John 14:4, 6 NLT
[4] “And you know the way to where I am going.”…
[6] Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

It was the eve of Jesus’ death. After years of close association with Him, hearing, listening, following…yes, even clashing with Him, the disciples must have had some idea of what Jesus was about, except…they were obsessed with the idea that the Messiah’s mission was about freeing them from Rome’s stranglehold on their land and their lives.

They were convinced that He was the Messiah; they had seen His power, but…they were not sure how He was going to set about overthrowing Rome’s might against their insignificant resistence.
Perhaps God the Father would send an army of angels, led by Jesus, to drive the Romans out of their land or, perhaps, even better, He would do to the Romans what He did to the Egyptians… drown them in the sea.

Jesus’ talk of His death had fallen on deaf ears. Death at the hands of Roman soldiers, initiated by their own Jewish priesthood, just didn’t fit their expectation.

It was Passover. Deliverance was on their minds. Hopes ran high of a showdown with Rome. Jerusalem was filled with loyal Jews from all over the Roman Empire, who were there to celebrate an apex event in Israel’s history that would hopefully be repeated again.

These Jews had just hailed Jesus as the Son of David despite the displeasure of the Jewish leaders who had no hope in Him and no aspiration for a showdown with Rome. In fact, the Jewish leaders were sellouts to Rome. To them, Jesus was an intruder who constantly picked on them for their hypocrisy. He was as annoying as a pesky fly, to be swatted out of existence.

The disciples were uneasy. Shut away in an upper room, they waited to hear the Master’s plan, perhaps His strategy for conquest. How shocked they must have been to hear Him say, “I’m going away, but trust me, I’m coming back to fetch you.”

Why would He be going away at this crucial moment and where was He going? Who would lead the campaign against Rome? Not one of them, not even the motormouth Peter, was capable of taking on the mammoth task of leading a riff-raff army against the most powerful force in the world.

Thomas, the skeptical one, was bold enough to question Him. “At this most important time, when our hopes of deliverance are high, where might you be going, Jesus?” Perhaps Thomas thought that they could all get out of there with Him. If He was going to escape this terrible situation, so could they.

The disciples were taken aback by His answer. As always, despite their denial, they were forced to shift their minds from the current situation to the realm of the Father, from which and towards which Jesus has lived His life from His earliest days.

Jesus gently rebuked Thomas and, through him, the disciples. Despite their close association with Him for all these years, they still didn’t get it! Didn’t they ever recognise that, like the twelve-year-old of many years ago, He was still about the Father? Hadn’t He tried, through His teaching and miracles, to show them that He and His Father were about something much greater than Roman oppression?

With great solemnity, Jesus spoke these immortal words. “I AM THE WAY…”

“Once and for all, my beloved friends, get this…I’m going home to the Father and I’m the only way anyone else will ever get to Him.”

Everything in this life is not about escaping from any kind of oppression or unjust treatment one person or group inflicts on another. This life, with all its ups and downs, is about freedom from a master far more cruel and destructive than the Romans… the sin nature in us that has us in its grip and, in partnership with the devil himself, will surely drag us into eternal death if we never overcome its power.

Romans 8:13 NIV
[13] “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die…”

Rome’s power was nothing compared with the power of sin and death.

Thomas’ question, asked in ignorance, led Jesus to make a statement that that towers over every other usurper who dares to challenge Him. Despite every delusional claim fashioned to lure people away from faith in Jesus and the real life He can give those who believe in Him, He said, “I am the WAY.”

Jesus was then, and is now, the only one who embodies a life lived in perfect union, submission, and obedience to the Father. The Holy Spirit was His partner and power. The only way for humans ever to stand before the Father, forgiven, righteous, and holy, is to follow Him.

Why must we follow Jesus and not another religious leader who offers some sort of reward at the end of this life? Jesus is also the TRUTH. We can only reach the Father if we go to Him by way of the truth. Who Jesus is, what He says, and what He does is the truth. He proved it by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. If He were a liar, He would still be in the grave like every other religious liar who died and stayed dead!

By following His Way, by living by His Truth, we can experience Life, both now and forever. How can we describe this real life? Perhaps a simple definition of LIFE is…living every day in the perfect love of God without fear.

Is this possible? Yes, it is, simply because Jesus’ way has obliterated every obstacle in the path to the Father. Sin? Gone! Condemnation? Gone! Punishment? Gone! Separation? Gone! Fear? Gone!

Hebrews 10:19-22 NIV
[19] “Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, [20] by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, [21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Can any delusional religious person or system offer and make good on anything better than Jesus? He embodies everything our hearts crave for in this life and the next.

John 14:27 NLT
[27] “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

Best of all, His legacy of furious peace in our hearts when we believe is the guarantee that everything He claimed to be and do is true. Peace is the seal that our faith is faith not delusion. Jesus is the way to the Father, the truth by which to get to Him, and the life that surpasses every other life we could live both now and for all eternity.