top of page
Search

Gene’s Daily Scriptural Postings

On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, He makes one of the least politically correct statements, and it is a claim that may have turned some people off of Christianity when discovering it. The gospel of John tells us that while promising His followers He will be preparing a place for them in Heaven before returning to bring them home, the conversation Jesus has with His disciples went like this: Jesus finishes one sentence by saying, “You know the way to where I am going.” (v. 4)

Then Thomas jumps in with a question: “Lord, we don’t even know where you are going! How can we know the way?” (v. 5)

Jesus then responds with His politically incorrect and culturally insensitive response: “I am the way, the truth, and the life! Without me, no one can go to the Father.” (v. 6)

On the surface, these two sentences run completely counter to Jesus’ character. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, He seemed to downplay His role and His significance in favor of pointing people back to God. Jesus didn’t want glory or fame; He wanted people to repent and return to the Father.

These two sentences, while technically pointing to the Father, place Jesus in the spotlight, and while Jesus had plenty of occasions to be the center of attention, very rarely is Jesus responsible for drawing attention onto Himself without pointing the glory to the Father.

So because these two statements seem un-Christ-like, does that mean we can safely ignore them?

In my own mind, it would be unwise to do so. In verse 10, Jesus describes how everything He says comes from the Father. This gives weight and context to Jesus’ earlier statements. If God told Jesus to say something that placed Him in the spotlight, it would be no different from empowering Jesus with the ability to miraculously heal a disabled person which would also place Him in the spotlight.

Because of this, we can trust the statement Jesus makes as a promise for us, however offensive it may sound to someone looking in with a critical attitude.

Also, it is worth challenging ourselves with the following thought: If God the Father directed Jesus to say that Jesus is the only way to Him, perhaps God the Father is the one responsible for making Jesus the only way to reach Him. If God the Father chose Jesus to be the only way to Him, then it would be complete foolishness for us to discount Jesus because it sounded like Jesus made an arrogant, exclusive statement about Himself. If God the Father is responsible for this, then rejecting Jesus is equal to rejecting God Himself, and rejecting God never leads to anywhere good long-term.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

Read this article on the web on it's official page: The Arrogant, Self-Centered, Offensive Promise: John 14:1-14

Comments

bottom of page