The Way

By Cal Cook

Two simple words filled with potential! It could describe an actual path to follow, it could describe a process, it could describe a state of mind or means of thinking, reasoning, evaluating…it could mean so many things. Historians tell us the Early Church was known as ‘The Way’ before it became known as Christianity it was a sect within Judaism. A way of living, a way of thinking, a way of viewing the world through the eyes of Christ…and for believers it is not just a way, but THE way, the only way!

Last week I referenced John 14:6 where Jesus says of himself:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

In context that statement comes from a conversation with the Disciples about ‘the way’! Specifically Thomas voices his ignorance of what Jesus is talking about:

John 14:5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

In hindsight we read those words today and wonder was Thomas daft? Yet so many today still miss the point or refuse to accept it. Maybe if the way was revealed all at once we would recognize it…probably not. If we can’t understand it as it unfolds before our very eyes how could we understand it all in one massive explosion? For those who’ve caught a glimmer, the time allows us to think and reason and meditate on the entirety of Scripture. It allows us to spend time in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us what we are missing, what we are lacking, what we are longing for. It is in that longing that we find the way, the narrow, exclusive, only way to the Father. You know the passage!

Matthew 7:7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (NLT)

The way will be opened, the way will be found, the way will be received when we truly long for it. Not all at once but in stages, in waves of revelation and experiences of pain and suffering and joy…in life. How sad for those who seem to go through this life never catching on, never getting it, never figuring it out! So caught up in the here and now they never see tomorrow…or those so caught up in yesterday they never see today. Even those who are always looking beyond today are still missing the now…the way today!

God proclaimed through the Prophet Isaiah about the way being prepared…almost 1000 years after God had promised Abram:

Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

A thousand years of struggle, filled with slavery and war and yes times of prosperity as well. The promise has always had conditions, consequences of turning away. Isaiah prophesied of a total destruction and a restoration, all based on the condition of the hearts of the people. Almost a thousand years again after Isaiah the one prophesied did come; the way was prepared for Him and those whose hearts were willing received Him and the way…yet not all. It seemed too many that the promise God had made to Abram might finally come to fulfillment almost 2000 years after it had been made! Yet even though the way had come, not all of the peoples of the earth had received the blessing…most had not even heard.

So another destruction another thousand years of darkness, struggle, wars and persecution…and the message was spread, the way was shared with all who would hear and receive. Another thousand years of wars, divisions in those who followed the way. Many said the way is this way and others said no it is my way…and so here we stand. 2000 years later wandering and wondering which way is the way? All we have is scripture and tradition, our experiences and reason to guide us…yet it is enough for those who truly seek, who truly ask, who truly knock. The way is through Jesus, in faith, by grace so that no one can boast, our redeemer, our savior, and our friend…the way the truth and the life for those who believe. Do you know the way?