0322 THE WAY

THE WAY

If you recall the book of Exodus, it covers the miraculous event of the children of Israel escaping from slavery in Egypt. It starts with the Passover and the flight in the night, the parting of the Red Sea, various stops along the way, Mt. Sinai and the giving of the law, including the ten commandments, and some forty years of wandering in the wilderness waiting to enter the Promised Land. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, the book is named Exodus. Ex = out of. Odos = road, way, path.

Jesus and others used the Septuagint when they spoke, using the common trade language of the people, rather than to try to communicate in Hebrew in the first century. (Note that they did not use Latin, even though Palestine had been conquered by Rome at this point.) So it is especially significant that Jesus uses the word “odos” to describe himself here. After all, He is The Way Out.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Our Lord does not just point us to the way or tell us the way. He does not help us find the way. No, he IS the way. He himself is the road that we travel from captivity of sin to the promised land of freedom and grace. What’s more, Jesus does not say that He is A way, being one of the paths to God. No, he says that he is the only way to the Father. And just to be more clear, he says that no one comes to the Father except through him. There is salvation in no other name than the name above every name, the name of Jesus.

Jesus also called himself the truth. And, again, not just saying that he speaks or tells the truth, but that he IS the truth. And not just A truth, but THE truth. There is no other who is truly true. He is the Only True Way to the Father. There are many who speak truisms, or who tell the truth. But there is only One who IS The Truth itself. All the others are imposters and liars.

And then Jesus refers to himself as the life. Not just alive, and not just life. Not just that he leads to life or that he keeps from death. Not just that he is a way that leads to positive results. But he himself is the one and only life, saving us from sin and death. Soon, Jesus would die and be raised to life again, and be able to raise us again to eternal life. And he is the only one in history to have such a power.

And just in case you didn’t catch it, Jesus clarifies that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus himself. Because, he is the way. He is the truth. And he is the life. Amen.