“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. *2*In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? *3*And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. *4*And you know the way to where I am going.” *5*Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” *6*Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:1–6.
Jesus is ‘the way’.
The way. This implies there is only one way, a particular one. There are not a multitude of ways or directions one can go, just one, in order to reach God. That way is Jesus. Jesus is the direction, the path to follow, the way to travel. It is like he is a giant signpost revealing the direction to travel in, and he models and demonstrates that way throughout his existence.
So, if Jesus is 'the way' -Where is he going?
Jesus is showing us the way to the Father - the way to be restored to God. Sin, wrongdoing, our own selfishness have all resulted in a broken relationship between us and God. Jesus came to reveal that there is a way in which that relationship can be restored, and that there are not lots of solutions; only one. There are no other routes to reconciliation with God.
Only one person could have created the way for us to find the path to relationship again, and that is God’s own son, Jesus. Before him there was no pathway or free access to God. Jesus created an avenue for us to follow because only he could. He, as the perfect, faultless, sin-free, holy lamb of God sacrificed himself on the altar of sin so that all sin can finally be atoned for for all time. No-one else could have done that - only the set apart sinless son of God could. We cannot get in favour with God any other way. No matter how good you try to be, how generous and kind and self-sacrificial you are - it is still not enough. No amount of 'niceness' makes up for all the wrong.
Sin deserves death - that's the only way to completely get rid of it, so that is what Jesus did. He took all sin upon himself and killed it. That was the only way. That is the only path to obliterating sin from our lives, by killing it. We have to do nothing more than accept that Jesus has done that for us. That is why he is 'the way' because he removed the barrier of sin between us and God, and now provides a pathway to Him. Jesus became the way out and the way to something else.
If you follow Jesus today, then he will take you through forgiveness, past guilt and shame, and show you the Father. The more you get to know Jesus, the more you will know God. You can have access to heaven and a relationship with God that you don’t deserve, because Jesus has made a path to Him.
This is the way made known to us (v4). Are you following it? Or are you going in your own direction? Any other way will not lead to God. So, if it doesn’t lead to God, where is it going? You can decide today which path you want to follow.
Jesus showed us what going his was was like. It was not easy, but it did result in a loving, dependent relationship with the Father. Will you follow his way?
