Sermon 3rd July 2011
Today, our Curate, Gill Tayleur, preaches based on the reading from John 14: 1-14.
I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH & THE LIFE
As an elderly man was driving down the motorway, his mobile phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "George, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on the M4. Please be careful!"
"Honey," said George, "It's not just one car...It's hundreds of them!"
George was going the wrong way!
This morning we’re looking at the 6th in our series of Jesus’ seven
“I AM” claims. Today it’s “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
As we’ve seen looking at the first 5, these I AM statements, all make huge claims. And they were, and are, controversial. Perhaps none more controversial than this one. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.”
What a thing to say! What does it mean? And if it means what it seems to, that Jesus is the only way to God, how outrageous, how arrogant is that?! Who did Jesus think he was?
But first we’d better look at the context of these words. Jesus said them during the long evening he spent with his followers the night before he was crucified. That evening, at his Last Supper with them,
he talked a lot, his last chance to teach them before he died. They didn’t understand much of it at the time, but would later. This passage we’ve just read is typical; Jesus said he’s going away,
and they didn’t get it. They didn’t understand where he was going or how he would get there – even though he had told them before
that he had to die, on a cross. Thomas spoke up for them, and asked,
“Lord we don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know the way?” It was in reply to this question, that Jesus made this extraordinary claim. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.”
Let’s look at the claim in detail then. Jesus said “I am the Way”.
The Jews talked a lot about THE WAY in which people must walk, God’s WAYS. God said to Moses, “You shall not turn aside to the right or the left; you shall walk in all the WAYS the Lord has commanded you.”
Isaiah said, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the WAY, walk in it”. And the Psalmist prayed,
“Show me your WAY O Lord”.
So the Jews knew a lot about God’s WAY
in which they should walk.
And Jesus said, “I AM the Way”. What did he mean?
Say you’re in a strange place and ask someone for directions.
The person you ask says, Take the 1st right, cross the square, 2nd left, past the church, right at the roundabout with the pub, and the road you want is 3rd on the left.” You might get there, or you might not!
But suppose the person says, “Come, I’ll take you there.” In that case, the person IS the way, and you can’t miss it.
That’s what Jesus does for us. Other religious leaders might give us advice and directions, might point us to God. But Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us. We can go with him, follow him. He doesn’t tell us ABOUT the way or point to the way; he IS the way, himself.
The way to what? To God the Father. Jesus said, “no-one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the way to knowing God
as our Father. He says he’s the only way to turn your relationship with God, if you have one at all, from scary critical boss to loving father.
To turn the relationship from fear and uncertainty, “what does God really think of me, dare I approach him?” to absolute confidence, acceptance and love.
My children, teenagers, know that if they do something they shouldn’t, I’ll be cross, maybe very cross, but I won’t fire them or kick them out! They know I’ll still love them; I’ll never give up on them.
I’m a normal mother, no better than others, but how far I would go, as a parent, to save them from some trouble or suffering. Typically, when a child falls into an icy pond or fast flowing river, the parent leaps in, with no consideration of danger to themselves.
God loves us like that – he would go to extremes of his own suffering for us. And that’s exactly what he did. God our loving Father, became a man, Jesus, and suffered a horrible death on the cross,
for love of us. Our sin, our self centredness, cuts us off from God, and on the cross, Jesus took our penalty, paid the price for that sin, so that we can know God as our Father. God loves you and me so much
we CANNOT be fired! He’ll never give up on us, no matter what!
Jesus is the Way to that kind of relationship with God. Straight after saying no-one goes to the Father except by me”, he said, “If you really knew me, you would know my father as well”. It’s all about knowing God as father.
Jesus said, I am the Way. The Way to knowing God as loving Father.
Then Jesus said, “I am the Truth”. Many people have taught the truth, pointed to the truth and explained the truth, but Jesus claimed to embody it. I am the truth.
Jesus didn’t just teach the truth, although he did – he taught the truth
about God and humankind, about sin and forgiveness, and love, the truth about the problems of the world. But more than just teaching the truth, Jesus showed us the truth, and he said he WAS the Truth.
If you want to know the truth about God, look at Jesus. He said “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.” Jesus personifies the truth about God.
We all base our lives upon some truth or other, something we believe in. That truth may be what we learned as a child, about the way to live. Maybe about the importance of the equality of humankind,
or the need to treat others as we’d like to be treated, or the supremacy of love. But whatever truth we build our lives on, at some point, it’s going to let us down. Perhaps because we can’t live up to it ourselves, when we don’t constantly live by that truth all the time.
