March 10, 2002
Acts 4: 5-12
    RSV KJV NIV CEV
John 14: 4-11
    RSV KJV NIV CEV

“COMMENTS I HAVE HEARD:
Is Jesus The Only Way To God?”

I am delighted that Michael Bloss is here this morning –– and that he and I can expose you to some of the creative and spiritual powerful trends that are occurring within the worship emphasis of main line Protestantism.  More hymns are being written now than at any time in history.  We need to be exposed to them and to wrestle with how worship can be more relevant and meaningful in this chaotic age.  Whether you find the worship meaningful or cumbersome, we hope this glimpse into what is taking place, will enlighten you to what is happening in the world of Christendom.  

There is a German saying that goes like this: “Wie Man’s Macht, ist’s falsch.”  Whatever man does is false or whatever man does, it turns out lousy.  The Russians throw out the Czars, and they get Stalin.  The United States turns against George Bush and gets Clinton.

It has always been thus.  The Children of Israel are freed from slavery, and very soon, having been disobedient, they cry to Moses, “Where are we going out here in the desert?  Take us back to Egypt; at least, there, we knew where we could expect our next meal.”   The liberating laws of Moses became the binding legalism of the Pharisees.  The ceremonial beauty of Judaism gets legalized to the point where one must ask, “If the Sabbath has begun, can I lift my burning hand off the hot stove? Can I assist my sick child on the Sabbath? Can I put my false teeth in, on the Sabbath?”

Despite all of this, the Jews went on hoping.  Centuries before Jesus, they were hoping for the coming of a messiah who would “make it right.”  They wanted one to be sent by God –– someone who, in the words of Isaiah, would be, “Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and of the increase of his government, and of peace, there would be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Handel wrote great music about the dream, and to this day, at Passover, when the Seder meal is eaten, an extra cup of wine is poured for Elijah, in case he drops in to say, “The messiah is here.”

In our scripture today, the disciples are dejected.  Jesus has announced that he is going to Jerusalem and may die.  Dejectedly, Thomas says, “Lord, we don’t know the way that you are going.  How can we?”  Jesus answers, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me.”  Philip reacts by saying, “Show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  Jesus counters, “Have I been with you so long, yet you do not know me?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?”

That exchange has prompted a host of comments, attitudes and, I believe, misunderstandings.  When I was a kid, that verse was delivered, with great regularity, to prove that Christianity was a conditional religion; that is, ONLY by believing in Jesus could one be saved.  All who did not believe, or even those who had never heard, would be destroyed at the last day.

If you watch religious programs on television, you will find that this remains a common interpretation.  But that is no different than Islam saying, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”  It is little different from the Buddha saying that he is the rediscoverer of the paths long lost, or Lao-Tze calling his teaching, “the way.”  It resonates with the same sound as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claiming that they are a restoration, in the latter day, of the earlier faith which had been lost and perverted.

Theological scholars observe that the writer of John uses terms found within Judaism.  For example, logos, or word as in John 1, “In the beginning was the Word,” is the Greek usage of a Hebrew term.  Way, as in “I am the way,” in Greek, is derek, which means, the lifestyle of the wise.  Thus when Jesus says, “I am the way, he is saying,

“I am the example of those who live in accordance with the teachings of the sages.”

Likewise, as the verse continues, Jesus says not just  “I am the way, but I am the truth and the life.”  Again, we look to the Hebrew in the Jewish scriptures and we find that the word for truth is, aletheia, and the Hebrew word for life is Zoe, which is also the root word for Zoo.  Taking these words together, we see that what Jesus is saying to the disciples is, “I am the example of one who lives by the teachings of the sages.  I live those truths, and I am the access to the embodiment of life with God.”

John is writing about the absolute importance of Jesus to the believing community.  The law has been abused; the religious leaders have perverted the manner of worship.  Ceremony has become more important that what it will represent.  But, now there is Jesus, who is the personification of the way proclaimed by the sages of old and the embodiment of truth lived in the manner of God.

Thus, for the Christian community, the words and life of Jesus point to the unity of Jesus and God in the work of salvation.  Jesus is in harmony with God, who was the grantor of forgiveness and salvation through the pages of Old Testament history.

