The Way to God

John’s Gospel is renowned for its brilliant word play. There is a clever use of semantics that are obscured by the translation from Greek to English.  In Jesus’ farewell discourse in John, chapters 14 through 17, we get glimpses of the writer’s remarkable craft.  For example, there is a cluster of related words that have to do with the concept of “home.”  In my Father’s house are many dwelling places or, as some translations have it, mansions or rooms.  Another example is the phrase, “I go and prepare a place for you.”  And another, “The Father who dwells in me does his works.”  

John uses these and other metaphors to communicate one of the key theological concepts in the gospel: Christ is the bridge between the kingdom of God and God’s creation, between God and those who believe or trust in God, between eternity and now.  In and through Christ we dwell or have a place with God.  Jesus promises his disciples that in God’s house there are many dwelling places and he will go to prepare a place for us and welcome us when we arrive.

This is good news.  The good news gets even better when we read ahead to the 15th chapter of John.  For Jesus’ promise is that once he is reunited with God, then through the power of the Holy Spirit, God will dwell or reside in those who love God and who keep God’s word.  God will “make a home in us.”  It is a figure of speech that can be translated from Hebrew and Aramaic as “home, abode, house, family, or temple.”  All of these metaphors carry intimations of profound intimacy:  “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

To be a committed Christian, or for that matter a Jew or a Muslim, is to be convinced that God is with us, in us, and

is everywhere for good.  For us as Christians, it is to acknowledge Jesus' words spoken in the gospel:  "Believe me that I am in God and God is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves."  John, in writing his gospel urges us to be assured that to know Jesus and what he has done is to know God.

The context and setting of John’s gospel is Jesus' departure from this world and the fate of those left behind.  The first century of the Christian era was a time of religious persecution and while this continued there was a strong need for hope.  The writer’s intent was to prevent despair by showing that Jesus’ resurrection meant that he was mindful of the early Christian followers and active on their behalf even though he was physically absent.  John argued that Jesus' departure was not something to be lamented but an event to be joyfully experienced.

Thomas and Philip, two of Jesus’ disciples, were skeptical and asked questions.  “Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?” “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  Jesus answered. “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  In other words, “If you have seen me you have seen God.”  No additional revelation is necessary.  It is a matter of faith or trust that Jesus and God are one.  The last implied question is, what is the nature of this faith?  How will it be shown to us?  Jesus answered, “The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.”  Faith and trust are manifested in doing the work of love and justice.

These questions that the disciples asked of Jesus sound ingenuous and uncomprehending.  They are also our questions spoken from our confusion and our deepest religious yearnings and impulses all these years and centuries later.  If we are honest we must admit that we are often troubled and uncertain about what God is up to in our world.  The question for us is how can we truly follow where the Spirit leads?  We want some direction.  We want to know what the future holds, how to control and shape our own destinies, how to find a safe and secure way.  It is comforting to be in control and to know the answers to our questions.  Jesus' answer to us is the same as it was to the disciples.  It was simply to point to himself: "I am the way." “Have I been with you all this time, through these last 2,000 years, and you still do not know me?  Whoever has seen me has seen God."

The dialogue between Jesus and the disciples, and the dialogue between the risen Christ and us today, can be summarized by stating three points: 

            First, Jesus is victorious in the cosmic struggle of life and death. The disciples did not need to be troubled.  Death has been defeated by the death and resurrection of Christ. 

            Second, Jesus declared that the direction, the way to ultimate life, is found in truth and life.  Seek the truth and live life to the fullest by doing the works of love and justice that Jesus did. 

            Third, Jesus did not abandon the disciples nor has he abandoned his followers throughout the ages.  Christ prepares a place with God and provides power to live as the witnessing community in the midst of a threatening world. 

By the power of God’s Holy Spirit through baptism we are to witness to the principalities and powers of our day and be the transforming love of Jesus for all humanity.  The three points of Jesus’ message for the disciples and for us is that to know Christ is to know God, and the way to God is through truth and life.

Henri Nouwen, a renowned priest, professor and author of many books on spirituality, wrote about his life as a way or journey home to God:

“I have been led to an inner place where I had not been before.  It is the place within me where God has chosen to dwell.  It is the place where I am held safe in the embrace of an all-loving Father who calls me by name and says, ‘You are my beloved son, on you my favor rests.’  It is the place where I can taste the joy and the peace that are not of this world.  This place had always been there.  I had always been aware of it as the source of grace.  But I had not been able to enter it and truly live there.  Jesus says, ‘Anyone who loves me will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home in him.’  These words have always impressed me deeply.  I am God’s home.” (The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming)

Jesus told his disciples that he is the way, the truth and the life.  “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”  With our knowing that God is in us we can accomplish the work of doing justice and loving kindness that God, through Christ, invites us to do.  Amen.