Big Plans for the Doubter (John 20:24-29)

April 8, 2018

            In my final year of seminary in Richmond, VA, I shared an apartment with my sister. One day we had a knock at the door; a Jehovah’s Witness stopped by.  I asked him in.  We exchanged pleasantries.  It was a nice talk until the conversation took a turn.  I told him about some spiritual struggles I was having.  He was ready to pounce and fill my questioning mind with his version of truth, but I wouldn't have it.  I wanted to talk about the mystery of God.  I wanted to raise difficult questions about God that no one can answer.  He wouldn't even accept that there is a mystery.  He wanted to have all of the answers.  I said, "No one has all the answers."  He got agitated.  He said, "Why does there have to be a mystery about God?"  We were unable to resolve our differences. 

            Are we threatened by mystery, especially mysteries of God?  Does mystery or pain or suffering fill us with uncomfortable doubt?  Does doubt lead to a loss of faith?  Can people of real faith have doubts?

            Richard Donovan was a student at a Bible college when he felt doubts about God creep into his mind.[i]  He thought his classmates looked confident and assured in their Christianity.  The professors were so bold in talking about missions and complimentary as they described the faith of the young students. 

Donovan didn't feel comfortable in that environment saying, "Hey, wait a minute!  I am not so sure about all of this.  I have some questions.  I have some doubts."  He felt pressure to be as positive about his relationship with God as his classmates were.  So he put on a mask and acted like he was secure in his faith.  Later on he wondered if all of his classmates had the same doubts he had but they too were acting.  Maybe, like him, they were afraid to voice their doubts?  Maybe they were afraid of what it might mean?

            The doubts didn't go away when he went to seminary.  They increased.  Questions about the reality of God tormented him.  He made an appointment with the dean to tell him of his plan to drop out of seminary.  He said, "I can't preach things I don't believe."  The dean said, "Go ahead.  Drop out."  He wasn’t mean about it.  He simply told Richard to go out and seek.  If God led him back, the seminary would accept him with open arms.

            God did lead him back.  He graduated, was ordained, served a full career as an army chaplain and then as a pastor. 

What if the seminary dean had jumped down his throat?  "What do you mean you have doubts?  If you doubt the Lord, then you're not fit to be a minister.  Leave and never come back."  What then?

What does God do when we doubt?

            From 1988-1998 one of the most popular tv sitcoms was Murphy Brown, a show about news reporters.  In one episode, they were talking about God and church.  Murphy knew Frank, her colleague of many years, a polished, hardened, veteran news anchor went to church with his wife every Sunday.  She didn't understand why?  She was legitimately trying to figure the whole 'God-thing' out, so she quizzed Frank.  "Why do you go to church?"  "Murphy, we just go.  We do it every week."  She stayed on him and pecked at him until he admitted, "Murphy, I don't know.  I don't even believe in God.  I don't believe at all.  I just go to church to feel better about myself, and it works." He looked very defeated when he said it because he and Murphy were both struck by his own hypocrisy.  He spoke the language of faith, but there was no faith in his heart.  He didn't have doubts, he had unbelief.

            The show did not concoct a false narrative.  In real life, every Sunday in Churches around our country people play the part of being a good Christian, but, in their hearts, they aren't truly dealing with God or wrestling with the deep truths of the faith.  They just make sure they have a nice clothes, bring a great casserole for the pot luck, and put their money in the plate.  They've gotten their religious fix for the week.  They can go on with their lives. 

They completely miss out on the dynamic relationship believers have with God in Jesus Christ. 

            The people around Jesus were constantly confronted with the realities of God, discovering God in new ways with each new thing Jesus did.  In the stories he told, the wisdom he shared, the miracles he worked and the way he loved, he revealed God to them.  The most incredible sign was the resurrection.  Each disciple had to figure out how to cope the notion that Jesus, whom they followed and whom they saw die, had risen.  This man they loved but did not understand truly was God.

