Reflection by The Rev'd Dr Deborah Broome

I am the Way

[Jesus said] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.                John 14:1-14

What does it mean to be God's people?  As we know, it’s not always an easy task – another of this Sunday’s readings is the stoning of Stephen, the Church’s  first martyr.  Jesus’ words here can comfort us – but let's remember that the word “comfort” literally means “to be strong with”: Jesus’ words can give us hope and courage when we need it.  I suspect many of us have heard “in my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places” read at funerals.  They promise us we have a future and a hope, and knowing that can encourage us to live as God's people in the troubled places and times of this world.  Knowing that can help us be strong when we need it.

The difficulty in this conversation between Jesus and his disciples is that his reply to Thomas's comment about not knowing where Jesus is going so how can they go there too is frequently misinterpreted.  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” is often understood as something that means all other faiths are misleading, which then causes difficulty for those of us – and that is all of us – who live in a world of many faiths.  But this ignores the context.  Jesus isn’t speaking to people of other faiths, telling them they’ve got it all wrong: he is speaking to the disciples who are standing in front of him.  This is a text about Christians who see Jesus and somehow miss the importance of a relationship with him. 

When he says “I am the way” that “way” isn’t something knowable like a map is known, a thing you can pin down and have some sense of control over. With a map you can take it down from the shelf, unfold it, trace the shortest distance between two points, and then start walking.  When Jesus says “I am the way” that “way” is something knowable like a person is known.  Jesus embodies the way, and the truth, and the life. To know the way, the truth, and the life is to know Jesus. This is incarnational not propositional – that means we’re invited to know him as a living breathing person we can have a relationship with, rather than concentrating on believing a list of statements about him. His words invite us to get to know him more and more each day. And they’re a reminder that we’re called to be different from the world around us.  Maybe the real issue here isn’t whether people outside the church can come to God but whether people inside the church have any sense of their distinctiveness. It’s no coincidence that early Christians described themselves as “followers of the Way.”

What does it mean to be God’s people? Maybe it’s this: to know Christ and to be in a relationship with him, and to locate ourselves within a community that has a shared identification with Christ’s story.

 Image credit: Gaelle Marcel, Unsplash