By Greg Jones
In the 14th Chapter of John, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” In case you’ve never read John before, or perhaps been to a funeral in which this is a popular passage, you may wonder, “The way to what?” “The truth about what?” “The life of what?”
Jesus says he is the way, the truth and the life … of God.
• Jesus is the way, the road, the path, the channel given by God to God. Jesus is not the “way to heaven” but the “way to the Father.” Our destiny is not to end up in a place, but to never end in a full life in God.
• Jesus is the truth of God. The truth in full. Not a partial, not a piece, not a portion … but the full truth of God poured out in a full human life. The Word made flesh.
• Jesus is the life of God. Not just a godly life. Not just a good life. But the Life of God. The life coursing through God’s being – the blood in his veins – the active principle, the verb of action and living, the essential name.
I believe these words from John 14 in concert with kenotic hymn of God’s self-emptying in Philipians 2 offer the theological lenses through which the passion of Christ is best seen. (Likewise, I believe the best way to understand John 14’s most familiar phrase is in light of the passion narratives and Philipians 2.)
In the passion, Jesus goes to the Cross where he will die. He could have quit. As a fully human person, Jesus could have run — like nearly everybody else who loved him. He could have denied his vocation, but instead he went to the cross. He went there to be pinioned and pierced, mocked and murdered; to be poured out as a libation for sin, and all to be, show and give the way, truth and life of God to us. To us who need that way, truth and life which is not our way, truth and life. To us who cannot save ourselves from our small ways, small truths and small lives.
The cup of sorrow that Jesus chose to drink makes it possible for us to drink from the sweet cup of salvation. The bitter cup of vinegar, iron and wood that Jesus drinks in his passion is the only way that God’s loving cup of grace may be poured out for us.
Yes, friends, the key to understanding the passion is to know that Jesus is the way, truth and life of God. And the way to understanding that Jesus is the way, truth and life of God is to know that as God’s Son he poured himself out, emptied himself, drained of all power and blood, and in this paschal mystery brings us all the hope that we have.
If you believe this, then rejoice! For God in God’s way, in God’s truth, and in God’s life has given everything for us, to save us from darkness, from shadow, and from our little ways, truths and lives which lead nowhere but the grave.
Doesn’t this sound like a good deal? A truly great free-of-charge kind of deal? It is. It is good, and it’s why we call this Good News the heart of our life together. Jesus poured it all out for us, and the passion story demonstrates how we can go and do likewise. The way to pour out the power of God is on a donkey – not a stallion or warhorse – but a humble donkey. The way to pour out the power of God is to live on trial before the world, in front of friends, skeptics and enemies. The way to pour out the power of God is in a true life consecrated and given to the ownership of God, so that God can pour grace through us. The way that leads to God is the way of emptying ourselves for neighbor in a God-thirsty world. The truth about God and the life of God is like unto it.
Martin Bucer, the great reformer, said that the primary focus of the Christian should not be his own salvation, but the needs of his neighbor. That’s exactly what the self-emptying way, truth and life of God in Christ is all about.
Let us pour out everything we have friends, because the grace of god cannot run out.
The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones (‘Greg’) is rector of St. Michael’s in Raleigh, N.C. and the bass player in indie-rock band The Balsa Gliders – whose fourth studio release is available on iTunes. He blogs at Anglican Centrist.