            The different reactions to Jesus before and after the crucifixion and resurrection earned the disciples nicknames.  Jesus called John and his brother James the "sons of Thunder."  There were two Simons.  One of them was called the Zealot because he was a part of a militant political party.  The other Simon was renamed by Jesus.  Jesus called him Cephas which in Greek is translated Petra and means rock.  Simon Peter - Simon the rock.  These nicknames, given by Jesus or by the Gospel writers, have stuck. And the one that rolls off the tongue more easily than any of the others, and is Doubting Thomas. 

            How would you like to go through time remembered for a moment when you failed to believe?  Following John's Gospel, we go with Mary Magdalene to the tomb a couple of days after Jesus was crucified.  There she discovers that it is empty.  Just outside the tomb, she back bumps into a man she believes is the gardener until he says her name.  When he says, "Mary!" she recognizes him. 

Later Jesus appears to the disciples, but Thomas is not with them.  Jesus appears, shows his nail-scarred hands, and his pierced side.  Then Jesus breathes the Holy Spirit on them.  Thomas misses all of this.

            He gave up his life as a Galilean fisherman to follow Jesus.  He gave up everything.  He was there when Jesus gave the 12 the power to drive demons and do miracle healings.  He received that power.  When Lazarus died and everyone was weeping and mourning, it was Thomas the twin who said, "Let us go that we may die with him."  Thomas was not an anonymous disciple that just faded into the background.  He thought about things.  He listened to what Jesus said.  He was ready to throw away life itself.  He imagined Lazarus experiencing resurrection.  He believed in Jesus and thought it was time to go and join Lazarus in death because he believed what Jesus said.   

            That wasn't the plan, and it's possible that when they didn't join Lazarus in death, questions began to creep into Thomas’ mind.  He still followed Jesus.  He hung in there until the end.  But, prior to seeing the risen Lord, confusion rose in his mind.

One of Jesus’ most famous quotes from the Last Supper is "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  He said this in response to a question asked by Thomas.  Jesus said, "I am going to prepare a place for you."  Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?"  And Jesus says, "I am the way."

            After that meal, Thomas saw his Lord dragged off in chains.  In that moment, the faith of Thomas failed.  He ran off, and he was even absent on the Sunday, two days afterward.  The rest of the disciples, except for Judas, met the resurrected Jesus and were transformed.  So, they got together again after that, and this time, they made sure that Thomas was with them.

            Have you had that experience where someone tells a joke, everyone laughs, and you’re the only one who doesn’t get it?

            The disciples and Mary and Mary Magdalene were abuzz with excitement Thomas had never seen before.  In jubilation that kept saying, "He's alive!  He's alive!"  Thomas was still stuck on that Friday, the image of Jesus on the cross fixed on his mind.  He was as depressed and sad as they were happy, and he stubbornly refused to believe their joy.    "Show me!"  Thomas demanded.  "I've followed Jesus, given up my own life to be his disciple, and I watched him die.  I saw that.  That was real!  Now you want me to accept that he's alive just because you say so?" 

            He was doubting Thomas.  The mystery was too much.  He needed something he could see and touch.  He said, "Unless I put my finger in the nail holes, I will not believe." 

A week goes by.  Everyone is hopping around happy.  Thomas just wants to slap every one of them.  He wants them to wake up and realize it's over.  So, after a week, they're all together again, and this time, Thomas is there.  He's hurt, angry and disillusioned, but he shows up.  And the risen Lord shows up. 

            Jesus says to them "Peace be with you."  I imagine Thomas standing there trembling.  He felt strong in his anger a week ago.  He makes a declaration in the face of all of the others.  "I won't believe until I can touch the holes in His hands."  He was logical and defiant.  No one could change his mind.  But now before Jesus, that boldness, defiance, and strength was gone.  Jesus offered to take Thomas up on his claim.  He offered his hands and invited Thomas to touch so that Thomas would stop doubting.  Jesus had big plans for Thomas and he needed to get past this doubting.

            Thomas did not need to touch the nail-scarred hands. Being in the Lord's presence was all he needed.  Thomas made the proclamation about Jesus that we all need to make.  He said to Jesus, "My Lord and My God."  A second time, Thomas gave himself to Jesus completely. 

