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I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life by Pastor Charlie Handren

By Anonymous
     In the hours before he took up his cross, Jesus prepared his disciples for what was to come by showing them the path to peace. Along the way, he said that his disciples knew the way to where he was going, but this was confusing to them because they didn’t know. Or at least they thought they didn’t know. Eventually, Thomas spoke up and asked, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? [This just isn’t making sense]” (14:5).
     Knowing that he had the disciples’ full attention, Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (14:6-7). When Jesus uttered the words “I Am,” he was invoking the sacred name of God for at least the sixth time in the Gospel of John and he was applying it to himself. He was claiming to be Yahweh. In so doing, he also attached three words to this holy name that were designed to help his disciples understand all that he’d been saying to them.
     The question has often been asked, Why did Jesus use three words to describe himself when Thomas simply asked him what he meant by the word “way”? Perhaps the most eloquent answer ever given is that of Thomas à Kempis who wrote, “Without the Way, there is no going; without the Truth, there is no knowing; without the Lie, there is no living. I am the Way, which you ought to follow; the Truth, which you ought to believe; the Life, which you ought to hope for. I am the Way inviolable, the Truth infallible, the Life unending. I am the Way that is straightest, the Truth that is highest, the Life that is truest, the Life blessed, the Life uncreated. If you remain in My way, ‘Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8:31, 32), and you shall lay hold on eternal life” (The Imitation of Christ, Whitaker House: 207).
     Because Jesus is indeed the way to God, the truth of God, and the life of God, it is self-evident that no one can gain access to God except through a personal knowledge of him. For Jewish people, the implication was that they could not access God by obeying the law of Moses but rather had to access by God by putting their faith in the Word who was God and became flesh. And since the disciples knew Jesus indeed, Jesus was saying to them, “You will reach your ultimate destiny. You will inherit an unthinkable future. You will dwell in the spacious house of God. You will be with me where I am. Yes, your hearts are greatly troubled, but you have a greater hope in me.”
     Then, when Jesus concluded, “From now on you do know him and have seen him” (14:7), he simply meant that through his suffering, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, they were going to know him and his glory like never before, and therefore, they were going to know the Father and his glory like never before. So, why should their hearts be troubled? And since these things are true for all who believe in Jesus, why should our hearts be troubled? 

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