Jesus is the Way

John 14: 1-10

I lived right near the Woodcock Nature Center growing up, and I would explore the trails with a few friends or alone.  I knew the trails within the boundaries of the park, like the back of my hand.  Well one summer day, when I was under the age of 10, I found myself with a group of kids, many were older than me.  We went beyond the boundaries of the park and found ourselves in a new area of the woods.  We ended up on the far side of a large fenced field with horses, which was very exciting and occupied us for a while.  We then headed back on the this new trail but missed the trail head back into the nature center.  We went back and forth on the trail looking for where we originally turned but could not find it.

I was getting scared especially as the sun lowered.  However, I was even more frustrated that the older kids were not listening to me that I believed the turn was further down the trail, for when we came back I could not get them to go far enough the second time.  I was tempted to go out on my own, but I was taught to not leave the group when lost in the woods (a good idea).  I knew where to go, but I was limited by the group to wandering around lost.

In this scripture, John tells us about Jesus’ pastoral statement about the place He has prepared for us in the Father’s house.  This wonderful pastoral statement is a scripture very appropriately shared at death beds and during funerals.  There is nothing like hearing the promise of Heaven.  Then Jesus goes on to tell them they know the way, but the disciples don’t get it once again.  So Jesus states another pastoral statement,

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:6-7)

Jesus is making it clear they are to continue following what He had shown them, they are to continue following Him even after He is in Heaven preparing our rooms.  Even before believers in Jesus where called Christians we were called followers of “The Way.”

How does Jesus show the way?  Jesus healed many people and even commissioned the Disciples to do likewise. 

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:1-2)

Thus we are to heal people as Jesus did and that will be in many forms.  Jesus also speaking of when He will return to judge in Matthew 25 that we must also help others.  We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the prisoners, if we want to be in the Father’s house.  The way includes healing and helping.

Jesus also notes during John’s account of the Last Supper, He gives us a new commandment.  It is given after He tells them He is with them only a little longer.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

So the way of Jesus is to Heal, Help, and Love.  These are what Jesus wants us to do and then teach others.  Commanding us to, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..” (Matthew 28:19).  Jesus shows us the way and opens it up with His laying down His Life and the Father resurrecting Him from Death. 

The Prophet Micah says it best,

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
   and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
   and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6: 8)

To do justice is to heal and help, and to love kindness with humility is to Love one another.

So when we finally found the path back into the nature center, I knew I would be home shortly.  When I got home I was happy, but I was ecstatic when I climbed over the fallen tree I knew so well.  For when I knew I was back on the right path I knew the promise I would get home.  We must follow Jesus, “the Way,” so we might know the promise of Heaven. 

Called

John 10:1-10

Jesus tells us he is the shepherd at that gate and then emphasizes He is the gate, when the disciples did not understand.  Jesus tells us that only through the gate can you enter the sheepfold.  That thieves and bandits jump the fence and use violence.  In our contemporary language we see thieves and bandits as synonyms, but in the Greek thief does refer to someone who is stealing for their own benefit, while the word bandit would be better translated as insurgent,  someone doing crimes for political reasons.  Because some were waiting for a military messiah to save the people from the Roman occupation, it was a wonderful how Jesus combines both a petty thief and “bandit.”  Jesus goes on in the chapter to say He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life, completely in contrast to those calling for a military response to oppression.  

That does set the scene for what Jesus says in these verses, He is the gateway to the sheepfold.  That is not simply to heaven as it is sometimes stated, but to the church (thus eventually to heaven).  This is an important nuance, for the church is called out of the society by Jesus and only Jesus.  The sheepfold represents the church and we are to enter it by following Jesus’ call to us, just as the disciples did when He said to them at the sea of Galilee, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” (Mark 1:17) 

Jesus calls us to be the church.  The word “church” comes from a Middle English word referring to the “Lord’s House.”  Today we do use the word to mean the building in which we worship, but we understand that the church is not simply the building and/or what occurs in the building.  Rather it is the mission of the Body of Christ that defines church.  In our Bible the word “church” is used once by Jesus.  Jesus says in Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”  Now it sounds like Jesus is using the term church as a building, at least in a metaphor, as He will build it on a rock.  Of course when we use the word “rock” to refer to a person, it is a metaphor about their character, but more importantly the word we translate as church does not have the same root as the English word, it is not a word for a building at all.  The word is more closely related to the definition of church we have come to understand, the mission of the Body of Christ.

The word is Ecclesia and it was a word used to describe a group of people gathered or assembled.  Specifically gathered and assembled for a specific, generally political reason.  Not unlike how we assemble people for jury duty.  The word refers not to a physical building at all, but a group gathered for a specific purpose.  Called.  The church is inherently the group called and those assembled by Jesus. 

I believe that the prophet Isaiah understood this when he wrote,

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ (Isaiah 6:6-8)

Jesus the Good Shepherd, the gate, calls each of us, and has triumphed over death with the last needed sacrifice.  The altar has been appeased, so that our sins are blotted out and our guilt departed, so we can hear Jesus asking and calling.  We answer, “Hear am I; send me!”