “The Way.” The One through whom all who seek to approach God must pass to enter into fellowship with God the Father. It was the prayer of David in Psalm 86:11, “Teach me thy ways, O Lord.”  Or John the Baptist cry (Mark 1:3), “Prepare the way of the Lord,” also found in Isaiah 40:3. It was Christ’s way of saying that I am with you and in you and will lead you in the way you should go to live in fellowship with God. It is interesting to note early Jewish Christians in the first century referred to themselves as followers of “The Way” (Acts 9:2). However in Antioch the Non Jewish followers of Christ first referred to themselves as Christians (Acts11:26 -  Χριστιανούς (Christianous) From Christos; a Christian, i.e. Follower of Christ.)

2. Jesus said he is “The Truth.” Jesus was the only person who could claim to be the very embodiment of truth. He lived a life without sin. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It is Christ alone in whom we can call upon in truth to live in fellowship with God. It is through Christ we come to know God. It is his wise words that enter into our hearts and minds filling us with the joy of living in fellowship with God (Proverbs 2:10).

3. Jesus said he is “The Life.” To the Samaritan woman at the well, he said he would give her springs of living water that would quench her thirst for God. The springs of living water is also a reference to the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9). Here the Psalmist says, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.” Jesus says in John 4:14, “ But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” Eternal life is based on the promises of God (The Truth), not how we feel or think. The eternal life we receive when we believe in Christ is not only here on earth but goes on eternally to our divine life in The Trinity.

The way Jesus portrayed to the disciples, was a living parable of washing their feet before the last supper. He said they should do the same by being humble and loving in their ways of reaching out to the world. How can we humbly and faithfully practice the example of servant leadership that Jesus showed ? Jesus is the way through whom our prayers go to God the Father. This way Jesus paved for the whole world was by dying on the old rugged cross, he saved us from our sins and defeated death. The curtain that separated us from God was torn. Now we all have access to God the Father through Jesus who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus blazed the trail for us to journey through life to our home in Heaven. He has promised to be with us not only in this life but to be with us when we pass on from this world to he next. Christ says, “I am with you and in you and will lead you in the way you should go to live in fellowship with God.”

Lord Jesus, Show me your ways,

Teach me your paths. 

Guide me in your truth, 

For you are my God, 

My life is in your hands.

Amen.