            A post-Biblical tradition reports that Thomas eventually traveled east - all the way to India.  There he preached the good news about Jesus Christ and led many people to salvation.  We remember him as Doubting Thomas because he had a moment when his faith wavered.  But, he was a man Jesus strengthened.  He was man Jesus called to build the early church.  He was seated on one of the 24 thrones we read about in the book of Revelation. 

            Jesus asked Thomas.  "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."  It was a little beatitude that he shared with Thomas and the others.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.  Thomas would go on to meet a lot of people.  He had the assignment of telling them about Jesus, and he knew they wouldn't see Jesus in the flesh as he had.  Yet, he would try to tell of Jesus' love and salvation, and he would state his belief that Jesus was present in the form of the Holy Spirit.

            We carry on the work of Thomas today.  We are a room full of people who haven't laid eyes on the physical form of the risen Christ.  I have not seen His nail-scarred hands.  I have not physically embraced Him.  I don't believe others who here have seen Jesus either.  When we say that Jesus is our Savior and Lord and Master and Friend and God, we are speaking in Faith. 

We are speaking of a great mystery.  Sometimes doubt creeps in.  But, Jesus doesn't send us away.  He says, look at me.  In prayer, in worship, in the Bible, and in the deepest pars of ourselves, we look to Jesus. 

            Doubt born of scrutiny and critical thought is not a sin.  Numerous things can raise doubts in us.  If you have doubts about God or questions about God or questions for God, seek Him.  In prayer, in conversation, in worship, in research – seek Him with great intensity.  Don’t give up on God.

When you come to church, don’t come as a matter of course, out of habit, or as cultural expression.  Come to church looking for God.  Even if you don't believe in Him, look for Him.  Open your mind and honestly seek Him. 

Beware.  God doesn't play around.  If you are serious about getting to know Him, he'll enter your heart and rock your world.  He'll call you to new places and He'll make you a new person in your old places.  The people around you will have to deal with the new you, like it or not.  Faith is real and it is not something that just comes up from 11-12 on Sunday.  Faith affects every area of life.  Thomas knew this.  He knew what was at stake.  That's why he didn't just believe because his friends, the other disciples, told him to believe.  He made up his own mind.  And when he was face to face with the risen Lord, nothing could stop him from believing and loving God. 

            In this place and time, we won't come face to face with the risen Lord, I don't think.  But He is here.  His Holy Spirit is here.  He lives in the hearts of the people of faith who are here.  His word is before us.  We sing songs of worship to Him and He hears them.  Yes, Jesus is here today. 

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.  Do you believe?  Will move from questions and doubt into life-changing faith today?

AMEN

---

[i] Richard Niell Donovan’s bio is listed here - https://www.sermonwriter.com/richard-niell-donovan/; I have an article I have photocopied from 1996 (July-August), I don’t know the magazine. 

Maundy Thursday Monologues - Simon the Zealot

Holy Thursday Monologue – Simon the Zealot

If you read your Bible in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 10, or Mark chapter 3, you will find there a list of the disciples who followed Jesus.  In that list, you find the name Simon the Cananean.   That’s me.  Luke lists me differently.  He calls me, Simon the Zealot. 

You think you know all the disciples.  James and John were fishing brothers.  So were Peter and Andrew.  Nathaniel, he was the straight shooter.  Whatever was on his mind, he said.  Philip, well, he was a kid.  He and John and Andrew, they were pretty wet behind the ears. I am not much older them, but I had seen things they had not. 

Thomas what a brain on that guy.  He was always thinking, always questioning.  I know he came to be called a “doubter.”  He was much more than that.  He was a thinker.

I think Matthew had the most fun of all the disciples.  That guy could party, almost as much Jesus. 

Of course history shows that Judas Iscariot was a schemer.  We didn’t know it at the time.  We thought he was a brilliant in practical thinking as Thomas was in theoretical thinking.  We deferred to Judas because he was so confidant. 

In some ways he and I were kindred spirits.  Both Judas Iscariot and I were committed to the overthrow of the Romans and the overthrow the corrupt leadership in the temple.  He talked and made strategies and argued with Jesus.  He always thought he knew better than Jesus what we ought to do.  And then Jesus would work a miracle and Judas would shut up and fall in line.

