18 th May: 5 th Sunday of Easter

Yes, the Way

While my husband and I were in seminary, our field education church was in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It’s a beautiful part of the United States with rolling hills, old stone farm houses, quaint little towns, covered bridges, many picture postcard views. It was also a place that was growing like crazy. Lots of new housing developments were being built and many people were moving into the area. One of the parishioners there, a real estate agent, said, “Everyone always wants to be the last person to move into a place like this.”

Once when I was visiting Chicago I saw a billboard that said, “If it weren’t for the winter, everyone would want to live here.”

When it comes to real estate, people seem to want to keep the best locations a secret.

In today’s Gospel lesson, we hear Jesus speak about heavenly real estate, about his Father’s house, with many mansions, a place that Jesus has gone ahead to prepare for us. It is a message of reassurance for Jesus’ disciples, that even though he wouldn’t be with them on earth much longer, he was going ahead to prepare a wonderful home where they would be with him always.

The disciples, as so often happens, don’t quite get what Jesus is talking about. They want a road map to get to this great piece of property. So Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” And then Jesus says the words that cause many thoughtful Christians deep anxiety: “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Some of the questions I have been asked many times during my ordained ministry are about this passage: What does it mean? Does it mean Christianity is the only way to get to heaven? Does it mean Christians have the true understanding of who God is? Are there many paths? Or only one? And if there is only one, what about all the people who belong to the world’s other great faith traditions? If we say Jesus is the way, are we also saying those who adhere to the other great religions of the world are beyond the reach of God, outside the love of God, beyond the salvation of God?

“What about the others?” is a very good question, especially for us at this time, when we meet people from a diversity of religious backgrounds in a way that just wasn’t possible at any other point in history. But “what about the others?” was not the question Jesus was trying to answer.

This passage was written down to bring comfort to a group of Christians struggling to maintain their identity and mission around the close of the first century C.E. Many scholars believe that by the time these words are recorded those who follow Jesus are finding themselves being closed off from some important relationships. Originally, Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah continued to worship in the synagogue with Jews who didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. By the time of John’s Gospel, though, the differences between Jewish Christians and Jewish non-Christians may have been seen as too big. Those who believe that Jesus was the Messiah may no longer be welcome to worship alongside their neighbors. We need to keep this historical context in mind whenever we read the Gospel according to John. Add to this the fact that by this time, many Christians are being persecuted by the Romans for their faith. The Christians’ survival as a community of faith and sometimes their individual security and safety were on the line. John was handing down the words of Jesus for people who were frightened, vulnerable, and defensive.

Imagine the assurance people could receive from Jesus’ words.

In following you, Jesus, am I following the right path?

Yes, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

In following you, Jesus, can I trust what you teach is true?

Yes, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

My family thinks I’m crazy for following you. My friends think I’m strange. Jesus, are you dependable?

Yes, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus, following you means I am risking a lot. I may lose a lot to follow. I may have to give up a lot. I may have to give up my life to follow you. Is it worth it?

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

It must have given a sense of deep peace to know the person they bet their life on could be trusted. It must have given comfort to know they could give up even their lives and be welcomed into the arms of Jesus who is the Life.

Our immediate context is not the same. We have the freedom to worship as we wish. But many of our questions are the same.

Jesus, I’m trying to follow you. Is your way trustworthy and true?

I am the way, and the truth and the life.

Jesus, my friends and family think I may be wasting my time spending it with you. Am I doing the right thing?

I am the way and the truth and the life.

Jesus, you will change my life if I give it to you. Will it be okay?

I am the way and the truth and the life. I have gone to prepare a place for you. I will come again and take you to myself.

We can trust that Jesus’ words were meant to assure all of Jesus’ followers, including us, that when we come to know Jesus, we come to know God.

But Jesus did say more. He did say, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

And now maybe we start to get a little nervous. And the question, “what about the others?” comes up. What does Jesus mean?

It seems Jesus is telling us a couple of things. First and foremost, it seems Jesus is responsible for how people come to the Father. Jesus, not us. We may play a role, but Jesus is the way. This is good news for us because it is a message of grace for us. The only way we’re coming to the Father is by Jesus. We’re not earning our way into God’s good graces, we’re not deserving our way into God’s kingdom. We come to be forgiven and saved and brought into wholeness before God the Father because Jesus died for us and was raised again. We come to the Father only through Jesus, not on our own. And that’s good news, because if I had to do it on my own, I couldn’t.

