Stan just read the gospel passage I often read at memorials with the promise that Jesus is
preparing a place for us. It is comforting and hopeful; relational and grounded. I love the image
of Jesus’ Father’s house, a welcoming home with many rooms, having a dwelling place for you
and for me when our time on earth is complete. I anticipate being united with God, being
enveloped in God’s glory, while experiencing the companionship of Jesus, my spiritual brother.
Jesus preparing a place for us is reassuring and gracious, with Jesus coming again to take each of
us to himself, so that we can be with Jesus. Yet woven through this larger passage, Jesus talks
about the place that he is going and knowing the way. The place that he is going is to his death
and resurrection which enables us to be in perpetual fellowship with Jesus. The way Jesus is
going is the impetus for Jesus telling Peter he will deny Christ three times. And yet Thomas,
who we usually think of as doubting, asks Jesus about the way. To which Jesus declares the
penultimate I AM statement. One that is often misinterpreted yet is powerful and profound.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Much like last week we saw Jesus as the Gate,
now Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
This is Jesus’ last alone time with his disciples before the crucifixion. He is imparting wisdom
and reassuring the disciples that they have got this. Soon he will tell of sending the Holy Spirit
to be their advocate (14:26), their support in the difficult mission that lies ahead. So, I was
startled to see the stoning of Stephen as a lectionary reading. Just as Jesus is reassuring the
disciples, trying to assuage their fears, to then tell of the first person martyred for Christ, was
jolting. Stephen, as you know, was chosen as a deacon, but his preaching angered the powers
that be. At his trial he shared the history of Patriarchs and Moses (Ch. 7), before calling out his
accusers for betraying the Righteous One. Pay attention also to who gets introduced in this story.
Stephen is speaking to the Council who accused him. READ Acts 7:48-8:1
In the violent stoning of Stephen, we are first introduced to Saul, who will later become the
apostle Paul. We do not know if he participated in the stoning, but he witnessed it and gave his
approval. The same Saul who was hunting people who were following Jesus, following the Way
(9:2). Much like Stephen was following the Way, caring for widows and orphans and preaching
the good news of Christ. It is important to note that the early Christian movement was called the
Way. “Wherever Paul, Peter, and other early missionaries traveled, they formed small
communities of believers in “The Way,” a movement that emphasized Jesus’ teachings, death,
and resurrection as the path to transformation” (Center for Action and Contemplation, 9.2.18). It
is likely they took their name from Jesus saying “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Following
the Way got Stephen killed.
But let’s pause for the inspired moment before his death. Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit,
gazed into heaven. His Spirit filled gaze allowed him to see the glory of God and Jesus standing
next to God. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Stephen encountered the trinity. The gap between
heaven and earth is closed as he is connected to the fullness of the Godhead, three in One. It is a
recognition of his faith, a reality of his relationship with his Lord. Stephen died for his faith in
Jesus. He even prayed to Jesus, not to God, to receive his spirit (59). Moreover, Stephen asked
God to forgive those who were killing him, much like Jesus did from the cross (Lk 23:34).
Following the Way was dangerous, life-threatening. Maybe that is why Jesus starts our beloved
passage about the many dwelling places with, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (14:1). The
Greek is curious. “‘You all, do not let your [plural] heart [singular] be troubled.’ In other words, Jesus says to (his) disciples that they have one heart, and that they, collectively, have a
responsibility for it not to be troubled at Jesus’s departure” (Working Preacher, Laura Holmes).
Remember, Jesus is reassuring his disciple that they can do the monumental task Jesus is laying
out before them. He is encouraging them, empowering them for what will happen once Jesus
leaves. They already know all that they need to know, because they know Jesus. Jesus said, “If
you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know (God) and have seen
(God)” (7). It is their relationship with Jesus that makes all this possible. Because they know
Jesus, they know God. Yet Philip doubts, asking, “Lord, show us the Father” but Jesus assures
them “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
I have a confession to make. I have left out the phrase, “No one comes to the Father except
through me” when reading scripture at a funeral. It feels exclusionary when the moment is to be
inclusive. I have struggled with this verse for a long time. I think it is because it gets used to say
the only way to God is through Jesus. If that feels right to you, if that is your theology, I support
you in that belief. However, for me, Jesus being the only way to God just never fit with Jesus
welcoming the outcast, eating with sinners, and teaching blessed are the poor in spirit. “The “I
AM” statements make known Jesus as the source of life, abundant grace, and signal the very
presence of God.” (While) “No one comes to the Father except through me” rather than a word
of promise becomes a declaration of prohibition. (It gets) “turned into evidence for and proof of
Jesus as the sole means of salvation, no matter how salvation seems to be defined” (Working
Preacher, Karoline Lewis). So, I spent time praying about this and studying this text.
First why would Jesus make an exclusive statement, a dividing statement, when he is assuring
his disciples, they know God because they know Jesus. Repeatedly Jesus speaks of his Father
and his relationship, how they know each other and that is how the disciples know God. So, for
Jesus to be the way, the truth and the life makes perfect sense in the relational connection
between Father and Son. If you know Jesus, as the disciples do, then the way to know the Father
is through Jesus. Jesus shows us who the Father is. That is how I know God, the Father. I know
God through my relationship with Jesus. But what is not being said is, “No one comes to God
except through Jesus.” I realize I might be ruffling faith feathers here.
The stoning of Stephen was the premier example of dividing us and them, those who were in and
those who were out. Those who followed the Way and those who did not. Stephen died over that
division. So, when people make exclusive claims about who are Christians and who are not,
who is saved and who is not, often using this text out of context, I get uncomfortable.
So, let’s listen to God’s word again. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also.” That is inclusive,
that is uniting the disciples in their faith in Jesus and their understanding of God. Soon they will
be joined by the Holy Spirit who will make this relational connection complete.
There is only one way to know the Father if you know Jesus the Son. We know the Father and
the Son through the Holy Spirit. I think we can all agree about that. But that does not mean there
is only one way to know God. God is beyond our comprehension and cannot be labeled and
confined to a box. Yet God is truly worthy of praise. I believe God has been revealed at
different times, within many cultures, in different way. I believe Allah, for example, the God of
Islam, is the same God as the God of the Old Testament. The very name Allah means “the one
God” much like the God of the Patriarchs, Moses and David. Our scriptures reveal to us who this
one God is. First in the Old Testament and then with the incarnation of Jesus, the trinitarian
relation between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Those who know Jesus the Son come to the
Father through Jesus. Let all God’s children say AMEN.