For my part, I was not interested in Peter’s outbursts or Judas’ scheming or Thomas’ philosophy or Nathaniel’s mouth.  I like Matthew’s parties, but even that, I thought, was the wrong priority.  Before I followed Jesus, I was party of a group of revolutionaries.  We weren’t Sicarii.  We did not commit assassinations.  But, we watched closely because we thought the Messiah was coming to call us to arms.  We were ready.

I was at the wedding in Cana when Jesus turned water into wine.  I knew what happened.  So, I left some of my Zealot pals behind and started following Jesus.  I didn’t even realize he noticed me, and then he asked me to be one of his 12 disciples – like the 12 tribes.  Yes, I was sure, he was going to restore Israel to the people of God.

But boy did I have trouble with some of his teaching.  Turn the other cheek?  Love your enemy?  I didn’t understand and he could see that.  He knew how frustrated I was.  He didn’t kick me out.  Neither did he make it any easier on me.  I did not confront him like Peter.  I did not question like Thomas.  I didn’t argue with him the way Judas did.  But sometimes I wanted to.

Things were really heating up when we came to Jerusalem for the Passover.  His confrontations with legalists and priests were edgier.  We were all tense.  Then, when we gathered for the meal in that upper room, well, I can’t describe it.  When he took the wine and said, “This is the new covenant that is my blood,” everything changed.  That night, I could not have told you how, but something happened when he said that and we were never the same.

Later on, when the soldiers came to arrest him in the garden, I just ran.  I don’t even know why.  I, who had been so eager to fight the Roman and fight injustice; when the fight came I ran.  Thinking back now to the wine, the new covenant, it is like I was empty and full all at the same time. 

I haven’t picked up a sword since.  Oh, I’ve used knives and axes, as tools.  But since I followed Jesus, I who had built my life on being a revolutionary, never again thought about fighting or killing anyone.  You follow him, it will change you.  It did me.

I think it about it every time I drink that wine.

Maundy Thursday Monologues - Simon Peter

http://captainsacrament.blogspot.com/2004/04/maundy-thursday-2004.html

My name is Simon Peter.

You know me from the stories about me in the Bible.  You know I was the one to walk on water to Jesus.  Well, I walked until I sank and Jesus pulled me out.

I’m the one Jesus trusted with the keys to the Kingdom.  It was also to me that Jesus said, “Get behind, Satan.”  He said that when I tried to talk him out of going to the cross.

When they came arrest him, I whipped out a sword and start swinging.  I was there, when Jesus said ‘turn the other cheek.’  But in that moment in the garden, I just forgot.  I started swinging the sword and Jesus healed the man I hit.  Then he was arrested and I ran.  To my shame, I denied knowing him just as he predicted I would.

After he rose, he forgave me.  He restored me as one of his followers.

Now, it’s been many years.  I don’t how I’ve survived this long.  James was beheaded by Herod.  John was exiled to Patmos.  Stephen was stoned to death.  I carry on.  Now, I lead the church at Rome. 

We tell a lot of stories this time of year.  We tell these stories to remember the death and new life of our King and to remember who we are. 

This night is Passover.  When we celebrate, we remember that we were created by God’s saving act. Our Master Jesus became the Passover lamb, sacrificed for us, and by his resurrection saved us from the darkness of sin. Many of you who were not of Israel became his because of this. We have been created by his saving act.

Tonight, I remember clearly that Passover before everything happened.  It was the night he was betrayed – by all of us. We gathered in an upper room to share the meal. Our feet had gotten dusty, and needed to be washed before we gathered at table. We were talking, cutting up and just enjoying being together. It had been a dark week, and we needed to celebrate.

But then we suddenly quieted; we could have heard a feather hit the ground. Not many things can silence a room of rambunctious fishermen. I looked about to see what had happened. Jesus had taken off his robe and put on a towel. He filled a basin and began to wash our feet. We were completely speechless, and I was incensed. We had gathered to celebrate our identity as the free people of God, and he was doing what would have been disgraceful even for a slave!

