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Der Heilige Geist, der das ewige Leben gibt
Martin Luther, WA 30 I, 93,13-16: "Item dat tibi in cor per sacramenta,
ut credas verbo et fias membrum Ecclesiae. Iam incepit sanctificare: ubi mortui,
perficiet istam sanctificationem per ista duo, 'Aufferstehung des leichnams'
et per 'vitam aeternam'."
“Finding the Way”
John 14:4-16
Lucy Lind Hogan
Jesus thought that he was offering words of comfort to his frightened
disciples when he reminded them, “you know the way where I am going.” “The
way? The way?” We can almost hear the panic in the voice of Thomas
when he responds to this declaration. “We do not know where you
are going; how can we know the way?” Like Thomas, we need to know
the way, yet are afraid that we do not.
My youngest son will be going away to college in the fall. As an important
part of the numerous preparations, we have been studying the map to calculate
the best route between his new college and our home. Part of my concern
is that, as my baby, he knows how to get back home, both literally and
figuratively. But it is also a geographical puzzle. Because of a mountain
range, the Appalachians, one cannot go directly from his college in Cincinnati,
Ohio back to Washington, D. C. Therefore, one is forced to either drive
north and then south, or south and then north. But I love figuring out
the most advantageous way to go.
While I may have trouble telling my left from my right, finding my way
around unfamiliar places is a gift that I have been given. I love looking
at maps and figuring out how to get somewhere. It is almost as though,
once I look at the map, it becomes a part of my brain. I love to find
the zig-zag short cuts that will save me time or get me out of a traffic
back-up. I may have the gift, but I still need the map. Without a map
I am lost.
We have maps to tell us how to get around the city of Washington. We
have maps that tell us how to drive from Paris to Amsterdam. We have
maps that tell us how to sail around the southern tip of South America.
Many people do not even need to depend on paper maps anymore. My father
has a “GPS” that tells him his longitude, latitude and elevation.
He takes it everywhere. But, do we have maps that tell us how to find
our way to the Kingdom of God?
Jesus came to show us the way. He is our guide, our map, our global
positioning device.
Words to Comfort
From the moment they answered the call to “follow me,” the
disciples found themselves on an amazing journey. They saw things that
they had never seen before: blind men given their sight, dead little
girls brought back to life, thousands of people fed with a few loaves
of bread and two small fish. They went places they never would have gone,
and spoke with people to whom they would never have spoken - tax collectors,
Samaritan women, and lepers. But, all along the way, Jesus had led the
way. They knew, and Jesus knew, that they could not do it without him.
Now, as he sat with them, Jesus knew that, shortly, he would be leaving
them.
The fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel is part of a much longer
section, 14:1 - 16:33, known as the “Farewell Discourse.” Seated
at table, after sharing the Passover meal and washing the feet of his
disciples, Jesus offers words of comfort and encouragement. John’s
Jesus is calm and in charge every step of the way, from his baptism in
the river Jordan to his last words on the cross. John’s Jesus does
not cry out in agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” (Mark
15:34) No, after taking care of his mother, and declaring he is thirsty,
only to fulfill the scriptures, he declares, with confidence, “It
is finished.” He had done all that he was supposed to do, and now
it was time to return to the father. But before he did that, he needed
to assure his friends and followers that he was not abandoning them and
would return to help them complete their journey to the Kingdom.
The Farewell Discourse reiterates the lessons Jesus had been teaching
his disciples during their journeys together. Jesus, once again, tells
them who he is. He is the way, the truth, the life, the vine. He reminds
them who they are, the branches of that vine. He reminds them what they
are to be doing. “He who believes in me will also do the works
that I do.” And, he assures them that they will be able to do great
works because they will not be doing them alone, “I will pray the
Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever.” This
is truly the good news.
While most of the Farewell Discourse is a monologue, there are three
points at which the disciples break in. First, when Jesus tells them
that they know the way to where he is going, Thomas anxiously breaks
in to tell Jesus that they don’t know the way. Next, when Jesus
reminds them that, if they have seen him, they have seen the Father.
This time it is Philip who interrupts Jesus to ask, once more, that
Jesus show them the Father. Finally, Judas (not Iscariot) wonders how
Jesus “will manifest [himself] to us [the disciples], and not
to the world.) . After years with Jesus, they still don’t get
it. They don’t see or understand who it is that is speaking to
them. They still aren’t able to find their way without him
The Only Way?
Many find Jesus’ declaration that he is the way to be both comforting
and challenging. These words comfort us because they do provide us with
a road map to the Kingdom. I will say more about that shortly. But, before
I do, I think that it is important to touch upon a challenge presented
by the various ways that these words can be interpreted and their ecumenical
and interreligious implications.
