Clarity

Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.' (John 14:6)

I have a confession to make.  I find these middle chapters of John, the so-called farewell discourses of Jesus, hard to absorb.  John's record of the words of Jesus are dense and circular.  Jesus is teaching some of the most difficult concepts for the finite human mind to comprehend, in particular the infinite mystery that is the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  While it is hard to comprehend, careful reflection draws me deeper into the wonderful mystery that is God.

In the middle of all this is the very clear response of Jesus to the question Thomas asks; How does a disciple know the way to the place where Jesus is going?  Jesus speaks with clarity; the way to God is though him.  Only him.  For many, this is the scandalous exclusivity of the gospel that needs to be ignored or rationalized away.  We live in a multi-faith, melting pot world where the fashionable ideaology is that all religions lead the the same God.  Such thinking is of course illogical and non-sensical as most major (and minor) religions disagree on the very character and nature of God, let alone the way to find him/her/it. 

The direct response of Jesus reminds me of two things; the Christian faith has something (or Someone) unique to offer our world and that message should always be offered with confident humility.  We should never resile from the exclusive claims of the gospel (Jesus made them), but we should speak of them with grace-filled humility.