Or perhaps because others we trusted don’t live up to it. Sooner or later, our truth will let us down.
So maybe we turn from a particular truth or rule for living, and turn
to love as the ultimate truth or way to live. We search for a true love,
the love we hope will complete us. Perhaps we build our life upon our love for our nearest and dearest, specially close friends, partner or children. But sooner or later love will let us down too, because those we love will at some point let us down, or lie to us, or not be there for us. Ultimately, our loves will let us down, because people aren’t perfect, they’re flawed - they’re like you and me!
So whatever our truth, whatever our rule for living, it’ll fail us, because we and others won’t be able to live up to it all the time, and because it can’t love us perfectly. And it can’t forgive us when we fall, it can’t lift us up and restore us.
BUT in Jesus, the truth has become a person, someone who can love and forgive us. All other truths and loves will let us down, but Jesus won’t! He is The Truth on which to build our lives.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth”. And then he said, “I am the Life”. I’m not just the way to knowing God, not just the truth worth building on. I am the life that will enable you to. When we come to Jesus, when we recognise him as the way and the truth, he fills us with his life. His life, his power, comes to change us, to regenerate us, to empower us, to live with Jesus as our way and our truth.
This is true! We can have the life of Jesus in us! The power of Jesus in us! In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he says the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in those who believe in Him.
A lot of people would say they try to live by Jesus’ teachings, to love their neighbours as themselves, to do as they would be done by, and so on. But who can say they manage to do so consistently? Who can really put others first all the time? I don’t know about you, but I know that I can’t follow Jesus faithfully and live his way in my own strength.
We need his power, his life, to enable us, to change us. And yes to forgive us and pick us up and get us going again when we fail, as we do. Jesus can be the Life within us for all that.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s the enormous, wonderful claim Jesus made.
But I can’t finish without saying something about the exclusivity of this claim and Jesus’ apparent arrogance in saying it. “no-one comes to the Father except through me.”
The only way you can really come to God, and know him as your loving Father, is through Jesus. The only way you can really build your life on the ultimate personal truth, is through Jesus. The only way to really fully know God’s life in you, now and for all eternity after death,
is through Jesus. Wasn’t it shockingly arrogant, for him to say all that?
But when we look at what he did, Jesus doesn’t seem arrogant at all.
He was humble – but never modest. He was very humble in how he dealt with people, so kind and gentle to people when they were fragile, so sensitive and respectful to those society despised, so forgiving to those who recognised their sin. And he served and waited on his followers, even washing their dirty smelly feet,
as a servant would.
Jesus wasn’t arrogant, he was humble –
but he wasn’t modest.
That is, what he said about who he was, these great I AM statements we’re looking at –
they pointed to himself, again and again.
He didn’t point away from himself to God;
he made these huge claims.
So, Jesus wasn’t modest, but was humble.
And humble is exactly the way his followers should be!
Not only because of Jesus’ example,
but because we know that the only reason we have found the way to God,
is NOT because we deserve it in any way, but ONLY because of God’s love and forgiveness. Only because of Jesus’ death for us, as we remember at Holy Communion this morning.
Yes, Jesus’ claims to be the only way to God are exclusive – BUT they’re the most inclusive exclusivity possible! This way to God is open to EVERYONE! EVERYONE can come to God through Jesus. This invitation is open to ALL! How inclusive is that?! The most inclusive exclusivity possible.
And the alternative to this exclusivity is some other exclusivity.
If the way to God was only open to good people, then what about the bad? What about those who’ve grown up with drink & drugs & crime & abuse and have little chance of living a so called good life?
That would be exclusive! What about you and me, when we fail to meet our own ideals? Would we be included as good people
who can find a way to God? Could we reach him by our own efforts? Jesus being the only way to God, makes it open to absolutely everyone, the good, the bad and the ugly! It’s that inclusive.
So, how might we respond to these words of Jesus?
“I am the Way the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father
except through me.” If you’ve already come to Jesus as the Way to the Father, if you’re already a Christian, may I encourage you
to prioritise the time and effort and enthusiasm you give
to KNOWING God through Jesus? To getting to know him better and following him? Imagine having a fabulous loving father who wants to be with you and do exciting fun stuff with you, and not bothering with him? Let’s make the most of knowing our wonderful loving father God.
And if you’ve not really accepted these claims of Jesus, may I encourage you to explore them further? This morning we’ve heard Jesus say the astonishing thing that we can know the God of the universe as our loving Father! We’ve heard Jesus say he’s the truth to build our lives upon, and that his life can be our life, to transform and empower us.
What a claim!
What an offer!
It’s too great to be ignored!
