He Gets Us: Who Did Jesus Say He Was? | Plan 5Sample

He is the path forward.

Everyone wants to be good at life. It takes skill to choose the right path and to walk it consistently. Ultimately, the path you choose determines where you end up. You can walk down a career path or a path of healing or the path of life... Or, truth be told, it’s just as easy to stand in the path of a tornado.

Jesus knew we would choose our path. When he said goodbye to his students a few hours before he was arrested, he said, “I’m going away, but you know the way to where I’m going.” And they looked at him like deer in headlights—if we don’t know where you’re going, how can we know the way?

Like on cue, Jesus answered, “Follow me—I am the way.” Literally, he said, “I am the path.”

The path where? Certainly Jesus is the way to forgiveness, peace, direction, real life, victory, and the list could go on. But is this what he meant?

When he said, “I am the way,” he didn’t mean he was “a way” to God, one way among many ways. Instead, he clearly said, I am the one and only way. “No one comes to the Father, except through me.”

Some people may frown at the thought of there being one door... one shepherd... one true light... one way, one truth, one life... but Jesus Himself established that he was the one, exclusive way.

This exclusivity is the way much of our universe operates.

• Gravity is reality on earth. If you choose not to believe it and step off a thousand foot cliff, the truth of gravity won't change.
• There’s no tolerance in the chemistry lab. Water is composed of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.
• The skilled conductor won’t allow an orchestra member to play anything other than the assigned notes.
• A mathematics equation is either right or wrong.
• On the athletic field, teams must play the game by the rules.
• If you put diesel fuel in a gasoline-powered automobile you will soon need a new car.

While we might see Jesus' claim to be the only way to the Father as restrictive, his followers through the centuries have found following Jesus to be the way of life, hope, and love.

Everyone needs a new beginning with God. Here it is. Take the path that leads to him, and to the truth, and to life itself.

And then keep going—it’s a great life to walk with God and an even better life to come.