Isaiah 62:1-2 Psalm 115 1 Timothy 2:1-7 John 14:1-7 April 13, 2008

Community of Hope Easter 4 David Drum

Series: Jesus Said What?

Part 3: About world religions

I’m not trying to be melodramatic, but it’s not hard to imagine a day when a message like today’s could land me in jail. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father except through me.” If you were to take a public opinion poll and rank robbers, perjurers, murderers, adulterers, and religious fanatics, who do you think would come out on the bottom? I’m not sure, but I’m willing to wager that religious fanatics wouldn’t come out on top of that list. And many would define a religious fanatic as anyone who thinks his religion is the only right one.

What do you think Jesus meant when he said that nobody comes to the Father except through him? Well, here’s what the first audience thought he meant. Peter and John were with Jesus when he spoke those words the night before going to the cross. A couple of months later, after Jesus had been raised from the dead and already ascended into heaven, Peter and John preached to the very same leaders who had Jesus crucified, and this is what they said: “Salvation is found in no one else but Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” What did Peter and John’s teaching earn them? Jail. They were arrested for such a message. Eventually, they and the rest of Jesus’ disciples were killed for such a message.

Now, I don’t know how today’s message will go over with you. I’m not expecting any death threats! Many of you already believe it, and I’ll get to the challenge for you in a second. But I’m sure that some of you, even some who I’ve known for years, don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to salvation. I don’t know if I’ll make anyone mad this morning or not, but anger would be a more appropriate response than, “whatever.” If you go away thinking, “well, he can have his opinion, and I’ll have mine,” then I’ve failed. Miserably. If that happens, I’ve gotten in the way of what Jesus wants to say and somehow softened it. Jesus does not need me to be his campaign manager. So please, if you disagree, don’t treat the message lightly. Jesus saw this as a life and death matter. So did those who walked in his footsteps. This is not just deciding between Coke and Pepsi.

Now, as for you who already agree, your challenge will be to make sure that you know how to say what Jesus actually said and not just what you think he said. Jesus did not say he came only for the Christians. This is not about one religion being better than another. So, I hope I have everyone’s attention.

Was this an isolated statement that Jesus made, or a significant theme? Well, if you look into the implications of his words and actions, then this statement from John comes across more like a logical conclusion than something surprising. Jesus said that at the end of the age, he would sit on a throne and judge all humankind on the basis of how they treated him during this life. He said that he and the Father were one. He said that before Abraham was born, which was thousands of years earlier, he himself was alive and well. He used the divine name “I am” as his own, going one step further by finishing the sentence, saying in essence that he completes the picture of who God is. His words said that he understood himself to be God, and both friend and foe alike agreed – that’s what he was saying.

Talk is cheap, but Jesus’ actions backed up his words. The so-called “rules of nature” bowed at his feet. He calmed storms with a word, walked on water, told fish where to swim, and multiplied food a thousand times over. The lame walked, the blind had sight, the mute talked, and the deaf heard. He raised more than one person from the dead, not including himself.

So, both by word and deed, Jesus demonstrated divinity. “No one comes to the Father except through me,” was hardly out of character. Rather, it was kind of like God saying, “If you want to see me, here I am.”

When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” the context sheds a great deal of light on the tone with which he said them. This wasn’t an angry, (grimaced)“Look – nobody’s gettin’ to God except through me.” Just a few sentences earlier, he said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Don’t be worried; don’t be distraught, don’t be afraid.” And then the next thing he did was describe heaven, assuring his listeners that he was going ahead of them to get things ready for their arrival. “I’ve been to heaven,” Jesus says, “and I want you with me there.” Within a few hours he proceeded to do exactly as he said, preparing the way by giving his own life. Jesus died on the cross for every human being, past present, or future. He made a reservation, paid in full, for all of us, each of us, every one of us. The text from 1 Timothy couldn’t be clearer – God wants everyone to be saved, no exceptions. God isn’t looking for a way to keep people out. He gave everything to make a way for people to come in.

So these are not the words of an egomaniac. These are the words of a trailblazer, one who’s been there ahead of us, one who knows the path and is eager to point it out to all who follow. There’s nothing arrogant about knowing the right answer and wanting to share it. Nothing exclusive about knowing both the destination and the route to get there, and sharing that information with all who will listen.

I think two things have twisted what was intended to be an encouraging message, a hopeful message, a reassuring message, and turned it into something offensive. The first is the way we’ve often conveyed the message. Did you hear the word Christianity mentioned anywhere in any of these texts? I didn’t. This isn’t a proof passage showing, “Hey, we’re right, and everyone else is wrong.” In fact, this isn’t about religion at all. How many times have you heard someone complain, “Every religion teaches that theirs is the only right one”? I’ve heard it plenty. In fact, lots of Christians have become so uncomfortable with that viewpoint that they’ve tried to change what Jesus said. Jesus said, “Go make disciples of all nations,” and Christian leaders in Europe and the U.S. have blushed at the thought. I won’t mention the name of the group, but a well-known group of Christian churches in California recently held a worship service where they apologized for Christian evangelistic efforts toward Hindus and others.