Given the world in which we live, a world of instant communication and
interaction with individuals of other lands and other faiths, this is
an extremely important question. Perhaps your city or town is like Washington?
People of every faith now populate each neighborhood. In fact, if you
were to join me on a drive out New Hampshire Avenue in the suburbs of
Washington, we would pass Roman Catholic, Russian and Greek Orthodox,
and Protestant churches of every stripe. But we would also pass a Thai
Buddhist temple, and a Moslem mosque, and many Jewish synagogues. Deciding
on how one is to relate to and interact with people of other faiths is
enormously important for people and churches. Do we work with them or
ignore them? Do we respect them or seek to convert them?
John is very clear who Jesus is and the importance of Jesus for all
of creation. His gospel does not begin with the birth of a child in Bethlehem.
His gospel begins at the beginning, the very beginning of the world.
Echoing Genesis, he declares, “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us.” (1:1, 14). The Word of God that dwelt
among us was Jesus and, as John declares later in what one scholar argues
is the center of Johannine theology, “No one comes to the Father,
but by me.” (14:6) In and through Jesus, how we meet God and how
we know God have forever changed.
In her article on John in The New Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 1995), Gail O’Day notes how these words have been
used as “a weapon with which to bludgeon one’s opponents
into theological submission,” and rightfully asks, “How is
a contemporary Christian to interpret this central claim?” (743)
We live in a world that is very different from first century Jewish Christians.
Must we, O’Day asks, interpret John’s proclamation as “proof
positive that Christians have the corner on God and that people of any
and all other faiths are condemned?” (743) Do John’s words
mean the same to us as they did to the community for whom he wrote?
Many Christians read the passage literally. They understand Jesus to
mean that he, and by extension the Christian faith, is the one and only
legitimate religious expression. Others have come to understand that,
while Jesus is the way for them, he is not the only way. They reject
John’s approach. There are other ways, they claim, to come to God.
So, taking a pluralistic approach, they honor many other religions as
equally valid paths to God. Is there a middle ground between affirmation
or rejection?
O’Day argues that, by understanding the contextual nature of the
message, we are able to understand that the writer of the Fourth Gospel
was not seeking to promote Christian exclusivity. He was not, she writes,
concerned about the “superiority or inferiority” of Christianity.
(745) Rather, she argues, he was seeking to affirm who they were as the
followers of Christ. They were, we are, the people who believe that,
through Jesus, we come to know God. Jesus is our way.
The People of the Way
Before we were called Christians, we were called the “People of
the Way.” What does it mean to follow the way? It means to answer
the same call that was issued to the disciples, it mean to “follow
me,” to follow Jesus.
Isn’t it ironic that the only times we get lost, the only time
we need maps or directions, are those times that we leave the known and
familiar? Yet ours is a God who is continually calling us to new places,
new lives. Abraham was called out of his home, “Go from your country
and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will
show you.” (Genesis 12:1) The children of Israel were led out of
bondage in Egypt toward the promised land. We are the descendants of
sojourners and pilgrims, always wandering and often lost. We answer the
call to follow without even knowing where we are going.
But the God who calls is also the God who leads. As the children of
Israel wandered in the wilderness, they were led by a pillar of cloud
by day, and a pillar of fire by night. And we are led by the Word made
flesh, the light that shines in the darkness of our world. We are led
by the one who came to show us the way by living the way.
It is the way of justice and love. Jesus lived the way of lifting up
those who had fallen, healing those broken in body and spirit, touching
those cast out. We find the way to the kingdom by walking that way. We
live the way when we do the works that Jesus did. Jesus is calling us
to step out of the known and familiar and into the path of righteousness
and peace.
As the terrible events of the passion unfolded and the disciples witnessed
the death of their teacher and friend, they thought that they had lost
their way. Who would lead them? Who would guide and direct them? How
would they have the strength to live the new life? Alone, they could
do nothing, but “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” (Luke
18:27) They were not alone. The Spirit, the Counselor, the Advocate sent
from God would lead them and leads us today to lead us in the way.
Love me, follow me
The way that we follow is not one that can be found on a map. It has
no geographical coordinates, no mileage markings or speed limits. We
have been called to follow in the way of love. God’s way is a way
of relationship and companionship. It is a way that leads us into the
lives of our neighbors, friends and enemies alike. And Jesus declares
that, if we love God and love our neighbor as our self, if we trust in
the one who is the way and the truth and the life, then we too will find
ourselves welcomed into that place that he has prepared for us.
Dr. Lucy Lind Hogan
Wesley Theological Seminary
Washington, D. C. USA
E-Mail: LKHogan@aol.com
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