The interpretation of this one pivotal passage has meant the difference for many between loving or hating religion in general and Christianity in particular.
Did Jesus really believe God is limited to only one way to reach humankind? Did he intend to exclude all who seek God on other paths?
How this statement gets interpreted probably says more about the interpreter than about Jesus. Whether we see the way and the truth and the life of Jesus as generously inclusive, or narrowly bound, might indicate how free or limited is our own inner realm.
Throughout his public ministry, Jesus clearly shows that he did not come to establish philosophical theories about God, but to give us a way—a way to journey to God, and with God, in right here, right now practices of love.
The way of Jesus is a giving-receiving-confronting-sacrificial way that does not seek its own security. It embraces, never shuns, the outsider. It is a way that calls us to lay down the limited vision of our private paths and to join others as a sign to the world of God’s great community of compassion.
When I hear Jesus saying, “I am the way,” I hear, “This way I’ve been living is the way.” The truth and life of my life, rooted in mercy and an ever-expanding generosity, are the way to God.
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