The Way, the Truth, and the Life
Read: John 13-17
Through no effort on my part, this series has become a Lent series. Moreso now, as we come into the last 2 weeks before Easter when we will also journey through the final three “I Am” statements in the book of John. The statements we will encounter today and next week are found in Jesus’ Final Discourse, or final teachings, just before His death. These teachings would have occurred during or just after the Last Supper but before Jesus and His disciples traveled to the Garden of Gethsemane (where we’ll find the last statement in John 18). I encourage you to read the summary of Jesus’ final teachings that John records in John 13-17. This will help you get a sense of the whole context for these next two statements: “‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’” (John 14:6) and “‘I am the true vine’” (John 15:1).
In John 13, we find Jesus and His disciples partaking in the Passover meal. In the other gospels, we find the institution of the new covenant with the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup, but here in John, we encounter Jesus washing His disciples’ feet as well. Jesus shows us repeatedly how He expects His followers to act – with love and humility – in this new kingdom of His. Jesus’ work is not quite finished, though, because He has not yet completed the sacrifice that will allow all into His kingdom. He clearly tells His disciples, “‘Children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’” (John 13:33).
Jesus will be going to several places in very short order. First, He will be going with the disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, where He will be betrayed. Then, He will be going before the priests and elders of the Jews and eventually the Roman governor, Pilate. After which, He will go to the cross, where He will die an excruciating death to show God’s love to a world that does not recognize Him. But then, He will return to the Father’s presence because Jesus does not stay dead; He cannot when He is life itself.
Here at the Last Supper, though, the disciples do not understand what Jesus means, so Peter asks, “‘[W]here are you going?’” (John 13:36). Jesus clarifies that they will come later. This still does not make sense, so Jesus further explains:
“ In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also. You know the way to where I am going.” (14:2-4)
This is still clear as mud, so Thomas pipes up and outright states, “‘[W]e don’t know where you’re going. How can we know the way?’” (John 14:5). And Jesus answers with the “I Am” statement that just about trumps all the others, “‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (14:6). Let’s take a minute to unpack this a bit.
Jesus has told His disciples several times by now of His upcoming death. He has clearly identified Himself as one with the Father (John 10:30) and has often told His disciples that He does what the Father does and says the words His Father says. In John 5, Jesus says, “‘These very works I am doing testify about me that the Father has sent me. (5:36b). If Jesus is leaving, then He is returning to the Father. He came from the Father, so He must also return to the Father. In returning to the Father, Jesus will then prepare a place for us to join Him there. The place He is preparing is our future eternal home in the presence of God. And Jesus Himself tells us that we know the way there, the way to the Father.
We know the way to the Father because we know Jesus.
Jesus tells the disciples, “‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him’” (14:6-7). R.C. Sproul’s commentary describes this verse well: “‘I am the way because I am the truth and because I am the life. I am the way to the Father because I am the true manifestation or revelation of the Father. I am the way to the Father because I alone have the power of eternal life ’” (247). Jesus is the way to the Father because He is the one who reveals the Father to us and because He is life itself.
Up to this point, the Father has not been seen. John 5:37b says, “‘You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven’t seen his form.’” This is not surprising since way back in Exodus, we are told, “‘You [Moses] cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and live’” (33:20). Jesus reveals the Father to us because He is the Incarnate God. We know this from the beginning of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1:1). Hebrews also tells us: “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (1:3b). Jesus is the one to reveal the Father to us because He is the exact representation of God in human form. He is the truth of God to the world. We can know the Father because we can know Jesus.
Jesus is also the life. In the story of Lazarus in John 11, Jesus tells us He is both the resurrection and the life. He shows us that he can bring the dead back to life – a foreshadowing of His own death and resurrection. But why can Jesus do this? Paul, writing to the Colossians, tells us:
“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth…
all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together.” (1:15-17)
This hymn establishes Jesus as the exact expression of God; He is Incarnate God. John further tells us, “All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created” (1:3). Jesus is one with the Father; therefore, He is the Creator and Source of Life.
This leads us back to the original statement: “‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’” (John 14:6). Jesus is the way to the Father because He is the truth, the reality, of God and because He is the source of all life. The way to the Father is the path to salvation and the promise of eternal life. In the book of Acts, Peter has to face the Jewish leadership shortly after Jesus’ ascension to the Father, and he tells them, “‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved’” (4:12). What could come across as arrogance, must be questioned, because if God is the one who says there is only one way back to Him, don’t you think we should listen?
