“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me….Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.”
It is Holy Week. I share this historical quote for you because of two reasons. One, Jesus is a historical figure, rooted in real history based on real historical evidence. The crucifixion of this man is perhaps the most historically supported event of antiquity.
Two, I share it because of how Jesus points TO history and historical events for his evidence. He doesn’t say “I am the only way” and then add “just believe it because I say so.” Many religions and religious leaders do this. Jesus didn’t. Instead, he points back to real historical events. Yes, those events seem fantastic to us, perhaps even reaches of fantasy and fiction. Yet, Jesus doesn’t blink in the face of our wonder or doubt…instead, he simply points back to real events that happened in real history. Like it or not, if we claim anything happened in history, particularly in antiquity (say, before the 1400s and the printing press, certainly pre-500s), we have to admit these events of Jesus happened. So, even if the idea that Jesus and God are one…that God Himself came to earth to provide a path to salvation…seems too fantastic to believe….Jesus simply points to real events and says “believe because of the work you have seen me do.”
Later, about 40 years or so, one of these men wrote a letter to his friends, to people he had personally worked with. He says quite simply “I am writing to you to tell you of the One [Jesus] who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life….now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard….”
A real man….rooted in real history…with a real offer of true life. Live Well, my friends….spend time with my Friend this week, this Holy Week.