God’s Word says there are two paths in life: the way of life and the way of death. The way of life is only traveled by faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior. To believe in any other way besides Jesus is to travel the wrong way in life. Jesus is very clear as he says: I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He is very clear: Jesus is the one and only way to the Father.
In contrast the world we live in today says there are many paths you can take in life. Our society is full of mixed messages that say that you can have it all, you can pursue all kinds of directions in life whether they agree with God’s Word or not. Society says find what is true for you, look out for yourself and you will be fine. There is no longer a respect of the importance of following God’s designs and directions for how to live life.
You might even say that in a world where everything goes, that the world has lost its way. Brothers and sisters in Christ, how do you live your life well in a world that has lost its way? How can you stay on track and not be led astray by how so many around you are living their lives? In our gospel lesson today Jesus teaches us that we know more than we realize about going the right way.
In the setting of John chapter 14, after Jesus speaks to the disciples about the place that he will soon go to prepare for them, he promises that when he goes he will come again to take them to himself. He tells them “you know the way to where I am going.”
The disciples do not understand, they take the phrase “you know the way” literally as if it is road to follow a river to cross and a mountain to climb. The disciples are confused about what Jesus means- yet Jesus still is speaking accurately when he says they know the way to where he is going. They know the way even though they don’t know that they know the way.
They know the way because they know Jesus. Jesus has taught them about following him and abiding in him. He has taught them that they are the sheep and he is the Shepherd. He has taught them that a servant is not greater than his master, if they persecute me they will persecute you. The disciples have been shown the way that Jesus lays down.
Jesus’ way to the Father is the way of God’s will, which is the way of grace. It is not a way marked by the efforts of the human will and the way of works. We know what our sinful nature likes to pursue: we are eager to hear about what works we can do in order to be earning a place with the Father. We like to think that we can earn our way to the Father by being pretty good in our hearts.
If you start to think that God has been blessing you for most of your life because you have been serving in the church in different ways for as long as you can remember, then you are relating the blessing you have from God through your actions and your commitments.
But you probably don’t want to be judged based on your participation in the church, because along with those years of service you would also be judged for those times you envied another person serving at church for their apparent greater success, and all of the times you were distracted in worship, or prideful in exercising offices of leadership in the church- times when you are doing things just as much for your own glory as for God’s glory.
If you were judged by your actions, you may feel good about yourself for a while as you remember high points of service, but once all of the votes start to come pouring in from the past, the pretty good person eventually loses by a landslide as the completely sinful person, evil in thought word and deed.
To understand this way of salvation we need to understand God the Father’s will. The will of the Father is that all be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Jesus came to do the Father’s will, not his own. The Father’s will is the way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ- the only way of redemption.
Luther spoke about God’s will. “If we want to feel assured of reaching heaven, we must have a sure way and road to travel, for their can be no more than one right way and road. And such a way is indicated only in God’s Word. Christ the Lord Himself is the only Way and the right road on which our heart can and must rely and depend. Therefore Christ concludes: “He who would be safe and not meet eternal loss and ruin, let him give ear to Me alone.”, and let me impress these words deeply “I am the way.”
Jesus’ way to the Father is the way of humility, the way of suffering on the cross, not the way of pride that thinks it doesn’t need Jesus’ cross.
Our way is the way of pride. It is any way that we follow when we put ourselves forward and lose sight of Jesus. The same thinking that says we’re good enough to earn our way to heaven is the way of pride, keeping some of the credit for my salvation for myself, denying God the credit.
This is the way of the world, where God’s Word is hated and despised because it stands as a stumbling block against all who would put their trust in themselves or put their trust in the innovations of man.
Luther commented how even Christians seeking to follow Jesus can twist things in a way where trust is in man.
“Yet the world will try and rely on any method or any work suggested to it. But there is one thing it cannot do, namely remain on this one safe way with firm and steadfast faith. And though it hears and is told that Christ is the way, it adulterates this message and seeks bypaths and other ways. It does not let Him have the exclusive honor, and it usurps part of this for itself, as though it could contribute something and find the way to heaven by itself.”
The way of humility in putting our trust in Jesus is the way where death to our sinful self gives life. Jesus led the way for us, so that we could see that dying to ourselves is to have life in Christ.
The disciples were troubled at Jesus going the way of death. They wanted a powerful Jesus, not a dying one. They wanted power and glory of the Father rather than suffering and death for themselves.
We often want our faith to bring us admiration and success rather than rejection and hurt. We strive to figure out how to carve out a place in the world where we can make a name for ourselves and find a way to advance ourselves. But Jesus tells us that he who seeks to save his life will lose it.
When we say the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed we do not recite about how Jesus turned water in to wine, fed the five thousand, stilled the storm, or even that he rose Lazarus from the dead. The miracles Jesus performed are good and important, but it is the way he traveled toward his death on the cross that saved us, that is the most important thing that we recite in the Creeds.
Jesus went the way of the cross to bring life out of death. Jesus’ showing his glory and power was not the means to save us, but instead his suffering, death and resurrection.
By his holy suffering and death we have life and all its benefits. Here and now the Father is providing for all of our needs. We are given the comfort of Christ’s presence when we suffer. Jesus has prepared the mansion that one day awaits us when he comes back.
Christ is the only way to heaven. His life, death, and resurrection have won salvation for sinners. Believing this truth brings life for eternity. Believing this truth we have the way to live- even in a world that has lost its way.