Despite the prevailing viewpoints to the contrary, Jesus did not come to establish Christianity as one religion among many, nor even as the superior religion among many. When the things we normally associate with religion came up in Jesus’ teaching, he usually was opposed to them. Maybe I can summarize it this way: Religion is a human path to God. If Christianity is anything at all, it isn’t describing a human path to God. It’s describing God’s path to us, a path with real points in time where God entered human history. Christianity has more in common with history than religion.

If we could just remember that, it would change the way we talk about things. We aren’t saying to the world, “Look, we’ve got it figured out, and the rest of you don’t.” We’re saying, “Jesus is a man who you can look up in history books and find out where he lived and what he did. His life and the facts surrounding it are pretty hard to explain unless he also was God. God came to all of us in Jesus, and Jesus has blazed the trail to heaven. That trail is available to any and everyone.” We want to say with the psalmist from today, “Not to us, Oh Lord, but to you goes all the glory.” We have nothing to brag about as Christians, because the only thing we’ve done is accept the gift He made available to all. The approach of Christians is simply one hungry person telling another hungry person where to find bread, and there’s plenty for everyone.

Furthermore, I love the way CS Lewis put things. As Christians, we don’t have to believe that there’s no truth anyplace else. In fact, we would expect to find the opposite. Since God wants everyone to be saved, and since God created all of us to be in relationship with Him, we would expect that people everywhere would have certain concepts of God in common.

So, the emphasis in John 14:6 is the first part. The verse actually works better if you read it backwards. “There’s only one way to God, and I, Jesus, have come to show you, all of you, how to get there.” Nothing offensive about that.

I think the other reason this verse sounds offensive to so many is simply because of faulty logic, mushy thinking that fills the air these days. Another prominent Christian leader recently, who I’ll also keep nameless, was in the cover article of a magazine because his daughter had converted to Judaism and was studying to be a rabbi. The tone of the article was how wonderful this was, and the bishop’s quote was, “Both of us can be right.” Sorry, but that’s just mushy thinking. The primary difference between Judaism and Christianity is that Christians believe Jesus is the Messiah, the promised one, and Jews don’t. They can’t both be right.

Who won the NCAA basketball tournament a few weeks ago? A few will know that it was Kansas. What if I told you that Arizona won it? Well, as my chemistry teacher in high school used to say, “You can have your opinion, but you will be wrong.” I might wish that Arizona won it, but they didn’t. We can’t both be right.

Our mushy thinking causes some to argue that there aren’t right answers in math, just various perspectives. Leaders have often tried to eliminate scores in sports and athletics, not wanting anyone to feel like they scored less than someone else. Ask most kids what the score is, though, and they’ll tell you, even if the teachers and coaches don’t know. While I can at least understand the motivation behind those efforts, when it carries over to more important questions, it can be even more costly. If firefighters have cleared one path to safety and you try to argue that all paths are equal, you could cost some people their lives. When eternity is at stake, it’s even more serious.

Lots of people have great respect for Jesus. Most world religions end up saying nice things about Jesus. The problem is, he said he was God. He said that life in and through him was the only way to get to heaven. He said those things. He believed those things. Trying to argue that those were merely the thoughts of his followers, not his own, like many people try to argue, is like taking a bulldozer through the pages of history. Nice try, but it’s more likely that Arizona did win it all this year than that.

So, here’s what we have. God wants a relationship with everyone, no exceptions. He created heaven with everyone in mind, made a reservation for each of us, and paid the cost of that reservation with the blood of His only Son, Jesus. You could also say that God paid for a spot in heaven for each of us with His own life. Jesus came to announce the good news, news that sounded something like this: “The path back to a perfect relationship with God and each other has been completed. I’ve been there, and I can take you there.”

Now you tell me what sounds more arrogant – passing that message along by giving accurate directions to fellow travelers, or telling God where He took a wrong turn.

This is what Jesus said. You might wish he hadn’t, but frankly, he didn’t consult us beforehand. If you already believe it, make sure that when you share it with others, it doesn’t sound like something you’ve accomplished. We did nothing; He did it all, and He did it for everyone.

If you’re not so sure, or if it makes you mad to be told that there’s only one right answer to a pathway to heaven question, then make sure you keep wrestling with it until you get the question settled. Jesus was deadly serious about giving us life. “Whatever” or “to each his own” is hardly an appropriate response. Telling Jesus that he can have his opinion and we can have ours is condescension of the worst order.

Don’t ever forget what Jesus was really trying to tell us. God has created a heaven for us with beauty and peace and love and joy that no eye has ever seen nor ear heard. He has a spot reserved for each and every one of us, with a reservation for all eternity paid in full. He’s given us the directions for how to receive this breathtaking gift, as well as free invitations for all our family and friends. Jesus said, “I am the only way, the complete truth, and the total life, and I came that each of you might have life, and have it to the full.”