I AM the way

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.' " John 14: 6
Men don’t ask directions. Women do. I’ve always felt it is because men know the kind of directions that people give: “Turn right before you get to the old Miller place and then go left at the oak tree that blew down last year.” There are probably deeper psychological reasons why men don’t ask, but whatever the reason the Global Positioning System (GPS) is popular. No one has to ask; it just tells you how to get there. I do find it interesting that most GPS systems have a woman’s voice. Enough!

Jesus says he knows the way. But he not only knows the way; he is the way. The way to what? The way to where? To heaven? Well, let’s look.

The way to heaven

In Jesus’ day many people thought they knew the way to heaven. The Pharisees believed that if they kept the laws of Moses and were basically better than other people they would go to heaven. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, weren’t even looking for a way. And then there were all those who thought, “If I am a child of Abraham, I’m in.”

Jesus sweeps them all away: I am the way. I am the way to God. I am the way to heaven. I am the way to eternal life. I am not a way as if there are many. I am the way, the only way. Only one person hung on a cross to bear the punishment for the sins of the world. No one else forgives sins. No one else paid the price and met the righteous demands of God Almighty.

He is the only way. It may not be stylish in our politically correct world to say it. It almost seems arrogant to say it—exclusive even. But if you wouldn’t purposely give a person the wrong directions to a grocery store, why would you give them wrong directions to everlasting life? Jesus is the only way to everlasting life.

The way to other things

But when Jesus says, “I am the way,” might he be saying that he is also the way to other things? Does he show me the way to live my life every day? Does he show me the way to live a joyful, rich life? Does Jesus show me the way to find myself? Yes, yes, and yes.

After Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, he said to them, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you” (John 13:15). His whole life of love and service is to be the way we live our lives. St. Paul talks about the riches of having Jesus when he says, “Having nothing, and yet possessing everything” (2 Corinthians 6:10). The way to a truly rich life is the same—Jesus. Want to find yourself? Paul writes, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). The way to find out who you are is also Jesus.
Author: David D. Sternhagen
Volume 95, Number 1
Issue: January 2008
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Copyrighted by WELS Forward in Christ © 2009
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