I asked him just what he thought he was doing. “You don’t understand now,” he said, “but later, you will.” I refused him: “You’re never going to wash my feet!” He was patient and adamant as always. “If I don’t do this, you can’t be my disciple.”

I was shattered. I had spent three years of my life with this man, given up everything to follow him. But... if refusing this meant refusing him, I had missed something. I loved him, so I obeyed, even though I didn’t understand.

As the rough hands of the carpenter cradled the rougher feet of this fisherman, I was struck by the tenderness of the act. Feet are very basic things, right? They’re just there. But as his fingers moved between my toes to wash, I was devastated by the intimacy. I began to understand. On that night in a little room in Jerusalem, just before all hell would break loose, this is what it meant to love us to the end. He was dedicated to me and to each of us. There were no lengths to which he would not go to love us, heal us, and set us free. This lowly service showed me the very heart of God.

He told us that this would be the pattern for our lives. This is a symbol of how he bears us up in all of our sins, failings and idiosyncrasies.

We remember this tonight. We confess our needs and submit to his washing—submit to his tenderness. We will leave and remember that our brothers and sisters have dusty feet also. We will wash them.

So in this story, learn who you are.  Let the Lord be with you in the weak places, in the dirt. Then go, take up your basin and towel, and be who you are.

In the name of Christ. Amen.

Maundy Thursday Monologues - Thomas

Doubting Thomas: Monologue

‘Doubting Thomas’? Yes, that’s me! Do I mind being called that? I suppose it could be galling to have gone down in history as a doubter, but in a way I’m glad, you know. How can I explain?

You see, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doubts. Oh, I’m not talking here about the excuses we palm off as doubts: it’s not the same as uninformed prejudice, a sense of guilt or the fear of change. No, I’m thinking about good, honest questions. There’s a lot to be said for them, in my opinion.

Some of the other disciples never really understood that. Maybe they were just upset with me for not believing them - but then they’d already seen Jesus alive, you see. I hadn’t.

Anyway, as I told them at the time, all this stuff about Jesus rising from the dead was just too important to accept uncritically.  What if it was all just a cruel joke, or they’d imagined it all, had group delusions or whatever you call it? We loved him so much, you see…We’d followed him; listened to him; eaten with him; shared our lives. Seeing him die was worse than anything I’d ever experienced – worse than anything I WILL ever go through, I dare say. And we were desperate: grief-stricken; lonely; terrified. Of course I WANTED it to be true! But how could I be certain without seeing him for myself?

Being a Christian is no bed of roses, I can tell you, and I could never have coped with the past few years if all I had to go on was a faded dream or a vague hope. But Jesus, he put up with me and my doubts.  He gave what I needed and took me beyond what I thought I could become.  I ended traveling all the way to the nation you know as India and establishing the Christian faith there.

That all came after the resurrection.  On the night of the Passover meal, before Jesus was arrested, none of knew what was coming.  He held the bread of Passover up before us and said, “This is my body, broken for you.”  What did that mean?  We didn’t know. 

He got on his knees to wash our feet. What was he doing?  Peter, as always, speaking without thinking, argued with Jesus and then did what he said.  Judas, slipped out after the foot washing.  I was never sure about what he was up to.  He always seemed to his own agenda on the side.  I had no idea he was set to betray Jesus that night.  No idea at all.

I didn’t have any side agenda.  I had side conversation.  That night Matthew had the misfortune of sitting beside me.

“What’s he doing?”  I asked Matthew.  He told me to ‘let it go.’ 

“What’s he talking about?” I asked when Jesus said the bit about not drinking the fruit of the vine again until he drank it in the Kingdom.  I was pestering Matthew with questions.   

That Matthew!  So good with numbers and money, but he never questioned anything.  If Jesus said he was the bread of life, Matthew just accepted it. I knew he didn’t understand it.  None of us did.  But not understanding didn’t bother Matthew. 

If I understood, I would go to the ends of the earth for Jesus.  And in the end I did.  At least India seems likes the opposite end of the earth from Jerusalem.  But that night, the night of the Passover, I lost all my boldness. 

