Speaker 1: Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad to have you here. We hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Head to commons.church for more information. What do we mean by glory?
And what do we mean when we say that creation glorifies God? What are we even talking about when we call the back half of John the book of glory? Well, Bobbie went straight to the source on this one. She pulled out a quote from Catholic theologian, Hans Urs von Balthazar. One of the more important theologians of the 20th century, and certainly, in my opinion, I would say the theologian with the best name.
I mean, there is no way that guy's parents did not have big plans in mind for him when they named him Hans Urs von Balthazar. Come on. Balthazar actually wrote a 7 volume series all on the glory of the Lord, which he called theological aesthetics. And that's important because as Bobby pointed out, von Balthazar saw God's glory expressed in goodness, and kindness, and ultimately beauty. In fact, von Balthazar used the passage that we're going to look at today as the keystone for all of his writings.
Jesus says in John 14, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. And for von Balthasar, it is the life of Jesus that shows us both the beauty and the glory of God. As Bobby said last week, God does not need or even want hype men and women. That's not God's glory. God wants us to live well in the way of Jesus.
That is God's glory. So we're in the season of Lent. We are making our way toward Easter together. We are focusing on the words and the teachings of Jesus, and we are trusting that the glory of God is uncovered as we watch Jesus move toward the cross. So let's pray, and then we will continue our journey through the book of glory.
God of all glory, who does not grasp at empty praise, who does not need our empty noise, might we truly come to see your glory through our journey toward Easter again this year. Glory expressed not in religious ecstasy or loud song, not even in our piety or observance, but only in the beauty of the way that you have laid before us. The Christ who gives himself away. Who walks the path of divine love and who invites us humbly and in our frailty to follow after him. Knowing that God's glory is not about our ability to walk that path, But simply in the fact that a way has been made available to us.
That goodness exists in this world. And that kindness is real and that beauty will heal the world. May our journey toward resurrection implicate us in all of these convictions and may our lives then bring glory to you. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray. Amen.
Today, we move into John 14, And we're going to find ourselves grappling with one of Jesus' most iconic phrases. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. And I'll acknowledge right from the top here that if you have been around church for a long time, it's possible there have been times this passage has been used in unhelpful ways. We will get to all of that today, But I will also say from the get go that for my money, when understood properly, I think this is one of the most beautiful invitations that Christ offers us anywhere in the gospels, and I love this passage.
But today, we're going to need to talk about discouragement and resting places, definite articles, and divine titles. But let's start by reading our passage for the morning. Starting in John 14 verse 1, and this is what we read. Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
My father's house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, then I will come back and take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place I am going. But Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going.
So how can we know the way? But Jesus answered him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my father as well. And from now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Now, this whole chapter is structured as a bit of a Q and A with JC. Thomas gets his moment at the mic this morning. Philip and Judas, they will each get a follow-up question next week. We'll look at that. But before we get to the big question and Jesus' answer, we need to go back and look at how Jesus actually begins this section because it's important for our context.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. That's how Jesus starts. And the reason for this is because he has just ended chapter 13 talking about how he's going to die. That's what Bobby led us through last Sunday. And so his friends are understandably confused and a little bit scared by what they're hearing.
Now remember, Jesus has kind of been hinting at this all throughout the gospels, But you really start to get a sense here that things are imminent in a way that the disciples are maybe, finally, for the first time, picking up on. And that has them a little bit freaked out. So Jesus basically says to them, listen. You gotta trust me on this one. I know you believe in God.
Now trust me too. And the word here is believe, but in Greek it's. And while that is often translated believe in English, I really do think the way that I've paraphrased it here is better. Because pisteuo is not primarily about what you think to be true. It's about what, or actually probably better, who you trust yourself to.
Faith in the New Testament is actually a relational term, not an ideological one. So you can actually believe whatever you want about God, but that is only tangently related to whether you actually have faith in God the way the new testament talks about it. Now, if you believe bad things about God, you're probably not going to trust yourself to that God very far. So beliefs and ideas and even theology matter a lot, but they are not the primary focus of the new testament. What the writer of John is really interested in is that you come to trust Jesus as the way that you will walk throughout your life.
And that is what Jesus is saying here. Guys, you've come to think one thing about me. But, it's all not going to unfold the way that you're expecting. So, do you, will you still trust me? Except Jesus isn't done here.
Because next, he says this, My father's house has many rooms. And if that wasn't true, why would I go and prepare one for you? So here's what we got so far. I know you're upset, but you need to trust me because I am going away, but I promise it will turn out for your good. Besides, you already know the way home.
And this of course is we where we get Thomas famous question, well, what is the way? And Jesus' answer, I am. But first, let's look at this image that Jesus offers his friends first. The n I v says, my father's house has many rooms. And this is a really interesting phrase, at least partly because there are actually a number of different ways we can think about this.
First of all, house is the word oikia, which is probably more home than house, if that makes sense. Oikia is about a home, or a dwelling, even a family, or a household more than it's about a building. So this is not a house with 4 walls and 2 bedrooms and 1 and a half bath. This is wherever you live. And I think we kind of get it.
