“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
John, whom we are told was the disciple that Jesus loved (perhaps loved most? best? most openly?), reports Jesus statement here. This is perhaps the one line that bothers so many moderns…the exclusivity of all is just annoying to many. God is not surprised by this modern view…it’s actually an old view. In the decades after Jesus’ life, death and resurrection…the culture then too viewed the exclusivity of the Christians annoying. There were many gods, many supposed paths to a religious view of the world…why try to tell someone that they had to do the spiritual thing only this one way?
Jesus is resolute. And, to prove His point, He would willingly allow Himself to be arrested, tried (illegally, I might add based on the then-current Jewish rules of jurisprudence) and then executed on this point. Tomorrow, here in 2016, is Maundy-Thursday…the day of celebration of his statement here. He institutes what we call the Communion, the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper. All that He says, and is repeated worldwide about the bread and the drink, his body and blood, rests on this earlier declaration.
My prayer for you is that you took become a partaker in the path to life eternal, and a fuller comprehension of purpose here in the now. That starts with acceptance of Jesus’ statement. It is the path of wisdom. It’s why we sang all of those Christmas carols three months ago. Emmanuel…God with us, in order to provide us a path to holiness, to Himself. God came to us as the Light, as the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way.