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S. Easter 5.26 John 14:1-14

Jesus says: ‘I AM the way, the truth, and the life…’

If I had to pick one sentence to sum up the point of Xnity, the entire holy scriptures, it would be this one. Oh, and it is a present active Greek verb—not “said”, but Jesus says. This isn’t a history lesson or something he said once, long ago. He says it then. He says it now, to you through my mouth. He’s always already saying it (As Ps. 19 testifies: his voice sounds throughout the earth, to the end of the world) “I AM the way, the truth, and the life.”

I do believe if you believe this sentence, you have understood all mysteries and all wisdom and all knowledge (perhaps without understanding you understand ;-). I quoted Augustine last week that we believe in order to understand. But, when Augustine and I say “understand” we mean it quite literally—that you stand under the Truth—not over the Truth as a judge, but Truth stands over you—to judge, guard and guide you (not the other way around). It’s not that you have a rational comprehension of the truth so that you could write a compelling term paper on ‘truth’. Nah; you just stand under him and he rules over you…

And yes I said HIM, not “it”!

This is why so few people understand Truth. Because they think Truth is a thing—a concept, facts, figures, numbers, information, data to bend and mold as we see fit. But the Truth is not like that and ‘till you understand that, you can’t stand under HIM…

Rilke gets it (artists in general and poets in particular are far more attuned to understanding Truth than philosophers, scientists, historians, businessmen, managers or politicians in my experience ;-). In his poem ‘The Man Watching’, Rilke sees Truth as a storm that is coming…

“the storm swirls, a rearranger, swirls through the woods and through time, and everything is as if without age: the landscape, like a verse in the psalter, is weight and ardor and eternity.

‘How small that is, with which we wrestle, what wrestles with us, how immense; were we to let ourselves, the way things do, be conquered thus by the great storm,—we would become far– reaching and nameless.

‘What we triumph over is the Small, and the success itself makes us petty. The Eternal and Unexampled will not be bent by us. Think of the Angel who appeared

‘to the wrestlers of the Old Testament: when his opponent’s sinews in that contest stretch like steel, he feels them under his fingers as strings making deep melodies.

‘Whoever was overcome by this Angel (who so often declined the fight), he strides erect and justified and great out of that hard hand which, as if sculpting, nestled ‘round him. Winning does not tempt him. His growth is: to be the deeply defeated by ever greater things.”

This is the Way!

There is a little double entendre in the Greek here that sadly has to be… explained for you to get what Jesus is doing here. When Jesus says “I AM” the Greek is εγω ειμι the Hebrew Yah Weh, Yahweh (mistranslated by the King James as ‘Jehovah’) the Name God gave Moses when Moses asked his Name. God replies I AM WHO I AM and this is my Name for Judah for the ages: “I AM”.

So Jesus is not merely identifying himself as this or that. No! When he says I AM (ALL CAPS!) he is REVEALING himself as Yahweh, the One True God who is Incarnate in Jesus the Son of Mary. When the soldiers come to arrest him a couple chapters later in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asks them “Whom do you seek?” And they say “Jesus of Nazareth” and Jesus says ALL CAPS! “I AM!” and the soldiers all shrink back and fall down like dead men.

English translations hide most of the εγω ειμι sayings of Jesus. Like when he’s walking on the water to the disciples in the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee (in a storm 😉 and they think he’s a Ghost and scream like little girls, Jesus does not say “take heart, it is I” as all the English translations have it, but he says I AM, no fear!

If they’d just put the ‘I am’ in ALL CAPS BOLD—I AM, it would help you see the claim to deity. Oh, and BTW, Jesus’ Name literally in Greek is I AM SAVES! An Israelite Greek speaker would see the double entendre in this sentence. Jesus is 1) showing himself as the Way, the Truth, and the Life and 2) revealing himself as Yahweh the I AM WHO I AM, the One True God. Learning Greek is very useful in actually understanding the holy scriptures!

So Jesus, the I AM WHO I AM, our Savior, says he’s the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Greek for ‘way’ is οδος literally Road (capital R, Road 😉 which means all who stand under him, who follow him, are travelers—strangers and sojourners on earth, sheep who have lost our way and are in need of rescue by the Shepherd who is the Truth because Truth is always Personal, a way of being and God is the one who simply is Being Himself and when we are on the Way with Him we are communing with BEING HIMSELF, and are becoming whatever he wants us to be…

And this is Life—life as it was meant to be, no death, no sickness, no lack of understanding. To see him as he is, to reflect his Image, to share his likeness is to live the Good Life of God himself as sons and daughters of the King.

But as we said last week the Door, the Gateway to this Good Adventure is that of the cross and dying of Jesus gifted to us in Baptism, and which we share daily. The storms of life, the daily defeats and dying is burning the sin off us, making us able to stand-under the unveiled glory of the I AM WHO I AM!

The Light of Heaven that gives eternal joy and life is the same light that burns the damned in hell. Only when we let ourselves be conquered thus by the Great Storm, see every defeat like Jacob’s lost wrestling match with Jesus at Peniel—as growth and gain—well then! This is the Way and we are following him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

As much as poets get him, pastors and apostles like Steven get Jesus best of all. Jesus sends us as under-shepherds, his sheepdogs to nip at your heels, and steer you to stand under him as we do. We wear collars, we pastors, because, like dogs, we have a Master… 😉

When you walk this Way, under-standing Jesus, following him as his under-shepherds do by idolizing him, wanting by all means to be like him our hero, worshiping him his Way by the old Liturgy, by the old creeds, you’ll have enemies as Steven did. But our defeats at their hands are all good, all gain, granting Peace, surpassing all understanding, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.