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

John 14: 6

 

First off, today’s passage is not an example of a case of forgetfulness, for I am being deliberately repetitive in the use of this verse. I also plan to come back to it again tomorrow. It just seems to me that Jesus had a lot to say in just a few words here when he responded to Thomas’ concern and quizzical question about knowing how to find Jesus after the Lord had left them. We live in a world wherein Jesus has physically left us; yet, just as it was for Thomas, and for Peter, and for the rest of those who had been following Him on earth, Christ does not leave us alone and without the resources that we need to live as His disciples and to follow Him through life and into eternity. Jesus’ way takes us into the uncomfortable world of true truth. He guides, directs, counsels, and forces us into facing the lies and the deceptions that we have come to believe and even to embrace as our own as the Spirit makes God’s Word vital, living, and present in our hearts and upon our minds. We have the answer to Pilot’s, “What is truth?” and to Giuliani’s, “Truth isn’t truth” statements, for truth is real, and it belongs to God.

 

This world was not created to be a place where ambivalence reigns. Its atmosphere was not filled with a grey cloud of deceit, and its inhabitants were given clear direction and absolute guidance for living well in the close company of each other and with our Lord. Yet, our ancestors desired to shape their reality as they chose to do so, and they attempted to redefine the parameters that God had set forth for life. This attempt at becoming lord over their own kingdoms by grasping after God’s authority for themselves was disastrous for them, and it remains so to this day. God did not choose to leave us in a state where we were on our own to figure out life. He remained with His creation throughout these long centuries of attempting to live out our days in peace and with prosperity. We people tend to do more harm than good in this process, but God remains faithful to caring for us and to providing the wisdom that we need, should we decide to seek and to use it.

 

However, the Father did much more than this. He gave us His Son as the answer to our futile searching after what is real, what is enduring, and what is truth. Christ embodies all that is loving, gracious, righteous, and just in the universe. He brought the presence of God tangibly into this world, and his Spirit remains with and within us to do the same today. The truth that is Jesus has no room within it for hatred and for violence. It seeks to replace these negative and highly destructive forces with the greater power of love, understanding, and reconciliation. Christ shows us that all life is sacred and that each of us matters to God in such a deeply held manner that there should be no questions asked regarding the value of any person in any circumstance. Truth as Christ demonstrates it does not countenance deceit or deception, it has no room for oppression and for the many forms of slavery that it spawns. God’s truth seeks to elevate others and to lead its followers into service to our Lord and so into service to the needs of those who are most needy in our world. Truth breathes life into the dead air of this world as it guides us to the mercy seat of Christ.