1 Peter 2:2-10 [1]

John 14:1-14 [2]

We live in a world where these are the sounds that we hear. There may be no minarets in Minneapolis sounding a call to prayer five times a day. And, few of us pass by a Hindu or Buddhist temples on our way to work. But our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our schools, all these different communities are becoming very diverse places. For example, in the Minneapolis Public Schools District, where many Bethlehem children attend school, there are 90 different languages that are spoken in the homes of their classmates. Ninety unique languages. This is truly remarkable.

Increasingly, the people with whom we work, live and play are of a different culture and do not hold the same beliefs as we do. This diversity is wonderful and rich, we develop relationships with one another and nurture friendships. Then we come to church and we hear today’s reading from the Gospel of John and we aren’t quite sure what to do. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” That sounds all right, I can handle that. I like those words of hope and promise, but then we hear the second part of the verse, “No one comes to the Father except through me.”

These are challenging words for us as followers of Christ, surrounded by friends, neighbors and coworkers who are of a different faith. They are challenging words, and they have long been used to draw dividing lines between who is in and who is out, between those bound for heaven and those bound for hell. So it is little wonder that people outside the church, those who are de-churched or un-churched or skeptical of “organized religion” view Christianity as exclusive. It is little wonder that people outside the church may think to themselves, the Christian God plays favorites, only some are in the rest are out, why would I want anything to do with that? And it is little wonder that people inside the church sometimes think the same thing.

So what’s to be done? What do we do? How can we faithfully and authentically respond to the claim that Christianity is exclusive? What answer can we offer when it seems our own scripture asserts that Jesus is the only way to God and all others are out?

It seems to me that our understanding of way is too narrow. Yes, you say that is precisely the problem, Christianity seems too exclusive. And in this instance, that is the case because of how we understand Jesus’ use of the phrase, “the way.” When we hear the word way, we hear path, direction, road, traveling. We’re on a trek and the trek we are on is to heaven, and this path is brought to you today by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the letter Q.

Okay so that might be a little too Sesame Street, but I think we become a little too motion oriented in hearing this text. The way in John’s Gospel is not so much about the way to heaven or the way for us to get to God. Rather, in John’s gospel Jesus functions as the way in which God is revealed, made known to the world. God’s truth and God’s life is demonstrated in Jesus. Jesus makes available the very relationship that he has with God the Father. Jesus is the way, the means into that relationship. Jesus is how God is made known to you and to me and to the world.

Philip’s misunderstanding, one we make all the time too, illustrates this point precisely. Philip wants to see the goods. Like Thomas trying to figure out what path to head off on, Philip is hoping to see proof of what Jesus promises. Both miss what is standing right in front of them. Both miss seeing the Father, God’s truth and God’s life in the face of Jesus their teacher and friend. Jesus says, “Philip this is it. God is at work in me, because of the relationship the Father and I have. And I offer that to you. Believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, we are in relationship and through me all of it is yours.”

That is all very well and good, but what about exclusivity? What about all of the “thes” in this text. Jesus is THE way, THE truth and THE life. What about all of that? Fair point. But like all the words in the Bible these do not happen in isolation. These words are set in a context in which what happens next matters, and we are what happens next. Jesus’ works, are continued in the flesh of each of us. Jesus is the means by which God’s works are made known to you and to me. Jesus relationship with God was not a “private, mystical union, in which their love for one another was only self-beneficial…”[1] [2] Quite the contrary, Jesus’ relationship with God was for the world. It follows then that our lives, our relationship with the creator of the world, made possible by the love of Jesus, is to be for the world. There is nothing exclusive about God’s love for it encompasses all people when we live fully into the relationship that we have been graciously invited into.

I don’t know if you were able to catch the words of the last piece of music that was played in the opening sequence, but it is a piece entitled “Our Father” by Alexander Gretchaninoff. It was just a few short measures of this gorgeous piece but the words we heard were, “Holy Holy Holy Lord of Sabbaoth, Heaven and earth are full of your glory.” This is the life, the way as it were, which Jesus makes available to us, a life where all of the heavens and the earth declare the glory of God, and a life where we see God at work, where we see Jesus, in our neighbors, in our friends, in our coworkers.

It is not about who is in and who is out. Christ’s way, Christ’s life was all about pouring out God’s love for the whole world. It is this way that we have been called to share. It is as bearers of that love of God that we live in this world, and transform it with a love that is made to share. Amen.