John 14:6-21: a reflection

6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. 13Whatever you will ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it. 15If you love me, keep my commandments. 16I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever: 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive, for it doesn’t see him and doesn’t know him. You know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. 20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21One who has my commandments and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”

When Thomas asks how they can know the way to where Jesus is going, Jesus answers with one of the most sweeping claims in all of Scripture: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He does not merely point out a way, teach the truth, or offer life; he says he is these things. And he adds, when Philip asks to be shown the Father, that whoever has seen him has seen the Father; to know Jesus is to know God.

Notice what Jesus claims. He is the way to God, not one path among many but the way through whom we come to the Father. He is the truth, not merely a teacher of true things but truth itself embodied. He is the life, the source of the life we are made for. And he is the revelation of the Father: he who has seen me has seen the Father. In Jesus, the way to God, the truth about God, the life of God, and the very face of God, all meet. To find him is to find all of it.

That is the heart of the Christian claim, and it is meant to draw us. When we long to know God, to find the way to him, to know the truth, to have real life, Jesus says: here I am; I am the way, the truth, the life. We do not have to search endlessly for a path to God or wonder what he is like; in Christ, the way is open, the truth is shown, the life is given, and the Father is revealed. If you would come to God, come through Jesus, who is the way, and the truth, and the life. To have him is to have all you were seeking.

Lord Jesus, you said, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. Thank you that I do not have to search endlessly for a path to God or wonder what he is like; in you, the way to God is open, the truth is shown, the life is given, and the Father is revealed. When I long to know God, help me come to you, who are the way, the truth, and the life. To have you is to have all I was seeking. Draw me to yourself, and through you to the Father.