We all acted so tough.  “No, no Jesus, we won’t betray you.  We’re with you to the end.”  We all said that.  James the rugged fisherman; Simon, the wanna-be rebel; the all-too-honest Nathaniel.  We were all so courageous in our own minds.  At least Peter picked up a sword before he fled into the night. But in the end, that’s what we all did.  We ran just like Jesus knew we would. 

But, after it was all over, he welcomed us back.  That’s what Jesus does.  He takes you at your worst and helps you become your best.  Now, whenever I lead a church in worship and I break the bread before the congregation and together, we drink the wine, I remember that night.  I also remember seeing Jesus a few days later.  And I remember him loving me in my doubts.  And I remember him changing the direction of my life. 

That’s Jesus.  He turns us around.  

Jesus in our Speech, Thought

It’s All About Jesus (John 14:5-7)

Rob Tennant, Sunday, May 5, 2011

You’ve just been to a film, the movie everyone’s talking about. Your friend comes and says, “Tell me about it.”

“Oh, it was fantastic,” you say. “The theater is brand new and the seats are so comfortable. You can lean back. There’s plenty of legroom. It hasn’t been around long enough for there to be a pervasive stickiness where people have spilled sodas and rubbed sticky hands. It all feels clean and new. It’s really wonderful.”

“Uh, huh,” your friend replies. “And …?”

You say, “Well the concession stand is amazing. When we went, it was packed. But the concession stand is so long and has extra registers. The wait in line was not bad. And, the concession stand is fully loaded. Every kind of candy, popcorn, everything – they have it all. The popcorn was out of this world.”

“But what about the movie?” You friend asks.

“The picture on the screen is spectacular. The quality of both picture and sound is breathtaking.” Now, you’re getting excited as you talk. “Yes,” you continue, “It’s a great movie experience. Plus, before the film, they showed 7 previews of upcoming attractions and the previews were really cool.”

Now, you’ve talked all about the evening. You’ve shared your experience with zeal. You’ve given substance and detail. You’d go again right now. Why is your friend so frustrated? You’ve never mentioned the actual movie!

In John 13 and 14, the disciples are with Jesus at the last Supper. Judas Iscariot has already gone out. They don’t know why Judas left, but they can tell from his tone and the expression on his face that Jesus is completely serious about what he’s saying. It’s a moment they know they need to pay close attention, and they do. Furthermore, they ask questions.

My guess is many questions were asked in this dialogue, and that shows the environment Jesus created. He wanted his disciples to be thinking men and women. Often they were wrong in their assumptions, but he invited them to keep thinking, keeping asking, keep growing. Four of the inquiries are recorded.

Jesus tells them, “I am only with you a little longer. … Where I am going you cannot go” (13:33). Of course Simon Peter leads off. “Lord, where are you going?” In an answer Dr. Seuss would appreciate, Jesus responds, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow me afterward.” With ignorance and bombast, Peter dismisses what Jesus said and pledges to lay down his life. Jesus then predicts Peter’s denial.

Jesus continues to teach them with words of reassurance. “In my Father’s house are many rooms … I go and prepare a place for you” (14:2-3). This time, Thomas takes up the questioning, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” We’re going to come back to the answer Jesus gives Thomas.

After Jesus responds to him, it is Philip’s turn. “Lord, show us the Father.” Jesus says, “Have I been with you all this time Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

As I said, I think John gives us just some of what said and many other questions were asked. But, the final recorded question of the disciples in this dialogue comes from Judas (the other Judas, not Judas Iscariot). “Lord, how is it that you reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus says to Judas, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (14:23).

The disciples didn’t want to know about peripherals – the box office, the theater lights, or the sound system. They wanted Jesus to tell them the main story – where is he going and how do they get there? Every answer he gives is not about a location, but rather with a person, Jesus himself. Peter will deny knowing Jesus. If Philip wants to see God, he should look to Jesus. The reason Judas gets to see Jesus whereas Jesus is not revealed to others outside the circle of disciples is Judas and the disciples loved him and listened to him. When we listen to Jesus and look to Him, we come into relationship with God.

