On Coming to
the Father
May 4, 2020
Scripture: John 14:6
One of the many odd
things about the Bible is that in one verse you can have something that’s
wonderful and true right next to something that sounds offensive and false. So
it is with John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.” At least for us Christians Jesus is indeed the
way, the truth, and the life. He’s not those things because he said he was. In
all probability he never said any such thing. What we have in John 14:6 Is not an
actual statement by the historical person Jesus of Nazareth. We have rather a
faith confession by an early Christian community of who Jesus was for them.
This text invites us in to consider whether he is those things for us too.
After all, as many have said, if Jesus actually talked in life the way he talks
in John everyone would just have thought him nuts. For me and for most
Christians “I am the way, the truth, and the life” is a profound truth about who
Jesus is. In him we do indeed find the way, the truth, and the life.
But then there’s the
second part of John 14:6: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” There
are a couple of things about that statement that I really struggle with. One is
the way it calls God Father. Yes. I know. That’s what most Christians call God.
I get it, but most Christians calling God only Father doesn’t make it right to
call God only Father. The term is sexist. It is patriarchal. Why not just say “No
one comes to God except through me”? Or why not “No one comes to the Mother except
through me”? I really do wish we could change the way the Gospel of John always
calls God the Father; but we can’t, so let’s move on.
It’s the other part of
the second sentence of John 14:6 that I mostly want to talk about here. John
14:6 says: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” That statement used
to sound horribly of Christian exclusivism to me. I suspect that most
Christians still hear it as Christian exclusivism, which is most unfortunate. I
won’t go into a deep analysis here of what’s wrong with Christian exclusivism.[1]
I’ll just say that is isn’t possible to live in the world today with an open
mind and not see that enormous numbers of people find a meaningful, life-enhancing
relationship with God in faith traditions other than Christianity. If I didn’t
have a way of understanding “No one comes to the Father except through me” that
isn’t Christian exclusivist I’d want to chuck it out of the Bible along with
all the other passages in John that really are Christian exclusivist.
Fortunately, I do have a
way of understanding John 14:6 that isn’t Christian exclusivist. I learned it
not from a Christian but from a Hindu man who taught a world religions class I
took in seminary. One day in class he told this story: A Christian missionary
once read John 14:6 to a Hindu sage. He asked the man he was talking to what he
thought of it. The Hindu wise man answered: “O yes. That is true. I believe it
absolutely.” The Christian missionary was nonplussed. Surely he’d expected the
Hindu man to launch into some vehement tirade against Christianity and the
spiritual arrogance of so many Christian who believe that their way is indeed
the only way to God. That, however, is not what the Hindu man had did. He
embraced the words of John 14:6 wholeheartedly. Yet he wasn’t a Christian, and
he had no intention of becoming one. The Hindu man could see that his answer
puzzled the Christian with whom he was talking, so he offered this explanation.
“To understand this verse,” he said, “we must ask: Just what is the way that
Jesus is? It is the way of love, compassion, forgiveness, and peace. And yes,
indeed that truly is the way to God.” I wonder how the Christian missionary
reacted to the explanation, but my teacher didn’t tell us.
I don’t know if this
explanation of John 14:6 opened anything up for the missionary, but it sure
opened up a new way of understanding the verse for me. I used to find this
verse offensive because I heard it saying that one can be saved only by
believing in Jesus Christ. It certainly is unwarranted Christian spiritual
arrogance to understand one’s Christian faith that way. Now I hear John 14:6
very differently. I believe that the Hindu man in this story understood Jesus
far better than the Christian missionary did. Jesus’ way is indeed the way of
love, compassion, forgiveness, and peace. When we truly understand Jesus we
understand that believing in him is not what he wants from us, the Gospel of
John to the contrary notwithstanding. Jesus wants us to live lives in imitation
of him, lives of love, compassion, forgiveness, and peace. That way truly is
the way to God, and it doesn’t matter in which faith tradition you discover
that way. It doesn’t even matter if you find it outside of all faith traditions
as a secular humanist. What matters is that you discover it and that you live
it.
We live in very polarized
and difficult times. The different political sides among us would rather yell
at and condemn each other than acknowledge the differences between them and
work in good faith for the common welfare. Many people around the world today
are stressed and frightened by the coronavirus pandemic and the difficult
measures we all must take in an effort to stop the virus’ spread. We humans are
always good at getting angry at other humans, but in these trying days it’s
perhaps easier for us to do that than normal. That it is easier than normal
makes it more important than ever that we remember the way that Jesus is. It is
more important than ever that we love and forgive our fellow human beings. It
is more important than ever that we have compassion for all who suffer today.
It is more important than ever that we find inner peace and bring that peace to
God’s hurting world. That is the way Jesus is. May he help us to be that way
too.
[1]
For a more in depth discussion of Christian exclusivism together with a
discussion of John’s related anti-Judaism see Sorenson, Thomas Calnan, Liberating
the Bible, A Pastor’s Guided Tour for Seeking Christians, Revised Edition,
Volume Three, The New Testament, Coffee Press, Briarwood, NY, 2019, pp. 170-179.
No comments:
Post a Comment