Knowing the Way

John 14:5-7

June 15, 2025 • Mount Pleasant UMC

The doctor stared at the papers on the desk. The math and the test results all added up. it really was true; he had discovered a cure to the dreaded disease. And it wasn’t just a dreaded disease; it was a disease his closest friend had, which is what had set him on this course several years ago. He wanted to find a cure for his friend, and if it benefitted everyone else, then so be it. His colleagues had laughed at his single-minded dedication to finding a cure. It wasn’t possible, they told him. He couldn’t do it, his family said. And while his friend appreciated the research, he had been skeptical as well. But now he had done it. Years of research and tests and trials and late nights, and now the evidence was clear. He had, in fact, found the cure.

But as he reached for the phone to tell his friend, he hesitated. He remembered all of those mocking voices, all of those people who said he could never do it. He thought of his friend, yes, but he also knew that if he announced the cure to the world, there would be people who would test his theories, who would try to disprove what he found, who would ridicule him for claiming to find what no one else had been able to find. The medical world could be congratulatory or condemning; you never knew which one you were going to get. So he pulled his hand back from the phone. He didn’t know if he could put up with that. He would wait, do some more tests, verify the cure a few more times. Maybe, one day, he would share the cure with his friend. When he was sure.

A made-up story? Yes. But also no, because it mirrors the experience and practice of many Christians today. We have the cure to the disease that plagues every single person on the planet, the disease of sin and brokenness, and far too often we withhold it because we’re afraid someone might make fun of us or question us or force us to “prove it.” This month, we are remembering who we are and why we exist as a church. What is our mission? What is our calling? Why has this church been at the top of his hill for 190 years? Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world, but what is our message? That’s a question Jesus answered on his last night with his disciples, the night before the crucifixion when these eleven men were upset, confused and worried. And they had a right to be. Jesus was telling them a lot of disturbing things.

This chapter, this last night conversation that John gives us more of than any other Gospel writer, begins with words you often hear me share at a funeral: “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (14:1). It’s an ironic thing for him to say, honestly, because all Jesus has done on this evening is tell them troubling things: “he will be betrayed, he’s going to a place where they cannot follow, and Peter would disown him three times” (Card, John: The Gospel of Wisdom, pg. 160). As he continues teaching in this chapter, it’s no wonder the disciples interrupt him three times, asking questions. They’re desperately trying to understand. They want to get this right; I think they sense this is vitally important. Thomas is the first one to interrupt, and he sounds grumpy (Wright, John for Everyone—Part Two, pg. 59) when he says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (14:5).

In response, Jesus gives what has become one of his most controversial statements, though it wasn’t controversial in early Christianity. It just was the way it is. (Spoiler alert: it still is.) Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:5). This should not be news to the disciples. Earlier, as Matthew tells it, Jesus had said the same thing this way: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27). In other words, if you’re going to get to know the Father, you’ve got to get to know the Son.

Originally, I had this idea of developing this whole sermon around those three words. You know how preachers are, we get all excited when we see a set of three; we think “instant sermon outline.” But, honestly, these words aren’t hard to understand. It’s not like Jesus is being overly cryptic. “Way” simply means road or highway. It’s the route you take to get somewhere. In The Message, Eugene Peterson even translated it as “road.” “Truth” is what it sounds like—something that is true. I was always taught you don’t define the word with the word itself, so let me try again: it’s the opposite of something false. This is something that does not have an ounce of falsehood in it. And “life” is the power or force that makes something alive, something that gives meaning and purpose and energy to living. There again, I’m having trouble defining the word without using the word. But my point stands: Jesus isn’t being cryptic and he isn’t trying to be confusing. He knows this is his last night with these disciples, so he’s being as clear as he possibly can be. If Thomas (and the rest of them) want to know how to get to where he is going, the answer is simple. The answer is Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the path, nothing is truer than him, and he alone will brings life. And that’s why he can say the next thing he says, which is the really controversial thing: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:5).

