Through Jesus
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” — John 14:6 (NIV)
Have you ever found yourself like the disciples Thomas or Phillip in John 14, wondering how to find or follow Jesus? Jesus was speaking words of life and truth to them, yet their hearts were consumed with uncertainty about how to stay with their master, teacher, and friend.
If you read through the first part of John 14, you get the sense that some (if not all) of the disciples were missing almost everything Jesus was saying because they were getting hung up on the fact that he was apparently going somewhere. They couldn’t hear the teaching because their hearts were stuck in confusion and longing for Jesus. They didn’t want to lose him.
Of course, someone was listening because we have the story written down for us. In many ways, the disciples' reaction is as important as the words Jesus spoke to them in that moment. Jesus says, “I’m going to prepare a place for you.” Thomas responds, “Lord, you’re leaving us? Tell us where, and we will (just like we have this whole time) pack our bags and follow you there.” Jesus says, “You don’t know the way to where I am going (meaning the death he would have to experience).” Maybe another disciple said, “Well, can you show us the way?” I can hear the others chiming in enthusiastically. They were ready to go anywhere with Jesus. I think of Peter, who basically told Jesus, “Like it or not, I’m coming with you.”
Jesus clarifies further in John 14:7, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Phillip, desperately trying to stay on topic with Jesus, says in John 14:8, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Suddenly it becomes clear that the disciples were not tracking with what Jesus was saying. He had just told them he was the way the truth and the life. He revealed that the way to the Father is through him. But they didn’t understand.
It can be hard for us to understand as well—if not harder. They had the man Jesus walking with them, putting his arm over their shoulder, speaking audible words. We read about a divine man through ink stamped onto thin pages of paper or LED pixels illuminated on plexiglass screens. This God can seem far away and unapproachable.
It is amazing that you and I have no less access to the Father through Christ than those disciples did that day. Christ, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, remains the way to the Father. Even today, thousands of years after Christ’s death, he remains the only way to the Father.
How this works is beyond my imagination, scholarship, or understanding. Yet it is true. Not because we can search out and claim Jesus Christ as our own, but because he sought us out.
Jesus wasn’t saying that the path to him would be a puzzling and obscure journey. He wasn’t saying that it was an unsolvable mystery. He wasn’t telling them that they were not worthy of following him.
He was saying that they already have the way to the kingdom laid out for them because they have him. Christ was saying, “You don’t have to worry because I’m already planning to show it to you.”
We so often miss the kingdom because we are looking too hard. We are not much different from the disciples who were standing with God incarnate and looking around for the path to heaven.
The invitation is to pause and recognize that Christ is with you. Invite him to be closer to you, not because he needs the invitation, but because it prepares our hearts to know him more. Let Christ lead you on the path of life.
