INTRODUCTION. The phrase 'the way' is our
central image this morning. In your mind consider life as a path
through a dangerous woods where one could easily get lost or harmed.
One could lose awareness of what their life is about. Such a tragic
loss that would be. The author of John has Jesus saying there is such
a path or way for each of us and Jesus has found it and shown us how
he walked it. I grew up the youngest of seven boys. The summer
before I began first grade, one day at the dinner table my Dad said
to one of my brothers, ' Gene, take Jimmy today and show him 'the
way' to school, show him 'the path' to take.' So that afternoon
George showed me the literal narrow red earth path that went off an
alley, through a heavy thicket, up a hill and opened up on a main
street where the grade school was. It as less than 200 yards from our
back door. But till then I had never noticed where the school was or
how to get there. Five year olds are not that aware of their extended
surroundings. But now I knew 'the way' to school and had an image of
'the path' from my house to the place I'd be going many times for the
next eight years. This gave me a sense of security, foundation,
groundedness about that part of my life.
You now hold a
hard stone in your hand. Of all natural earthly things nothing is so
certain, solid and dependable as the hard rock of the earth. The timeless imagery of such natural dependability fits the deep meaning of Jesus assuring his friends that
he had found 'a way', a way to be, a way to live, a way to behave
as a human being in this life. “ I am the way, the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” This statement can
help us know what Jesus was doing for his friends as he also says,'
Let not your heart be troubled.' ….You can know and feel confident
there is a 'a way' that is given to you to make your way meaningfully
all the distance of your human life. Jesus wants all people to have
that kind of assurance.
Yet this passage became a problem for
me about the time I hit midlife. This full passage should encourage
Christians to be free to accept people of other backgrounds and
faiths but has notoriously been used to claim that one's religious
faith is the best or only faith that assures being accepted by God.
Many Christian people have not yet found a way to own their own
assurance without suggesting others are rejected by God. This way
of thinking of our faith contradicts the spirit of Jesus' other
teaching. For example he informs his followers to 'not judge others,
lest we be judged negatively also' and he practiced accepting
people as approved by God whom his own religious group rejected. It
is said of Jesus that he came to “save, not to condemn the people
of this world.” Hopefully our own traditions and interpretations
help us to not be caught in such an embarrassing intellectual trap
in our use of scripture.
I. It is somewhat common for one's
religion to become something that makes them feel superior to other
humans and judge them as not saved, less related to God or as
perhaps not as moral, or ones who have not performed necessary
sacraments etc. This is an interpretation problem in the Christian
religion today. Recall the warning in Jesus' story of the Pharisee
and tax collector. The religious Pharisee judged himself as right
with God and the tax collector as not. The tax collector knew and
declared his imperfections without any judging of the one who judged
him. Jesus said this less respected person was the one who was
finding the meaning of heaven , thus was walking 'the way' we are
discussing. There are honest and responsible ways for this
passage to be fully embraced without leading us to imply the
condemnation of others.
II. We can hear these words in the
gospel as highly symbolic rather than literal or historic. Some of
the very best biblical scholars explain that much language in the
Bible is symbolic, not literal. This does not make the meaning less
real or authoritative. This writer is likely using symbolic
language here to explain how the Christian community years after
Jesus died interpreted his life and how it had captured for them
the very presence of God. We might consider that this includes
the same God that other World religions are also describing in their
view of the Divine. Just as Jesus especially imaged God as a
Heavenly Father he would not have likely said that is the only way
to image God. He also referred to God, in this same gospel, as a
Spirit which is how many non Christians describe God, including
most native American religions. That is that God is not ever fully
definable and predictable but is like the 'wind that blows where it
wishes.' So we can hear Jesus saying that to follow his way of
life, trust and action will lead one to think of and experience
God in the same way he did...as a loving Father. But he would not
have said this is the only path to relating to God.
III. Let me
ask you to consider this at yet another level. When we speak of
walking Jesus' way. Just think about it; we know so little actually
of the details of how Jesus himself handled the many situations of
his personal life. He likely did much that would surprise us? One
story says he sent a herd of someone's swine over a cliff to die;
and it does not imply he took responsibility for it. Don't we have
something very general in mind when we ask the good question, ' What
would Jesus do?' Much too general to think we can copy it in any
consistent way. It seems to me 'the way' Jesus, and other spiritual
giants,walked is even larger than Jesus, yet also as small as any
single person's unique 'way' of living life responsibly and as fully
as has been placed within them. John's gospel's author's goal is
to make Jesus uniquely 'the way.' Many sound scholars doubt that
Jesus of Nazareth thought of it that way personally or placed
himself in that light? It required his admirers to see that in him.
And they really did begin to see him that way, especially after he
died and as several generations reflected on the remembrances of
him. Such a development led to these statements of who Jesus was,
what he did and what it meant to following generations ?
IV. Finally, followers of Jesus, as
in Acts 9:2, were referred to as people of 'the way' before being
being called Christians. So to think of Jesus being 'the way' did
not at first refer to a formal church, organization or creed but
to 'a way', a way of trusting, valuing, acting and living. 'The
way' refers to Jesus' values and his willingness to follow those
values. He said that every human person should be seen as a most
important thing in the world. And when he saw humans being cast
aside, abused, mistreated, marginalized, held back from the full use
of their gifts or discounted by higher powers he was disturbed. The
gospels all finally describe Jesus' way as the 'way of the
cross.' The 'way of the cross' was the way of serving others, of
standing up for the underdogs and mistreated of society, of being
willing to give of oneself for such a cause. The 'way of the
cross' was the way of trusted resurrection. Symbolically that can
mean that any Good done which appears dead always eventually
comes back to life. Resurrection spiritually speaking can only
follow some death experience. So when Jesus' way' is what we
choose to follow, we are agreeing that the way of God and the way
to God is one of service to others, standing up for the value of
other humans even, if need be, to the point of sacrifice. And we
believe that even if this effort looks like a total failure it will
in ways we can't anticipate bring about the good that God approves
and supports. This 'way' certainly implies we would never indicate
that someone is not presently acceptable to God. Such lack of
value and trust in another person is the opposite of 'the way of
Christ.'
CONCLUSION: We can recognize and give
God thanks when we see such a way being followed whether by a
Christian, Jew, Buddhist,Hindu, Muslim or nonreligious person. And
we can rejoice that the same way which Christ found has likely been
found by other deeply spiritual persons as well. As Christians,
Christ's way is always our chosen way. We are, as our text says,
always encouraged by the Living Spirit of Christ. Because of 'the
way' our hearts are not overcome by trouble or fear, and we are
enabled to value the many ways God opens 'the way' of life to
others.
