How Do We Know The Way?

 

“And you know the way where I am going.”       

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:4 – 6.

 

Here we have more steps in the dance of Jesus going and coming, of us following Him, of us knowing how to follow and where to follow, and of us not knowing where to follow and how to follow. As we’ve noted, this is a theme, a point and counterpoint, throughout the Upper Room of John chapters 13 – 17.

 

Is this not a motif of our lives? Do we not know moments of where to go and other moments of mystery? Do we not see Jesus clearly at times, then at other times does He not hide Himself? Why O Lord do we see You clearly, and then not so clearly?

 

Jesus has just said (13:33, 36), “Where I am going you cannot come.” Now Jesus speaks of the disciples knowing the way where He is going. When Thomas responds that they don’t know where He is going nor do they know the way, Jesus tells him that He is the Way. Jesus is leaving and Jesus is coming (John 14:3, 18, 23, 28).

 

We tend to think of Jesus has having left and that He will come back at some point in the future, but Jesus is always with us (Mt. 28:20; Jn. 14:23), calling us into intimacy with Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit…and with one another (1 Jn. 1:3). Yet, we do have this dance of seeing Him and then not seeing Him, of understanding Him and not understanding Him. We also have the exciting assurance that when He seemingly leaves us that we can look forward to another of His glorious appearings.

 

Has not Thomas been listening to Jesus? Why does he say, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going?” Hasn’t Jesus been speaking of His Father's House? In a few minutes Jesus will say, “I go to the Father and you no longer see Me” (Jn. 16:10). And yet they will see Him. Jesus will refer to this as “figurative language” (16:25) in a few more minutes – and confusing it may see at first. This is one reason why we must read and ponder the Upper Room as a unity, a whole – we must stand back and view the painting in its completeness, again and again and again. We can draw closer to it, then we can sit here or there and stand over there for perspective, but to approach John chapters 13 – 17 piecemeal, to see it as a verse here and there, a chapter here and then a chapter there, is to ensure that it will never be our home in Christ. (Indeed, this can be said for the entire Bible and for the books of the Bible – they must be lived in, not visited.)

 

Thomas asks, “How do we know the way?”

 

Don’t we often ask the same thing? What is the will of God? How do we know the way? What shall we do? What does God want of us?

 

Jesus says, “I am the Way.” Jesus also says, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (17:3). Can we hear Jesus saying, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent”? (6:29).

 

When our thinking about the “way” becomes our realization that Jesus is indeed the “Way” our lives move from black and white into Technicolor; they are transformed from flat and linear into multidimensional with texture and height and depth and breath and length (Eph. 3:18). Jesus is the food we eat that the world knows nothing about; He is the food we have that much of the professing church knows nothing about – so caught up are we in our earthly religion of man’s knowledge and efforts and righteousness, our own version of scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees.

 

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.” (Jn. 6:53 – 55). And may I say, the person who confines this passage to the Eucharist misses the holistic sacramental glory of Christ, and our Way of Life in Him; and the person who excludes the Eucharist does the same thing – partaking of Jesus Christ the Bread of Life is seamless…and in fact it includes partaking of one another in Him! (1 Cor. 10:16 – 17; 12:12 Eph. 4:16; 1 Jn. 1:3).

 

Is the Person of Jesus Christ our Way of Life?

 

I am not speaking of a distant knowledge, I am not writing of an ideal, I am not talking about adherence to a confession or a creed (as vital as I consider the Creed to be) or a set of doctrinal statements; I am talking about loving Jesus Christ and worshipping Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. I am speaking of a Bride being excited about her Bridegroom, about her waking up every morning to be with Him, about every day being a Day of enjoying His Presence, delighting in Him, and being faithful to Him and to Him alone.

 

If we are loving Jesus then we do not need artificial inducements to assemble together – we do not require entertainment (but we are called to freedom in the Holy Spirit!); are we not joined to Him (and to one another) in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, in good times and bad times, in seasons of great light and those of deep darkness? Are we married to Jesus Christ or do we have a relationship of convenience?

 

How many lovers does the professing church have? Money? Country? Fame? Success? Religious pride? Politics? Morality (which is in the eye of the beholder)? Sports? Entertainment? Possessions? Therapy?

 

Do others know that we are married to Jesus, or do we hide our wedding rings?

 

Are our congregations married to Jesus – or to doctrinal distinctives, traditions, and denominations (or to being non-denominational)?

 

Is Jesus our Way of Life?

 

When we know Jesus, we know the Way…for He is our Way.

 

Ponder that little word “w-a-y.”

 

Who, or what, is your way of life?