I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH & THE LIFE
As an elderly man was driving down the motorway, his mobile phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, "George, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on the M4. Please be careful!"
"Honey," said George, "It's not just one car...It's hundreds of them!"
George was going the wrong way!
This morning we’re looking at the 6th in our series of Jesus’ seven
“I AM” claims. Today it’s “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
As we’ve seen looking at the first 5, these I AM statements, all make huge claims. And they were, and are, controversial. Perhaps none more controversial than this one. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.”
What a thing to say! What does it mean? And if it means what it seems to, that Jesus is the only way to God, how outrageous, how arrogant is that?! Who did Jesus think he was?
But first we’d better look at the context of these words. Jesus said them during the long evening he spent with his followers the night before he was crucified. That evening, at his Last Supper with them,
he talked a lot, his last chance to teach them before he died. They didn’t understand much of it at the time, but would later. This passage we’ve just read is typical; Jesus said he’s going away,
and they didn’t get it. They didn’t understand where he was going or how he would get there – even though he had told them before
that he had to die, on a cross. Thomas spoke up for them, and asked,
“Lord we don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know the way?” It was in reply to this question, that Jesus made this extraordinary claim. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.”
Let’s look at the claim in detail then. Jesus said “I am the Way”.
The Jews talked a lot about THE WAY in which people must walk, God’s WAYS. God said to Moses, “You shall not turn aside to the right or the left; you shall walk in all the WAYS the Lord has commanded you.”
Isaiah said, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the WAY, walk in it”. And the Psalmist prayed,
“Show me your WAY O Lord”.
So the Jews knew a lot about God’s WAY
in which they should walk.
And Jesus said, “I AM the Way”. What did he mean?
Say you’re in a strange place and ask someone for directions.
The person you ask says, Take the 1st right, cross the square, 2nd left, past the church, right at the roundabout with the pub, and the road you want is 3rd on the left.” You might get there, or you might not!
But suppose the person says, “Come, I’ll take you there.” In that case, the person IS the way, and you can’t miss it.
That’s what Jesus does for us. Other religious leaders might give us advice and directions, might point us to God. But Jesus takes us by the hand and leads us. We can go with him, follow him. He doesn’t tell us ABOUT the way or point to the way; he IS the way, himself.
The way to what? To God the Father. Jesus said, “no-one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the way to knowing God
as our Father. He says he’s the only way to turn your relationship with God, if you have one at all, from scary critical boss to loving father.
To turn the relationship from fear and uncertainty, “what does God really think of me, dare I approach him?” to absolute confidence, acceptance and love.
My children, teenagers, know that if they do something they shouldn’t, I’ll be cross, maybe very cross, but I won’t fire them or kick them out! They know I’ll still love them; I’ll never give up on them.
I’m a normal mother, no better than others, but how far I would go, as a parent, to save them from some trouble or suffering. Typically, when a child falls into an icy pond or fast flowing river, the parent leaps in, with no consideration of danger to themselves.
God loves us like that – he would go to extremes of his own suffering for us. And that’s exactly what he did. God our loving Father, became a man, Jesus, and suffered a horrible death on the cross,
for love of us. Our sin, our self centredness, cuts us off from God, and on the cross, Jesus took our penalty, paid the price for that sin, so that we can know God as our Father. God loves you and me so much
we CANNOT be fired! He’ll never give up on us, no matter what!
Jesus is the Way to that kind of relationship with God. Straight after saying no-one goes to the Father except by me”, he said, “If you really knew me, you would know my father as well”. It’s all about knowing God as father.
Jesus said, I am the Way. The Way to knowing God as loving Father.
Then Jesus said, “I am the Truth”. Many people have taught the truth, pointed to the truth and explained the truth, but Jesus claimed to embody it. I am the truth.
Jesus didn’t just teach the truth, although he did – he taught the truth
about God and humankind, about sin and forgiveness, and love, the truth about the problems of the world. But more than just teaching the truth, Jesus showed us the truth, and he said he WAS the Truth.
If you want to know the truth about God, look at Jesus. He said “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.” Jesus personifies the truth about God.
We all base our lives upon some truth or other, something we believe in. That truth may be what we learned as a child, about the way to live. Maybe about the importance of the equality of humankind,
or the need to treat others as we’d like to be treated, or the supremacy of love. But whatever truth we build our lives on, at some point, it’s going to let us down. Perhaps because we can’t live up to it ourselves, when we don’t constantly live by that truth all the time.
Or perhaps because others we trusted don’t live up to it. Sooner or later, our truth will let us down.