It’s the “no one” that bothers people. For the last two centuries or so, we’ve been told that this is far too arrogant, far too exclusive, far too self-centered to imagine that Jesus ever said anything like this. John must have made it up, put the words in Jesus’ mouth. Why would kind, loving Jesus claim to be the only way? And it’s pushback like this that has made the church act like the doctor in my made-up parable. We’ve become so afraid of ridicule, of being called “exclusive,” of being made fun of that we resist believing this even ourselves. The church itself has questioned if Jesus is the only way? Maybe Jesus is a way, but not the way. I even heard a well-known Christian speaker several years ago try to have it both ways by saying, “Well, Jesus is the only way I know but I can’t say he is the only way.” You don’t have to; Jesus already said it. But surely, we are told, there must be another way. Surely Buddha or Krishna or Confucius are just alternates to Jesus. Aren’t all religious just the same?

No, they are not. Any serious study of the various world religions will tell you that. It sounds nice and democratic—you know, choose your own religion and everything will be all right in the end—but that’s not what Jesus says. He says, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:5). Every other religion in the world is about humanity trying to find God or “the eternal” or “the divine” or whatever they call it. Christianity is the only faith in which God comes looking for humanity and, as I have said a lot recently, where we worship a God who wants to be with us. Emmanuel—God with us. That is absolutely unique in world religions. To try to synthesize all of the world’s religions means that they all get us close but none of them get us there, where we want to go. As N. T. Wright puts it, they get us to the foothills but not to the summit (Wright 59). Wright goes on: “The idea of a vague general truth, to which all ‘religions’ bear some kind of oblique witness, is foreign to Christianity.”

I can understand how, in the last hundred years or so, some people see Jesus’ claim to be arrogant and heavy-handed. It’s because the church’s approach has been arrogant and heavy-handed, emphasizing the anger and wrath of God over the love of Jesus Christ. But that approach was not Jesus’ approach. The one who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life,” has, already this very evening, washed the dirty, stinky feet of his disciples and told them to copy his example. Tomorrow, he will allow himself to be crucified and give his life for the world in the supreme example of self-giving love. This Jesus wept at the tomb of his friend, welcomed a hated tax collector into his band of disciples, refused to condemn a woman who was caught in the act of adultery, and loved people without exception. He wasn’t easy on sin; he told the woman to “go and sin no more.” But he was never arrogant. He was never exclusive. He was and is the way, the truth and the life.

Several years ago, I remember hearing Tony Campolo, who died just a few months ago, tell about a cross-country flight he took one night. He was tired and as he took his seat he just wanted to sleep. But, of course, he ended up next to a man who wanted to talk. “What do you do?” his seat companion asked. Campolo said when he wanted to talk, he would say, “I'm a sociologist.”  But if he didn’t want to have a conversation, he would say, “I’m a Baptist evangelist.” Generally the conversation ended there. So this night he said, “I’m a Baptist evangelist,” and the man smiled and said, “Oh, that’s interesting. You know, I believe there are many ways to get to God.” Campolo said, “Profound,” and closed his eyes to try to sleep. Several hours later, as they were preparing to land in Philadelphia, the airport was fogged in. The wind was blowing, the rain was beating on the plane, and everyone looked nervous. At this point, Campolo turned to the theological expert next to him and said, “I'm certainly glad the pilot doesn't agree with your theology.” The man was confused. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Well, right now the people in the control tower are giving him instructions and directions on how to exactly and safely land this plane and he’s listening to them. I’m glad the pilot's not saying, ‘There are many ways into the airport. There are many approaches we can take.’ I'm glad he’s saying, “There's only one way we can land this plane, and I’m going to stay with it” (link).

Our message, since the very beginning, has been and is Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. It’s not “Jesus+” like he’s a streaming service or something. No, our message is Jesus, plain and simple. He is the way, the truth and the life. If anyone is going to find life eternal, it’s through and because of Jesus. If anyone is going find healing for the disease of sin that plagues this world, it’s through and because of Jesus. Plain and simple. That’s not exclusive because the way, the truth and the life is available to anyone who asks, anyone who wants it. There is absolutely nothing anyone has to do to earn their right to be on this road. Everything that needed to be done has already been done by Jesus. He opened the way. He made the way. He is the way. And that’s why our message is him.