“I am the way,” said Jesus ––– “I am the road,” or “I am the example,” and, in some foolish fashion, we are all on the road, you and me ––– all on a journey, fellow travelers; not all at the same place, but nonetheless, all traveling.  That is what William Willimon meant when he wrote in his book, “The Gospel for the Person Who Has Everything:”

“Faith is a process, not a possession.  It gives us something to chew on for the rest of our lives.  Faith is certitude in the midst of doubt rather then certainty with no doubts.  Faith is a journey with a compass that points us in the right direction, not a detailed map which tells us every step to take.  Faith is not being sure of where you are going, but going anyway, because you like the traveling companions and because you know who leads the way.  Faith is a journey which you do not wait to begin until you are desperate and have nowhere else to go, or until you are devastated and miserable and are forced to go; faith is going because you have heard the good news that the guide is trustworthy and that the trip is worth the cost.  The first Christians were called ‘followers of the way’.”  (Willimon, P. 90 f)

“I am the way, the truth and the life,” saith Jesus.  It is a magnificent declaration to a confused group of followers and an even greater testimony to the readers of John’s gospel.  We see God in the incarnation, because God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.

Then Jesus says, “No man comes to the Father but by me.”  It is very important to observe that Jesus did not say, “No one comes to God but by me;” he said, “No one comes to the Father but by me.”  That is a statement which should be taken seriously.  In the Greek this test would read like this: “No one comes to the Patra,” –– translated,         that means the father or head of the family line.  If he would have said God, the word would have been Theos, meaning God, or the one with divine nature: “No man comes to the Father, but by me.”

This is the glad proclamation to the new community of followers of Christ ––– that through a new concept of understanding, God is made real.  Through Jesus the Christ, God is not revealed as judge or warrior or destroyer or political tyrant; God is revealed as Father, or one with parental attributes.

God forgives.  God accepts.  God encourages.  God chastises.  God challenges.  God heals.  But always, God loves.  How do we know?  Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Jesus never said, “You come to God by believing a particular ethic, or acting a particular way or holding to a particular doctrine.”  The revelation of Jesus is that he is the way, because he shows the lifestyle of the wise.   He is the truth; through him, the truth of God is made readily available to the world.  He is the life; there is the possibility of unity with God, because he has revealed the truth.

No one comes to the Father -–– that “loving, caring, forgiving, tough, pray-for-your-enemies Father,” except through Jesus.

Is Jesus the only way to God?  I don’t think so.  To say “Yes,” is, to my mind, limiting God.   The truth is that God may have many other ways of revealing himself to humans, ways of which we are unaware.  But this much I know: We are Christians, people whose lives are motivated by the simple words of the shepherd who walked along the shores of Galilee and said, “Follow me!”

Frederick Buechner, in his book “Wishful Thinking,” says, “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by me.’  He didn’t say that any particular ethic, doctrine or religion was the way, the truth and the life; he said he was.  He didn’t say that it was by believing or doing anything in particular that you would come to the father.  He said it was by him –– by living, participating in, being caught up by –– the way of life which he embodied, that he was the way.  A Christian is one who is ‘on the way,’ though not necessarily very far along it, and, at least, has some dim and half- baked idea of whom to thank.  A Christian isn’t necessarily any nicer than anybody else.  Just better informed.”  (Buechner, page 14)

As Leslie Weatherhead has observed about the appeal of Jesus, “He made no demands on them to believe theological propositions.  “Follow me” was the invitation they accepted.  When they watched him, listened and meditated, they must have said in their hearts: “This is what God meant human life to be like.”  They noted his compassion for others, his belief in God’s love, his faith in them, his joy, his gaiety, and his inward serenity.  He was a transforming friendship and gradually, within his fellowship, they were “changed human beings.”  His love flowed through them to others.  They can get on with one another, and they felt as many of us still feel –– that his vision of the Kingdom of right relationships with God and others, which He called the Kingdom of Heaven, is the key for which the world is groping and the way to end all of our sorrows.”