We understand that this is talking about heaven, whatever that is. But that leads to the really interesting part here because this home has many rooms and that is the word Mownai can also mean a stage of life. Monai can also mean a stage of life. The the Greeks would use monai to talk about your stages of development as a human being. And because of this, there were early Christian writers who took this passage to mean less that there are many rooms in God's house, like it's a big hostel, and instead that there are many stages in the life of God, and Christ is the one who prepares them all for us.
There was even an ancient Christian interpretation that imagined these Minai as, quote, places of rest along the way in the soul's journey toward God. Still, as fascinating as I do find all of that. I do think probably simplest reading is the best one here. Heaven has a room for everyone. Remember, Jesus says, I am going to prepare a place for you, but God's home already has all the rooms that it needs.
So when you have guests, you hopefully prepare a room for them. But inevitably your house gets a little full. No shame there. Our house has less than a 1000 square foot total, so things get pretty tight quickly when we have friends over. Heaven is nothing like that.
There is always room for whoever shows up. By the way, I'm pretty sure I've shown you this photo before, but this is my bed as I often find it at night in a very small house. That little section that I've circled there in pink, that's where I'm supposed to sleep. Beside the kid, behind the dog, 6 feet of me crunched up in the corner. And that was we even had a second child in our home.
Although to be fair here, our son is well into his own room now, and Rachel has been sleeping in our daughter's room as we transitioned her to a big girl bed. And so Cedar and I, man, we've been spreading out all over the place, luxuriating in that queen mattress. I'm not sure I can go back to my soft slice of the mattress. I'm just kidding. Rachel, I miss you.
Come back. Still, domestic gripes aside, I actually do think this is part of Jesus' point here. The place where we are heading and the space that we are all longing for already has a room for us. And Jesus is the host who prepares it to welcome us home. But, of course, that does lead us into our question.
Jesus says, there's always room and you know the way to get there. And Thomas says, actually, no, we don't. And this is where we get one of Jesus most iconic phrases in verse 6. He says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.
Now again, for me, this is one of the most compelling statements that Jesus makes anywhere in the gospels, but it is also one that unfortunately I think has sometimes been misunderstood in unhelpful ways. And what I mean by that is this, right on the heels of Jesus talking about just how expansive the kingdom of God is, this verse will sometimes get used to try to clamp everything back down into a very tight, very exclusionary framework. So not only is there not room for everyone, there is no room for those who do not understand the God the way that we do. So let's talk about this. Because in context, I think this is strangely both more expansive and maybe also more exclusive than we sometimes imagine it to be.
Let's talk about the flow of the passage here. Jesus says, I have to go away, but I will prepare for you. And besides, you already know the way to get there. Thomas replies, well, actually, Jesus, we don't know where you're going, and we have no idea about the way. And Jesus responds, the way is me.
There is no other, and there never has been. And that's a weird answer, right? But there are a couple of problems here that make it hard for us to make sense of as a response to Thomas question. First, we don't think like Jewish people. And second, we don't read like Greek people.
So let's start with the reading. In English we have a definite article, the, and we have an indefinite article, a. And in English the definite article usually highlights a singular or a specific example whereas the indefinite article points to one of many. So the way, the truth, and the life means there is one way, and one truth, and one life as distinguished from all others. Easy enough to understand.
Except other languages don't always work the same way. So Latin, for example, does not even have a definite article. And this verse reads very differently in the Latin Vulgate that the church used for about a millennia. French, alternatively, has 3 definite articles, le, la, and lay depending on gender and number. And Greek, well, Greek Greek has 24 different definite articles.
Actually, more than that if you count the vocative, which is rarely used in Koine Greek, but does actually show up a few times in the New testament. And so Greek speakers figured, well, look, we've got all these definite articles, we might as well use them everywhere. So, if you want to talk about the cute little dog by the stained glass window, in Greek you would say, the cute, the little, the dog, by the stained, the glass, the window. And what this means is that you can't just automatically read all the weight of the definite article the way we use it in English back into Greek. It can mean that, but it's just a completely different grammar and structure to with different rules.
By the way, it actually works the other way in Greek as well. In the prologue of John, the same gospel, if you were to read that more literally, you would read, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with the God. And the word was God? Is it a God? Is it the God?
The second reference to God there does not have a definite article. And this is why some translations will actually render it, the Word was with God, and the Word was divine. Now I happen to agree that it should read the word was God, and that the weight of a definite article is there in the context of Greek. But it demonstrates that the presence or the absence of a definite article in Greek does not automatically convey specificity the way we assume it does in English. You have to do that work from the context.
Now before you start to assume that I'm bringing all this up in order to downplay the significance of Jesus as the way, let me assure you I am actually building a case for the opposite. Because now we have to talk about how Jewish people like the disciples, would have heard these words from Jesus. You see, when Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life, all sounds very impressive to us in English. But for the disciples, through Jewish ears, it would have been far more dramatic. Way and truth and life.
These are concepts in Judaism that had incredible significance for their view of the world and they were all deeply interconnected with each other. So, for example, Deuteronomy 5 says, you shall not turn to the left or to the right. You must follow exactly the way that the Lord your God has commanded. Later in Isaiah, the text says, whether you turn to the left or to the right, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way. Walk in it.
