I am the way

Scripture: John 14: 1-12

Dan Joseph

VOTE FOR ME!

You can't ignore it I'm afraid, everywhere you look at the moment - you'll see these three men all of them trying to get your attention - trying to get your vote in the forthcoming general election - each one of them saying that they are the way.

Politics is about things that matter to us as Christians - it's about fairness, about healing about war and peace, about generosity and the future of the world - so we should be interested in what happens.

All of the parties appear to genuinely believe that they have the right recipe for how to run the country - but as is clear by the amount of claim and counter claim, insults and statistics, they clearly don't agree on what to do. So is it any wonder that so many people don't know which path to choose?

Unfortunately, today's passage can provoke much the same reaction in many Christians - and at first glance it puzzled me - after all Jesus saying "I am the way, no one comes to the father unless through me" is surely a fundamental scripture for our Christian faith - how could anyone doubt it - least of all, why would Christians need to debate it's meaning?

Jesus say's he's the way, so if you want to find the way to heaven, where else would you need to look?

You see the scripture doesn't say he is "a" way it says he is "the" way - and once we start dwelling on that little word - suddenly division comes flying out of nowhere - because how we choose to read and understand that little word affects how we view other people who have no faith and in particular the opinions we have towards people of other faiths.

Over the years an awful lot of Christians have used this text to pass judgement on their neighbours - caused argument and wars.
I don't believe this is what God calls us to do

The scripture for today should not be seen as a statement of condemnation. Rather it is an expression of how close Jesus is to God. Jesus calls us to that same closeness.
He invites you and me into intimacy with God.

So, what exactly does Jesus have in mind when He says I am the way?
Is it what Jesus said.
Is it what Jesus did
Or is the way Jesus Himself?

And when we think we have an idea of the answer -
What are we called to do with this knowledge?

Well Peter, when he was writing to the churches in Asia Minor said

"You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people"

What we are called to do as a people who believe in Jesus is to listen to him and to follow him in the way that he shows us to go, and to share with others about the joy, and the hope, and the love, and the peace we have found in him.

We're called to be the ones who say "He is Lord" despite the risks that are involved - the potential of being ridiculed or being labelled as an outsider.

As People of the Way - as men and women who are bridges between God and the rest of the human family - as God's own people - we are called to connect people to the Lord - to bring them, maybe, to the Way that we have found.

Our actions have to speak louder than our words. If Jesus had gone about speaking about God's love, but hadn't shown love, then he'd have been forgotten days after his death. If he'd talked about God's kingdom without doing the works of the kingdom, nobody would have believed his message.

We don't have to apologize to other people about how Jesus claimed to be the Son of God - and the way, the truth and life... but we have to proclaim it, not through a superior attitude like we know a secret or gloating over other people.

We do it by speaking about the way God has worked within our lives
- the prayers that have been answered
- the teachings that we were given, even those we got which we weren't looking for,
- the strength that we can find in Jesus when we feel at our wit's end,
- the little miracles, and sometimes unexpected miracles, that happen that bring love and peace into our lives.

We are called to speak of God's truth, to share the good news of God, not only with each other, but also with our neighbours. Like Jesus, we are to embody the truth we believe, to put words into actions.

We should never set up ourselves as the judge of who is going to heaven and who is going to hell - and unfortunately there are plenty of Christians out there who are only too happy to fall into that trap.
But we can affirm our own tradition without demeaning others.
That's a lesson some Christians still have to learn.
Perhaps their view of God is too small.
Perhaps some of our egos are too large.

We here today who believe in Jesus are people of the Way.

I'll tell you the way I read this statement by Jesus: "No one comes to the Father but by me." I read it as saying that Jesus is the most complete path to God. Others may have something of God. Others may even have a lot of God. But only in Jesus do we find the fullness of God.
Jesus is saying "I want you to know God in this lifetime-here and now. I want you to know God through me." Knowing Jesus is the clearest, fastest way to God-right now. He makes no exclusive claims of superiority. He's not putting down other religions. He is saying, simply, "If you want to know God clearly, look at me."

Our job is to point to The Way - to point to Jesus - and to testify as to who he is and what he has done, with no apologies, with no attempt to say what God will or not do to them if they refuse to listen to us - and with no judgment upon those who refuse to accept our testimony.

(Dan Joseph)

This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.