So maybe we turn from a particular truth or rule for living, and turn
to love as the ultimate truth or way to live. We search for a true love,
the love we hope will complete us. Perhaps we build our life upon our love for our nearest and dearest, specially close friends, partner or children. But sooner or later love will let us down too, because those we love will at some point let us down, or lie to us, or not be there for us. Ultimately, our loves will let us down, because people aren’t perfect, they’re flawed - they’re like you and me!
So whatever our truth, whatever our rule for living, it’ll fail us, because we and others won’t be able to live up to it all the time, and because it can’t love us perfectly. And it can’t forgive us when we fall, it can’t lift us up and restore us.
BUT in Jesus, the truth has become a person, someone who can love and forgive us. All other truths and loves will let us down, but Jesus won’t! He is The Truth on which to build our lives.
Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth”. And then he said, “I am the Life”. I’m not just the way to knowing God, not just the truth worth building on. I am the life that will enable you to. When we come to Jesus, when we recognise him as the way and the truth, he fills us with his life. His life, his power, comes to change us, to regenerate us, to empower us, to live with Jesus as our way and our truth.
This is true! We can have the life of Jesus in us! The power of Jesus in us! In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he says the same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in those who believe in Him.
A lot of people would say they try to live by Jesus’ teachings, to love their neighbours as themselves, to do as they would be done by, and so on. But who can say they manage to do so consistently? Who can really put others first all the time? I don’t know about you, but I know that I can’t follow Jesus faithfully and live his way in my own strength.
We need his power, his life, to enable us, to change us. And yes to forgive us and pick us up and get us going again when we fail, as we do. Jesus can be the Life within us for all that.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s the enormous, wonderful claim Jesus made.
But I can’t finish without saying something about the exclusivity of this claim and Jesus’ apparent arrogance in saying it. “no-one comes to the Father except through me.”
The only way you can really come to God, and know him as your loving Father, is through Jesus. The only way you can really build your life on the ultimate personal truth, is through Jesus. The only way to really fully know God’s life in you, now and for all eternity after death,
is through Jesus. Wasn’t it shockingly arrogant, for him to say all that?
But when we look at what he did, Jesus doesn’t seem arrogant at all.
He was humble – but never modest. He was very humble in how he dealt with people, so kind and gentle to people when they were fragile, so sensitive and respectful to those society despised, so forgiving to those who recognised their sin. And he served and waited on his followers, even washing their dirty smelly feet,
as a servant would.
Jesus wasn’t arrogant, he was humble –
but he wasn’t modest.
That is, what he said about who he was, these great I AM statements we’re looking at –
they pointed to himself, again and again.
He didn’t point away from himself to God;
he made these huge claims.
So, Jesus wasn’t modest, but was humble.
And humble is exactly the way his followers should be!
Not only because of Jesus’ example,
but because we know that the only reason we have found the way to God,
is NOT because we deserve it in any way, but ONLY because of God’s love and forgiveness. Only because of Jesus’ death for us, as we remember at Holy Communion this morning.
Yes, Jesus’ claims to be the only way to God are exclusive – BUT they’re the most inclusive exclusivity possible! This way to God is open to EVERYONE! EVERYONE can come to God through Jesus. This invitation is open to ALL! How inclusive is that?! The most inclusive exclusivity possible.
And the alternative to this exclusivity is some other exclusivity.
If the way to God was only open to good people, then what about the bad? What about those who’ve grown up with drink & drugs & crime & abuse and have little chance of living a so called good life?
That would be exclusive! What about you and me, when we fail to meet our own ideals? Would we be included as good people
who can find a way to God? Could we reach him by our own efforts? Jesus being the only way to God, makes it open to absolutely everyone, the good, the bad and the ugly! It’s that inclusive.
So, how might we respond to these words of Jesus?
“I am the Way the Truth and the Life; no-one comes to the Father
except through me.” If you’ve already come to Jesus as the Way to the Father, if you’re already a Christian, may I encourage you
to prioritise the time and effort and enthusiasm you give
to KNOWING God through Jesus? To getting to know him better and following him? Imagine having a fabulous loving father who wants to be with you and do exciting fun stuff with you, and not bothering with him? Let’s make the most of knowing our wonderful loving father God.
And if you’ve not really accepted these claims of Jesus, may I encourage you to explore them further? This morning we’ve heard Jesus say the astonishing thing that we can know the God of the universe as our loving Father! We’ve heard Jesus say he’s the truth to build our lives upon, and that his life can be our life, to transform and empower us.
What a claim!
What an offer!
It’s too great to be ignored!
posted by Sharren Taylor at 10:38 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home