Our message is not that we have a really cool building or a great youth group and children’s ministry, though we do. Our message is not that we have the best preschool in town or that people can find recovery from addiction here, though that’s true. Our message is not about any of the great programs we have here or even about Mount Pleasant itself. Mount Pleasant Church exists for one and only one reason: to share the good news of Jesus. Our message is Jesus. Am I making myself clear? If we’re going to be Great Commission Christians, we have to be absolutely clear on this: our message is Jesus, and I’m gonna keep saying it over and over again. One of the challenges we have had in the last few years in the church at large is that we’ve gotten confused about what our message is. Some think is has to do with politics, and especially with whether or not my politics line up with someone else’s or even the church’s. Friends, we can disagree on politics as long as we are focused on Jesus. I don’t think that bothers him as much as it bothers us. Others think our message has to do with social issues, and making sure we have the “right” stance on abortion or the environment or war or human sexuality, but we can disagree on those things as long as we are focused on Jesus. He is our message, not any of those other things. And still others get hung up on practices, like what you can wear or what you can take part in or even which translation of the Bible you can use. You are “in” or “out” depending on your practices. But those things don’t determine my eternity. Jesus does. He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him. I often say eternity is going to take a long time because God has to straighten all of us out one way or another. As right as you think you are, as right as I think I am, none of us have it all figured out. That’s why we need…say his name with me…Jesus. That’s why we need Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the way we have to know.

So what about all the people in the world who never get the chance to hear about Jesus? Thanks for asking. I knew you were wondering that. First of all, I believe the blame for that falls on the church. It is our fault that there are still people in the world who have not heard about Jesus. We have had two thousand years to answer Jesus’ call that we talked about two weeks ago, to make disciples, and if in two thousand years there are still places in the world that do not know his name, that’s on us. Even worse, if there are people in your social circles who do not know about Jesus or who don’t know that you know him, that’s on us. We have not answered Jesus’ call, and that’s part of the reason we’re spending time this month remembering who we are and, today, what our message is. So, pastor, are you avoiding the question we asked? Not at all, because I believe God’s biggest disappointment is in our failure to do what Jesus asked. I honestly don’t know what God will do with those who have never heard, but I do know this. The Biblical witness is that God is a God of justice, mercy, and agape love. God will always do the right and just thing. Always. Every time. It’s his world, his creation, and he gets to make the rules. I’ve heard stories of missionaries who arrive in a new place and once they get a chance to share about who Jesus is, they’ve had people say, “This is the God I knew existed. I just didn’t know his name.” And there have been so many stories coming out of the Muslim world today of Jesus showing up to people in dreams. God is working, even if we are not. So I believe God will judge every person in the world based on the way they responded to the light they received. This does not change what Jesus says about being the way to the Father because any light that a person received is from him. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is the light of the world (cf. John 8:12), and in the end he will be absolutely just, right and fair. We can trust him for that.

The main reason I always participate in our annual Vacation Bible School is not because Ginger makes me. She doesn’t. And it’s not because of the great snacks, though that certainly factors in. I participate every year because I met Jesus at Vacation Bible School. In my hometown, the three churches went together to have VBS every year, and my age group this particular year was at the Church of the Brethren. I can still see the classroom in my mind, and we had the usual things at that VBS: snacks, games, music, crafts, all the things. I had grown up in the church; in fact, we were one of those families that was pretty much in church whenever the building was open. My dad was the custodian, for heaven’s sake. I had heard about Jesus in Sunday School and in worship all of my life. I was a good church kid. But in that VBS class, our teacher asked us if we really knew Jesus. She shared the message and encouraged us to not just know about Jesus but to know him. I took her up on her challenge and I gave my life to Jesus in that classroom. I don’t know what my life without him would have been like, but I do know that my life with him has been so good. It’s not always been easy, but it’s always good. When I accepted a call to become a pastor, it was so that I could tell others about Jesus. And so sometimes you might hear me get frustrated about all the politics and showmanship and the peripheral issues in the church that get us distracted. I get frustrated because I just want to tell people about Jesus. So that’s why I love VBS so much. That’s why I showed up at VBS a few years ago the evening when I had just returned from Israel. That was rough and I don’t remember much of it but I was here. It’s why I will be here in July—because I met Jesus at VBS and I’m praying there are some other kids just like me who finally get that this whole thing isn’t about church. It’s about Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him, and if we know him, we know the Father. Am my message coming through? Jesus is our message. He’s the way. Let’s pray.