Sorry, Mandalorian. Jesus got there first. But this reverence for way goes a lot deeper than just that. Because in Isaiah 35, there's a passage that talks about a time when God will return to God's people. And it says, there will be a highway then, and it will be called the way of holiness, and it will be for those who walk in the way.
And if you pull that up, you'll actually see that a lot of translations like the NIV, way of holiness and those who walk in the way, all of that is capitalized. That's because translators think that this is a title, a proper title, that way is central to the kingdom of God, but it is a divine name for God as well. Truth is similar. Passages like Psalm 6, teach me your way, oh, Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Psalm 19 says, I have chosen the way of truth and set my heart on your laws.
But then you find passages like Isaiah 65 which says, he who is blessed in the earth will be blessed by the God of truth. And he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth. Again, that phrase God of truth is actually a name for God, Elohay, amen, or true God. By the way, that's what you say when you say amen at the end of a prayer. You're saying true.
I trust these words that I've spoken. That leads us to life. And sure enough, we get passages like proverbs 6, which says, whoever heeds truth is on the way to life. There's all 3. Or Psalm 16 where the poet writes, you make known to me the way of life.
These words are being used together in concert. But, again, you find references to the living God. Isaiah 37 talks about El Hai or God alive, literally God of life. Point is, all of these are well developed ideas in Hebrew literature. Each of them are divine names for God.
And Jesus knows exactly what he's doing when he applies them to himself here. He's saying to his friends that our shared concept of way that leads us into truth and then on to life all of that is now standing in front of you embodied in me right now. And this is where our discussion of the definite article comes back because Jesus is not saying that he is the way, and the truth, and the life as if these are just functional descriptions of Jesus. And he is certainly not saying that he is a way and a truth and a life among all the other ones that are available to us. That's putting the emphasis in the wrong place.
Jesus is saying that he is way, truth, life with capital w, t, and l. See, the definite article here functions not in the way it does in English. Here it signals that Jesus is taking these divine names and applying them to himself. I am way. I am truth.
I am life. Jesus is not just a functional way to get to God. That doesn't even make sense in orthodox trinitarian thought. It subordinates Jesus as a means to God instead of God's self. Now Jesus is not the way to God, Jesus is the way of God.
Alive in human history before us. And do you see what I mean now when I say that I think this makes Jesus both more exclusive and more expansive all at the same time? It's not so much no one gets to God unless they go through me as if Jesus is some kind of jealous gatekeeper for God. No. It's more like no one who has ever found their way to God Thomas has ever made their way in any other way but me.
In all of the history of Israel and our people and God's people, in all of the tumult and change to come, there has only ever been one divine way. And I am with you right now Thomas. This is Jesus as the full revelation of God. Jesus as the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of God's being to quote Hebrews chapter 1. And that for me actually makes a lot more sense of Jesus' answer as a response to Thomas' question.
Remember, the disciples are on the same journey that we're on right now. They are confused and anxious because Jesus has opened up about his impending death. They are facing their mortality just as we do in lent. And so Jesus comforts them by saying, don't worry. If I'm leaving, it's only to prepare for you.
Everything that I do, even my death, it's about showing you, demonstrating to you the gracious heart of the God that is always for you. And Thomas hears this, but he's still worried, and he responds, I don't know, Jesus. And you without you here telling us what to do and where to go, I'm not sure we're gonna make it. How will we ever find our way back to God? And so with kindness and with tenderness, Jesus turns to his friend and he says, Thomas, it's not a test.
You don't have to find your way, that you never did. That's the point. Because way has come to you and truth has sought you out and life is simultaneously beating in your chest right now and also speaking truth, peace, grace to you in front of you in this moment. To quote the theologian Ian Malcolm from the movie, Jurassic Park, life finds a way. Because that's Jesus' message here.
Life, all of it comes from God. And life will search us out, and life itself will bring us back home. So that even when things look darkest and despair stares us down and even lent admires us in our own mortality, the truth of God's way is that Jesus will always bring us back to life. So as we continue together our furtive steps toward Easter this year, may you know that any way you have encountered the divine and any truth that you have experienced in your journey any life that you send is now coursing through your body, this is and it has always been the same Christ who is right now preparing a place with God for you. The same Christ that we trust to lead us back home again.
There is no other way, but Jesus. There never has been and that way is at work in 10,000 places through all of the human story in each of our lives right now, Inviting and drawing and welcoming you home this lenten season. Let's pray. God who becomes our way, who offers to us not only your love, but your example and your steps and your path to follow. Might we recognize that when our life ebbs away, and our truth is twisted and our way seems broken, that we can trust in the one who comes to search us out and find us, to bring us back home to the place that has been prepared for us.
God in our frailty and in our mortality, help us to walk the way well. Not because we believe that how well we do and where we place our steps will earn our place with you, but simply because we trust you to prepare for us, to welcome us, to invite us and to draw us back home. May your way be our way. And as we walk this path to Easter and into new life, and back out into your world with new possibility, may it all be done following the way of the Christ. In the strong name of the risen Christ we pray.
Amen.