The Way

The sixth word of self identification spoken by Jesus in the gospel of John may not be the most quoted, but it surely gets the award for generating the most controversial conversation.  John 14:6 records this word:  "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."  What makes it such an article of conversation is the next verse which has Jesus saying, "No one comes to the Father except through Me."  It is a word which is offensive to many.  For anyone, even Jesus, to declare Himself to be "the way" with the accompanying implication of being the only way is too much of a stretch for those who want to make the way wide enough for everyone.    

In addition to this word which smacks of the creation of the spiritually elite, there is that other word from Jesus in the passage of Scripture we know as the Sermon on the Mount.  "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction  and there are many who take it.  For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it."  (Matthew 7:13-14)  These words are taken by many to speak of God not loving everyone equally instead of a word which upholds the importance of the faith response to Christ.  

The magnitude of divine love is seen in the grace of God as He acted on the cross to make a way for everyone to reclaim their identity as one created and marked with the imprint of the Holy.  One of the things surely evident in this passage of self identification is that Jesus is the way pointing us, directing us, and taking us to God.  All of these "I Am" passages speak of Him in the essential sense, not as one who is optional.  There is no taking or leaving Jesus.  He is either Who He claims to be, or He is no one at all.  C.S. Lewis said it best, "Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse."