This morning’s lesson is part of what the Gospel of John calls Jesus’ "Farewell Discourses” in which he prepares his disciples for his imminent death.  Jesus says he is going to his Father's home to prepare a place for them, whereupon he will come and take them to himself so that where he is, they may also be.

 

While the disciples are trying to take all of this in, Jesus tells them, “You know the way to the place where I am going.”  In response, Thomas voices the question everyone is asking: "Lord, we don't know where you are going, how can we know the way?"  And Jesus responds, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

 

Yes, these are comforting words -- comforting to the anxious, to the grieving, the seeking, the doubting, to those in transition, to all of us.  It is a beautiful text.  Beautiful, that is, until you sit next to a Hindu in class, befriend a Muslim, fall in love with a Jew, or are spiritually restored by the practice of Zen Buddhism.  Then it is not so comforting to hear the words, “no one comes to the Father except through me” because Jesus’ words sound so rigid and exclusive – and we reflexively ask, “But what about those who are not Christian?” 

 

What are we to make of Jesus’ words in a world that offers so many ways to the divine and when interfaith dialogue is so desperately needed in our quest for world peace?  First, we must put his words into context. 

 

Jesus’ words are spoken to a community that is anxious and unsure of its future, and he tries to prepare them to move forward without him as their leader and teacher.  But the disciples’ hearts are troubled, and their fear leads to panic-stricken questions, both spoken and unspoken.  “Why is Jesus saying good-bye?  Where is he going?  What is going to happen to him?  What is going to happen to us?  Will we be able to find Jesus if we try to go where is he is going?” 

 

The disciples have had a hard enough time following Jesus’ model for living while he has been amongst them; how will they ever live the way Jesus wants them to if he goes away?  And being disciples of Jesus has not just been a matter of following his ethical teachings; it has even more been about relationship.  They have lived as a new kind of family; what will they do if the head of that family goes away?

 

"I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  When Jesus says those words, he is giving identity to his followers who are struggling to separate themselves from a pagan culture.  He is reminding them of what has brought and kept them together the past three years.  And he is assuring them that he is indeed the long-awaited Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God.  “I am the way” is not a set of directions to follow.  It is an assurance, an opening to a way of knowing God.

 

Another thing to consider in reading this passage is that St. John gives us an exalted picture of Christ.  The first words of his Gospel are, “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.”  According to John, Jesus – the Word – is a cosmic being, pre-existing before all time.  Thus, the words “no one comes to the Father except through me,” could be interpreted as Jesus saying, “Whoever finds God is on the path that I have taken.  Whether you are Hindu or Buddhist, Jewish or Muslim, if you have connected to God, then I have been part of it, because I am part of God.”

 

"I am the way."  With those words, Jesus answers the questions he knows lie silent in the hearts of his disciples and perhaps lie silent even today in the hearts of those who are his followers.  How do we get to God?  How do find our way in a world where many forces pull us, where we feel adrift?  How do we see what God is like in a world torn apart by anger and hatred? How will we ever find our way home?

 

"I will show you the way,” Jesus responds.  And what is the way of Christ?

 

At its most basic, it is the way of love.  It is the way of accepting people of different traditions who become examples of faith, no matter what that faith may be.  Ghandi was Hindu, but he found his way to non-violence through the study of Christianity and the person of Jesus.  Conversely, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Baptist Christian, but he needed Ghandi to give him the courage to practice non-violence in the midst of his struggle for civil rights.  Thomas Merton was a Trappist monk who spent the last years of his life studying Zen Buddhism.

 

Huston Smith is an author, religious scholar, and practicing Methodist who has studied many and diverse world religions.  In an interview, he was asked by Bill Moyers, "Did immersing yourself in these other traditions take away from your practice and understanding of Christianity?"

 

"On the contrary," Huston replied. "It led me deeper into the mystery of my own faith."  By listening intently to the Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Jew, Muslim, Confucian, and Native American, Huston Smith became a better Christian.

 

For those of us who are Christians, Jesus is the way.  Through him, we can see the very depths of God.  But I truly believe that there are many roads to God; that’s the way I interpret Jesus’ words, "In my Father's house are many dwelling places." 

 

When we come home to God, when we come home to the Source of our being, we will find not only rest and peace, but we will find that there are enough rooms for us all, places for all of us, even though we have traveled different paths to find the God we all seek.

 

The way of Christ is a way of unbounded compassion and love, a way laced with acceptance and hearts open to the needs of others.  Look at the story of the Good Samaritan, or the Woman at the Well, or Zacchaeus, or Levi the Tax Collector who, with Jesus’ love and acceptance, was transformed into the disciple Matthew.  Look at all the times that Jesus showed compassion, healed the outcast, and reached out to those reviled and rejected and marginalized by society. 

 

The disciple Phillip asks, "What does God look like?" 

 

What does compassion look like?  What does healing look like?  What does acceptance of those pushed aside and rejected by society look like?  What does the face of love look like?

 

And Jesus responds, “Everything I do shows you God.  Whoever has seen me has seen God.”

 

And we, too, ask in our hearts the same nervous questions as the panic-stricken disciples.  How do we get to God?  How will we find our way?  How will we know where to go?  What if we take a wrong turn?  Will we ever find our home? 

 

And Jesus responds, “I am the way.”

 

For those who follow Christ, Jesus is the way.  Not power.  Not domination.  Not influence.  Not money.  Not intellect.  Not material possessions.  Jesus.  We need no other way.  The way of Christ is a way that leads us deeper into the mystery of the divine; in Christ we sink into the depths of God. 

 

Jesus knows our troubled hearts, and he responds to our unasked questions.  “I will show you the way.  I will take you to myself.  I am the way of way of boundless love, ultimate compassion, infinite grace, mercy and justice.  I will take you, and you will find truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Amen.

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