Where are you going?

I am the way, the truth and the life Jesus tells Thomas after he points out that the disciples do not know where Jesus is going so they cannot know the way (John 14:5-6). I wonder how often we’ve seriously thought about these words. After all, we do know where Jesus is going, so presumably we know the way; we know that Jesus is with us. But this verse implies more than Jesus simply being with us on our journey; Jesus actually is our journey; he is not just with us on the path, but he is the path, the way we are travelling. We do not have to worry about getting lost, so long as we are focused on Jesus; he is the way. What does this even mean? How can a person be the way?

I think that it involves more than Jesus being our friend, our companion or someone we have a relationship with; all those are true, but it is more than that. For those who follow him, Jesus is the way we are travelling. This is not something we can turn on and off, choose do some of what Christianity demands and leave others; if we are truly disciples, Jesus will be everything, first in all our life, the way we are walking. We become one, just as Jesus and the Father are one (see John 17). It is almost beyond words; it is not something that can be explained, but only experienced. Something that we have to live in order to understand. But to choose to follow Jesus is to choose to follow Jesus the way, to walk the way that is Jesus; to do that must, eventually, demand our everything, our all. Is not this underlined in other passages? Take up your cross and follow me (Mark 8:34-38); How hard it will be for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:23); Seek first the kingdom (Matthew 6:33). But, somehow, this is more than that; more than commitment, this is becoming one with Jesus, as we travel the way that is Jesus; it is being connected to Jesus, as the branches are connected to the vine (see John 15).

Jesus is also the truth. We are accustomed to thinking of truth as fact; truth is something that either happened, or did not. Yet Jesus says he is the truth. A person, not a fact. Can we see beyond truth as fact? There are some facts that are either true or false: it is (or is not) a sunny day; this person was (or was not) in this place at this time. But even this can be more complex on further thought. It may have been sunny in one place and rainy elsewhere; it may have started sunny before clouding over. Your experience of whether or not it was sunny may depend on where you were and when you were outside. Jesus’ statement that he is the truth implies that truth is more of a person than a straight fact. What is truth? as Pilate says (John 18:38). Read what Jesus says to provoke that statement (v 36-37). Everyone who is of the truth will hear Jesus’ voice … for Jesus is the truth. It is much more than simple fact; Jesus is truth, and everything that Jesus encompasses is true. It moves truth beyond the realm of mere fact; yes, facts are part of the truth, but truth is more than facts. 

So Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus is life. That seems much easier to understand, and is stated at the beginning of the gospel (John 1:4). Jesus was there when God made the world, all was made through him, so of course life is in him. But if we are saying that all life is in Jesus, that Jesus is in fact life, how does that change how we live? For it must change not only our lives, but how we respond to those amongst whom we live and work. Not only how we relate to others, but how we live. For Jesus is the life, and all that lives, all that life produces must, somehow, be part of that.

This all extends my imagination, my view of who God is. What I know and accept about God is not large enough, I must allow it to be stretched to include all this. At the same time, I must allow it to become small enough to encompass my life, in all its’ details. “All I am is Yours”, and that ‘yours’ involves so much more. I must take that statement I am the way, the truth and the life and live it, allow it to become part of me. It is not something I can understand, but something that must be experienced. The fact that I have struggled with this blog is not just because these are difficult truths to grasp, but because these truths must be lived, must become part of us. It means accepting that this truth includes me; that I must respond to this testimony of Jesus, and allow it to become part of me; allow Jesus to stretch my understanding so that I can, increasingly, see Jesus as who he is. This involves living in Jesus, the way, the truth and the life, at all times and in all circumstances. The commitment must be total. Yet, at the same time, it also means acknowledging that this is a way, a journey. Our commitment will not be total yet, this is a way to be lived and grown into, not one that seems impossible or one that we will always fail to live. This statement of Jesus can be used to support the exclusive nature of Christianity, but I think that is to misunderstand it. It is not a legalistic formula to suggest who will and who will not get to heaven, but a saying which involves much praying and living. Taken truly, it expands our idea of God, not contracts them. Take some time just to pray and ponder this verse, and see where it leads you.