The disciples were trying to wrap their minds around this, but the lesson wouldn’t sink in until after the resurrection and after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit. Today, it is 2000 years was Jesus was raised. We know that happened. The Holy Spirit has come in full force. For those reasons our understanding should be deep and mature.

So why when Christians talk about their faith do they so often mention their favorite song on K-Love or some other Christian station, or a C.S. Lewis novel, or the president’s faith, or what some celebrity said about God? Why can we talk about these a million other things, some very important others not so much, but we fail to focus on the main thing? Why do we get so tongue-tied when the conversation is about Jesus?

Here’s what Jesus said when Thomas asked, “How can we know the way to where you are going?” Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” We don’t need a road map. To get to Heaven, we don’t to fly into space and hang a left just past the Big Dipper. To walk in the Kingdom of God, we don’t have to find it. It is not a place in the sense that Franklin Street or Raleigh or the beach are places.

How can we know the way? Jesus is the way. Retired Oxford Professor John Ashton points out that John, the fourth evangelist, is not trying to fill the reader with knowledge. He wants to help the reader come to faith.[i] In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God. ‘Life’ or ‘Eternal Life’ are phrases in John that function in the same way. Jesus is talking about a complete transformation of the way humans relate to one another and to God. This transformation reaches its completion at the last judgment. We begin our participation in it, in the life, in the Kingdom, when we follow Jesus, and have His Spirit in our hearts. When we are in Christ, we are in the kingdom. He is the way.

John’s goal is revelation, not information. God is revealed to those who set their lives on Jesus. It truly is all about Him. “It” refers to our attitudes toward life; toward people; toward pain; toward money; toward our experiences and our history; toward our future. Everything in life is interpreted according to the teaching of Jesus; the way he modeled relationship, prayer, and faith; and his actions. We have to know Him as He presented in the New Testament; in the history of the church; in the voice of the church today; and in our own experience with Him through the Holy Spirit.

In Christianity Today magazine, Carolyn Arends writes, “I have never liked thinking about my own death. But I’ve considered it enough to know I hope I go down singing, or at least speaking or thinking, something about Jesus.”[ii]

A church member is in the car driving to work, thinking over and over about someone at work who has made him extremely angry. That person was mean, and unfair and dishonest. So, how does Jesus lead the church member, a Christian, to act toward this dirty, cheating person he’s going to run into at work again? The answer will very from day to day. One day, the believer may have to confront the other’s dirty deeds. Another day, the Christ-follower may have to turn the other cheek. And the next day it will be something else. But each day, each step of each day, is taken with Jesus in mind. Jesus determines our lives. He is the way, the truth, and the life.

The example of facing someone who is underhanded, has implications. Saying Jesus is the way has implications. So too does the second half of the statement Jesus made to Thomas. Thomas said, “How can we know the way to where you are going?” Jesus responded, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” And here’s the part I didn’t read initially. “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The heart of the matter – the movie itself – is Jesus. And there’s no way to be in the Kingdom and be in relationship with God except through Jesus. This statement has heavy implications, because it implies something rather definitive about people who do not walk the way of Jesus. They are cut off from God.

More on that in a moment, but first, notice the invitation that is obvious but not stated. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus; everyone who goes through Jesus gets to the Father. He said to the other Judas (not Iscariot) those who love him, keep his word. Obedience and love – when this is our approach and we acknowledge Jesus as Lord, he says that He and the Father make their home with us. All who come to Jesus are welcomed by God.

But what about those who don’t come to Jesus?

Do we just write them off as being lost? If we want to play this out all the way, do we say they are going to Hell when they die? They don’t believe in Jesus, they are not walking in Him, the way, they don’t believe in Him, the truth, and so they are not living the life. Is that the end of it?

We could say a simple “yes,” and go on for our Sunday lunch. That would be great if John’s Gospel were a reference book. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to Father except through him. If one does not go through him, one does not get to the Father. To be eternally cut-off from the Father is Hell. We’re done. Except, John is not a reference book. John is a story. A true story, but a story nonetheless. John is trying to give revelation, not information. It’s state clearly in John 20:31. This gospel was not written so we would know the facts. It was written so we would believe and have life, and not just any life, but life in the name of Jesus.