It’s a good reminder too because sometimes when we think about people of other faiths, we are concerned, so we start to make up our own rules for them. We want them to come to the Father through us, or our ideas of what would be right, instead of letting Jesus take care of it. For instance, our faith proclaims that we are saved by grace through faith. Any good works that we do are merely the fruits of thanksgiving, the natural outgrowth of a life lived in gratitude for God. But sometimes when we think of people of other faiths or of no faith, we suddenly lose sight of grace. Maybe you’ve heard it; maybe you’ve said it: “He doesn’t believe, but he’s such a good person. He must be getting into heaven.” “She does so many good things for other people. Surely she’s included.” Why do we make others earn their way in when we know we don’t have to, we know we can’t? When we start to make up the rules, instead of trusting God to take care of all of us, we mess things up. We let our hearts be troubled, rather than trusting in Jesus.

Because the reality is, we don’t get to say who’s in with the Father and who’s on the outside. That’s God’s job, and Jesus just got finished telling us there are many mansions in his Father’s house. He hasn’t invited us to decide who gets to move into the neighborhood and who doesn’t. He just wants us to know, there’s a lot of room, many dwelling places.

And that sounds like a good thing, because our faith tells us that this Jesus is the Christ, who John tells us was in the beginning with God, and through him all things came into being. This Christ is one who has a relationship with all creation and has been in love with the entire world since before time and forever. This Jesus who said that on the cross he would draw the whole world to himself. This Jesus who told stories about sowers who sow seed, not by carefully placing seeds in straight lines in carefully fertilized rows, but by flinging seed and letting it land where it may; stories about wheat and weeds growing up together and the farmer saying to his helpers, don’t you dare pull any of those weeds, you might not really know the difference and it’s not your job anyway; stories about sheep that do not belong to this fold, but Jesus the good shepherd will gather them in too, so there will be one flock, one shepherd. This Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and somehow, everyone who comes to the Father, comes through him. And the Father’s house has many, many dwelling places, and from the sounds of it, that’s a good thing.

Earl Palmer remembers when theologian Karl Barth gave a lecture at Princeton. During the question and answer time after the lecture, one student asked Dr. Barth, “Sir, don’t you think that God has revealed himself in other religions and not only in Christianity?” Palmer said Barth’s answer “was like a shock of bright lightning in that packed lounge. He answered, ‘No. God has not revealed himself in any religion, including Christianity. He has revealed himself in his Son.’” ¹

So, if that’s the case, and Jesus seems to say it is, what are we doing here in a Christian church? Why be Christians?

I think sometimes thoughtful people get bashful or embarrassed or concerned about this passage, about Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, because they’re not sure for themselves. Their faith is still developing. If you’re reluctant to claim Jesus as the way, then I invite you to get to know Jesus, to become a disciple, one who follows. Even Jesus’ first disciples, who had him there in person, had to ask, “Jesus, show us the way.” You couldn’t be in a better place, if you want to know Jesus better. You couldn’t be in a better place because here you can hear his word, come to bible study, come to Christian formation offerings, meet Jesus through service to people in need, receive the means of grace, the sacraments. You can grow up into the full stature of Christ, as we pray at baptism.

I am a Christian. And although I cannot fathom all the mysteries of God, I do know the assurance that comes through my faith in Jesus, the assurance I have that by coming to know Jesus, by following him, I am coming to know God. I am assured of salvation, wholeness and forgiveness not just in the heavenly mansions, but in this world now.

I walk in the way of Christianity because that’s the path I was put on when I was baptized. By the grace of God, I remain on that path, trying to follow the teachings and example of Jesus with the guidance and fellowship of the Church because I believe they are the clearest guide we have for drawing close to the one who is the way. Through the Christian Church I receive the body and blood of Christ, gifts Jesus gave so that we can experience forgiveness and unity and hope. Through the Christian Church, I hear the holy Scriptures that nurture my faith, my relationship with Jesus. Through the Church, I am in fellowship with others who are trying to follow, who are trying to be disciples, who are trying to live lives of self-giving love for others. With God’s help, I keep the baptismal promise to proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ because this gift is too precious not to be shared. How can I not share with others the joy and peace I know because I know Jesus Christ, I have met Jesus, I have experienced his love and forgiveness and grace and peace? There are so many people who are without hope, without peace, without a sense of purpose or meaning, or worth. How can I not share the good news of Jesus, the way, the truth, the life? I want to do all I can to point to Jesus, to share his love with others. People do not need to look far and wide for the path to God. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life.

About those who will not listen, or who will not agree, or who have no desire to claim a way to the Father through Jesus, I do not know. If this is a big problem, then I leave them in the hands of a God big enough to solve it, a God who though Christ, loved the whole world.

And I give thanks for the assurance I have and that is mine to share, that God has been made known to us in Jesus Christ, that Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for us, a big place, with many, many mansions. I may not get to say who moves into the neighborhood, but I know I can’t keep the way there a secret.