Without a doubt, the most formative story for Jews—including Jesus and his followers—was the Exodus. It told of God rescuing his people from slavery in Egypt with signs and wonders. The climax of the story found God's people trapped between the sea on the east and Pharaoh's army rushing toward them from the west. Believing the Lord had led them to their doom, the people cried out to Moses in anger. "It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians," they said, "than to die in the wilderness." But Moses said, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord" (Exodus 14:12-13). Moses stretched out his hand and the Lord separated the waters of the sea. The people escaped from Egypt on dry land. God had made a way where there was no way.
No doubt this story was on the minds of Jesus' disciples as they gathered in the upper room to celebrate the Passover—the meal to commemorate the exodus. But Jesus shifted the focus from the people departing Egypt generations earlier to his imminent departure back to the Father. The announcement worried the disciples, and Jesus comforted them with the assurance that "I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going" (John 14:3-4).
Jesus had already told them that he would be betrayed, rejected, and killed by the authorities in Jerusalem, but that he would rise again, and throughout John's gospel, he's connected his death to his glorification and his return to the Father. The disciples were slow to make this connection, and who could blame them? Death hardly seems glorious, and a tomb appears to be a dead end. But it was the Passover—the time to remember the power of God who makes a way where there is no way. Like the dry land through the sea, the cross and empty tomb would be Jesus' unexpected way back to the Father.
Speaking for all of the confused disciples, Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" In his response, Jesus makes an important shift. Rather than speaking of his way to the Father (the cross), Jesus announces the disciples' way to the Father. "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'" (John 14:6). D.A. Carson articulates the power and gravity of Jesus' simple statement, "I am the way." He writes:
"There is glory in this paradox, and much room for adoring meditation. Because Jesus's own way was the cross, he himself became the way for others. As the Lamb of God, he took away the sin of the world (John 1:29): as the Good Shepherd, he laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). the lamb dies, the world lives. The shepherd dies, the sheep live. Jesus is the gate by which men enter and find life (John 10:9); he is their way. The way of Jesus is the cross: the way of the disciples is Jesus."
At the Passover, God's people were used to praising him for making a way. He is the one who opened the gate to freedom, parted the sea to the promised land, and defeated the empire of death. But as Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples he added a whole new dimension to their understanding and provides an entirely new reason to praise the Lord. God, in the person of Jesus, not only makes a way, he is the way. Jesus is our escape from Egypt. Jesus is the dry land on which we walk safely through the sea. Jesus isn't merely like a new Moses, as many had thought, who's come to announce the salvation of the Lord, he is the salvation of the Lord. This is why it isn't enough to praise Jesus for what he did 2,000 years ago on the cross. The true Christian is the one who lives in communion with Christ today.
John 14:1-7 (NIV)
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 10:7-17 (NIV)
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
From John Henry Newman (1801 - 1890)
My dear Lord, though I am so very weak that I have not strength to ask you for suffering as a gift, at least I will beg from you grace to meet suffering well when you in your love and wisdom bring it on me. Let me bear pain, reproach, disappointment, slander, anxiety, suspense, as you want me to, O my Jesus, and as you by your own suffering have taught me, when it comes.
Amen.