So when Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to Father except through him, what is being revealed?

God is being revealed in a man. Clearly from the fact that Jesus commissioned his followers and the fact that the stated purpose of the gospel is that it lead people to belief, we have a commission. We who have read and have been filled by the Spirit have a job to do. Our job is not to tell about how awesome our church is. Doing our job may include describing our congregation here, but at the heart, that’s not our job. Our church is here to help us do our job.

Our job is not to argue with others about the issues of the day like abortion or “just war” theories or alcohol consumption or a proper faith response to poverty or capital punishment. Those issues are important and a part of our job and a part of our response to Jesus might be to have an opinion on those issues and to express that opinion. But our job is not to politick along the lines of those issues on their own merit.

Furthermore, our job is not to determine who is in Heaven and who isn’t. I hope this is not unsatisfactory, but in none of the commissions, not in Matthew, not in Luke, not in Acts, not in John – in none are we called to identify who in the world around us is headed for Hell. We don’t make that decision. God does. Hell is real. God will decide what it is like, who goes there, and how long they stay. People make definitive statements about Heaven and Hell, all the time, and yet the same people fail to talk much about the heart of the matter.

It’s all about Jesus. Our job is to love our neighbors as we love ourselves and to love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. One of the best ways I can love someone is to introduce him to Jesus. And if Jesus is the way and I am walking in the way, then no matter what I am talking about, Jesus is on my mind.

We have some rabid UNC basketball fans in this church. A few years ago, Gerald Henderson of the hated Duke Blue Devils smashed the beloved Tyler Hansbro’s nose. The UNC fan’s emotions would boil over in seeing that. But, our job isn’t to react in that scenario as a raging UNC fanatics. Our job is to think ‘Jesus’ in that situation, and follow His lead in our words, in our hearts, in our facial expressions. It’s all about Jesus because he is the way, the truth, and the life.

People want to snatch John 14:6 out of context and use it as some kind of bludgeon. Whoever doesn’t have Jesus is going to Hell. No! This chapter doesn’t talk about Hell. Really, let God worry about who’s going to Hell. We are called to walk in the way and believe in the truth so we can live the life in the Kingdom.

In terms of John revealing God through Jesus and us responding to that revelation, William Willimon asks, what sort of lives does our faith produce?[iii] Instead of using John 14:6 as an angry declaration that all non-Christians are Hell-bound, try being formed by John 14:6. I really believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. So, how does that belief create me? Life is all about Jesus. Am I all about Jesus? And is Jesus in every little bit of my life? Every part? Every relationship? Every opinion? Every emotional reaction? Is Jesus driving me, creating who I am?

Is easy to say some formulaic prayer and then declare I belong to Jesus and then speak condemnation against everyone out there who hasn’t said that formula prayer, ‘the sinner’s prayer.’ I think every prayer is a sinner’s prayer.

It’s better to examine the questions the disciples asked – Peter, Thomas, Philip, Judas. And we add our questions. And we listen with our hearts to Jesus’ response. He invites us to look to Him. He says when we love Him, we obey Him. His command is that we love others, and bring them to Him. If this is how we live, in worship, in obedience, in evangelism, in holiness, in love – if this how we live, then our lives are all about Jesus.

AMEN

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[i] Ashton’s comments come from his chapter in Jesus in the Johanine Tradition, Robert Fortna, Tom Thatcher, editors (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2001), p.334.

[ii] Carolyn Arends, “Going Down Singing,” Christianity Today, April, 2011, p.56

[iii] Dr. Willimon, a Century editor at large, is minister to the university and professor of the practice of Christian ministry at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. This article appeared in the Christian Century, January 28, 1987, pps. s. 82-85. Copyright by the Christian Century Foundation; used by permission. Current articles and subscription information can be found at www.christiancentury.org. This article prepared for Religion Online by Ted & Winnie Brock.