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The Way, the Truth, and the Life: John 14:6

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

This is one of the most famous verses in Scripture, and people have relied on it for different reasons throughout history. Without diminishing other valid understandings of the passage, I want to draw attention to an important understanding that sometimes gets forgotten (not least by me).

Background
First, a little background. In the book of John, Jesus is notorious for giving amazing spiritual insight out of frustration with the person he’s talking to. Thomas is trying to figure out how to literally walk to where God is, and Jesus changes the use of the word to explain that believing in Jesus and walking with Jesus (spiritually) gets you to the Father.

The Truth
A lot of people use this verse to point to Jesus as the absolute truth. This is the Christocentric (Christ at the center) view of our faith that believes that wherever there’s confusion or disagreement with the rest of Scripture, let Jesus clear that up.
We like Jesus as truth. It helps us to understand the world. We may not like his ideas (forgiving enemies and such), but we can mentally assent that his ideas are the best.

The Life
Typically, when people refer to Jesus as the life from this verse, they mean that he offers eternal life after death. This is the great hope beyond suffering and loss that Jesus offers to the world. It could also point to the idea of “abundant life” that Jesus offers—a life in the present without guilt, shame, or purposelessness. Either way, it’s pretty exciting.

The Way
Now we come to the reason I’m writing this (and John Mark Comer brought this to my attention in a recent podcast). Typically, when someone refers to Jesus as the way, they mean the way to heaven after you die. This is understandable given that Jesus is talking about the final kingdom to Thomas and saying that he’s leaving to prepare a place there.

But there’s more nuance here than that. I believe that Jesus is using a play on words to talk about what the disciples should do now. In fact, even eternal life starts now by knowing God (see John 17:3).
Therefore, when Jesus says he is the way, he means that he is the example for how we should live our lives—in love, forgiveness, sacrifice, purity, etc. In fact, the word “way” probably refers to halakhah, which is a rabbinic word for teaching laws—literally, “the way of walking.”

Therefore, when we speak of Jesus as the way, we should speak of him as the ultimate example for how we should live our lives. This is by far the hardest part of Christian discipleship.

Conclusion
We look to Jesus for hope for eternity and truth through the confusion, but once we find it, we commit to living the life he lived. This is the way.

Colossians 1:3-5 The Hope of Heaven
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4 We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. 5 You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news,
Colossians 1:3-5 CEB

Paul is Excited
Paul’s friend Epaphras told him about these awesome Colossians. Epaphras (how come nobody is using Epaphras as a baby name?) preached the gospel to them, and they responded with faith and love.

They believed that the cross and the resurrection marked Jesus as the Jewish messiah and King of the World, come to set everything right. And now they trust Jesus with their lives. That is their faith.

And they demonstrate love by letting the Spirit of God change them into the people he calls them to be, who love God and neighbor. That’s the Christian life—lives of faith and love.

Hope of Heaven
But he says that this faith and love come from the hope reserved for them in heaven. Popular Christianity has taught me that the hope of heaven is that I go to heaven when I die. Looney Tunes taught me that heaven is located in cumulus clouds, and I’ll get wings and a harp. It’s true that we will be with God in eternal bliss when we die, but it’s more than that.

It’s not just a ticket out of this terrible place. It’s a hope of something that allows us to live a bizarre life of enemy-love, generosity, self-sacrifice, and kindness, no matter what we face in the world.

The hope of heaven is a hope that one Jesus will return and put this world back together. “Set the world to rights,” as N.T. Wright often says. And we live in a strange time between Jesus’ resurrection that fills us with power to bring healing into this world, and the second resurrection that completes the job.

Our hope is that the work that God is doing in us will carry us through this life that can sometimes be confusing, cruel, disappointing, and painful. Our hope is that even though we may see people succeeding by stepping on others, our faithfulness and love will matter. Our hope is that whatever goes wrong, God will heal it, carry us through it, and transform it—in this life or the next.

Live in that hope. Meditate on that hope. Let it transform you, bearing fruit of faith and love. “And these three remain: faith, hope, and love” (1 Corinthians 13:13. It’s clear Paul likes these three things.)

Microsoft word does not approve of my word choice for my sermon. It has no suggestions for me. It’s given up. Can you guess what the word is? (It’s not political)