“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
It is Good Friday, a day of remembrance and observation. Are you tired? Feeling the weight of this somber day? Think back to the day of Jesus’ death on the cross. Did these words, which Jesus had spoken just a day earlier, ring in the ears of the disciples? In their confusion and grief, did they remember with a sense of bitter irony the moment when Jesus had said them so reassuringly to Thomas? “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus had so much to tell the disciples in the 24 hours before he gave up his life. He had washed their feet. He ate an evening meal with them, sharing a loaf and drinking the cup, asking them to continue these meals together, to remember and believe. He predicted that one of the inner-circle disciples would betray him and that another would disown him three times before morning. Then—just before he promised to give them the Holy Spirit as an eternal advocate and prayed for the disciples and all believers—he spoke these words: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
And then he was betrayed. Arrested. Disowned. Questioned. Disowned a second time, then a third. Accused. Found not guilty, and yet held captive because of a screaming crowd. Flogged. Mocked. Slapped. Handed over to be crucified. Burdened with the weight of his cross. Stripped naked. Forced to look on while soldiers gambled for his clothing, even while his mother and best friend grieved at his feet. Thirsty, insulted by common criminals, shrouded in darkness. Alone. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He endured it all. At last, “Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Do you know him? Will you follow? Do you love him?
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