Thursday, October 20, 2005
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
I AM THE WAY
The Way to life eternal is not some philosophy or theory or 10-step program. It is a person -- Jesus Christ, the everlasting LORD. And while the world says, "Many roads lead to God," Jesus says, "I AM THE WAY."
". . . There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men . . ." (1 Timothy 2:5-6).
Jesus is THE WAY by virtue of His CROSS . . . because of the substitutionary sacrifice He made there. The many other "ways" the world points to are by-ways and dead-ends.
Christ bridges the chasm, the deep gulf our sins have made between us and God. And as the LORD reached out His hand to Peter to save him as he was sinking beneath the waves on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus reaches out His hand to us to lead us over from death to life.
We hold on to Him. That's faith. Without Him, relying on anything else, anything in us, we're lost. That's fact.
Just a couple days before Jesus said "I AM the Way" He said, "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32).
And all of us need this gracious drawing, for none of us can make our own way to God. That's why Jesus does not say, "I am the Guide" or "I am the Best Example." As Luther comments, "The example of Christ is very precious, but it is too high for us, and we cannot follow it. I must have a firm and sure bridge which will carry me over."
You cannot cross a bridge without putting your whole weight on it. In the same way faith is putting your whole weight on Jesus Christ -- trusting ONLY in His life and death in your place, putting none of your confidence of acceptance with God, none of your hope of heaven in anything of your own doing or deserving.
