The Way, the Truth, and the Life
Eric Lemonholm
May 22, 2011
Easter 5A
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
Okay, so Jesus’ Second Coming in glory did not happen yesterday.
Are any of you surprised?
Harold Camping, the 89 year old former civil engineer turned self-styled Bible expert, had been predicting that Jesus’ Second Coming would happen yesterday, May 21, 2011.
It’s an old story.
And it’s big business.
A few years ago, the Left Behind book series made tens of millions of dollars with its graphic representation of the soon to come end times.
Harold Camping’s Family Radio network is worth $72 million – and he certainly did not give the money away or spend it all to get the word out about yesterday’s end of the world.
How come no end times prediction peddler ever predicts that Jesus will come in the year 5,000 or some other date far in the future?
It simply would not capture people’s attention – or their money.
Predicting a date for Jesus’ Second Coming is simply unbiblical.
As Jesus says in Mark 13:32, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
So, Jesus and the angels don’t know when the end will come, but Harold Camping does?
Lance Morrow wrote recently, “It is a form of vanity to imagine you are living in the worst of times – there have always been worse.”[i]
I would add that it is a form of vanity to imagine that Christ will come in glory in your lifetime –and it is especially vain to imagine that you know when Christ will come.
Predicting the imminent end of the world has been a popular pastime for generations, but it is a distraction that discredits the testimony of those who make such predictions.
Let’s take a look at our Gospel for today from John 14.
Go ahead, open your bulletin to page 7.
Let’s walk through this passage.
First of all, Jesus is speaking at the Last Supper. In John chapter 13, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, reveals that Judas is his betrayer, and predicts that Peter will deny Jesus that night.
Jesus knows that his arrest is imminent, and that his disciples will be scattered.
That makes his words in verse 1 even more amazing: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Is the end near?
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Are hard times ahead?
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Are there hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and floods?
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
And then Jesus says, “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places,” many rooms.
In God’s house there are many, many rooms.
There is a wideness in God’s mercy.
God’s grace runs deep.
In the book of Revelation, there are 12 gates into the City of God, and they never close.
Jesus is going ahead of us to prepare a place for us, and Jesus will come and take us there.
Jesus says in verse 4, “you know the way to the place where I am going.”
Really?
Thomas is a great character.
He’s a little skeptical.
“Jesus, we have no idea where you are going. How can we know the way there?”
Jesus’ famous answer to Thomas’ question is in verses 6-7:
“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.”
Now, verse 6 is one of the most misused verses in the Bible.
Remember, Jesus has just said that there are many rooms in God’s home – where Jesus is going soon.
Jesus has assured his friends that they know the way, the road to get there.
And then Thomas shares his fear, his anxiety over not knowing the way. He feels lost.
That is the context in which Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
You see, sometimes people quote John 14:6 as if Thomas had just asked, “Jesus, will everyone who does not hold certain beliefs in their head about you be tortured forever in hell?”
And then Jesus answers, “Why yes, Thomas, quite right.”
No! Jesus is comforting Thomas and the other disciples.
Jesus has just said, “there are many rooms in my Father’s house. I am going to prepare a place for you and come back and get you – and not just you! There are many rooms to fill.”
Now, Jesus says, “The way to God is simple. The way to God is me. Trust in me, and I will lead you on the way.”
This is why one of the first names for Christians was followers of the Way.
Jesus is the Way to God.
Second, Jesus is the Truth.
Think about it: ultimate Truth, truth with a capital T, is a person.
The Truth about God and about humanity is Jesus.
Jesus expands on this in the rest of the passage: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Jesus reveals not just the Way to God, but the Truth about God.
You want to know what God is like?
Read the Gospels.
Pray.
Follow Jesus.
Get to know, not just stuff about Jesus, but get to know Jesus personally.
As you grow closer and closer to Jesus the Christ, you will grow closer and closer to God.
As you know the Son, you will know the Father.
That the Truth of God is personal, is Jesus, means that to know the truth about God is not fundamentally to know stuff about God, but it is to believe in, to trust, to love Jesus and be loved by Jesus.
When we, as a Christian community, confess our faith by reciting one of the Christian creeds, what we are doing, fundamentally, is expressing the truth about God as we have come to know God in Jesus Christ.
In fact, the word “creed” comes from the Latin “credo,” which basically means “I believe.” That’s how each section of the Apostle’s Creed begins: “I believe…”
And the original meaning of the word “credo” is to give one’s heart to someone, to place one’s trust in someone.
When we confess our faith in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we are giving our hearts, placing our trust in God.
And, the fundamental truth that we confess is the truth revealed by Jesus Christ our crucified and risen Lord.
Third, Jesus is the Life.
The Life of God.
The life of the world.
As Jesus said in our Gospel from last week, John 10: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world.
Jesus did not come to bring death, but life.
Abundant life.
Everlasting life.
In Jesus, we share in God’s abundant, creative renewing life.
Now of course, if Jesus is the Way to God, the Truth about God, and the Life of God, and Jesus is, then everyone who comes to God comes through Jesus Christ.
You don’t have a relationship with God without a relationship with Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
And yet, we do not judge anyone according to the beliefs they hold in their minds.
Even if someone tells me that they do not believe in Jesus, I am not going to judge their relationship with God.
God knows God’s children.
God knows each of us better than we know ourselves, and God loves each of us more than we can love ourselves or one another.
God’s more merciful and patient than any human can be.
God does not need our help in sorting out the sheep and goats.
In fact, Jesus tells us not to judge.
As Jesus says in Matthew 7: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”
What if we get to heaven and find that our beliefs about Jesus weren’t quite right or fall short? Is God going to judge us by our intellectual beliefs, or by Christ’s death and resurrection for us?
Jesus’ words in John 14 are not a weapon to throw at people who disagree with us.
It’s Good News!
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
There are many rooms in God’s home.
And Jesus will lead the way to our Father.
We have no need for end times prediction peddlers or their misleading wares.
Through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, we follow the Way of Jesus Christ, embrace the Truth that is Jesus Christ, and experience the abundant Life of God through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Thanks be to God!
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