Have you ever been lost? I don’t mean just off course by a block or two; I mean truly lost! That has happened to me more times than I care to recall. The difference between getting lost now and getting lost in my thirties is that today I readily admit when I'm lost and more quickly ask my GPS (human or digital) for help. 

To the group of disciples who have just learned that Jesus is going away but need not worry because they know how to get to where he is going, Thomas asks, "Lord, we don’t know where in the world you are going, so how in the world do we know how to get there?” To Thomas’s puzzled question, Jesus provides absolute theological directions: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus give more precise directions than these concerning a relationship with God.

But what does Jesus mean when he says, I am the way, truth, and life? In John’s gospel, we are invited to think deeply about his identity and relationship with the Father. Jesus does not just show us one way to the Father; he is the way to the Father. He alone reveals the Father because he alone has seen the Father (John 1:1-2). With this theological backdrop, Jesus makes the most profound claim in history when he says, "No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

In a religiously pluralistic world like ours, anyone who makes such an exclusive claim on truth quickly finds opposition. Our age believes that all religions offer consonant variations of the same theme. But Jesus says there is something ultimate, something unparalleled about him. Jesus does not just point the way; he is the Way. He does not just teach the truth; he is the Truth. He does not just represent one pathway to life; he is the Life. Although it has been said that "all truth is God’s truth and all life is God’s life,” Scripture teaches that God’s truth and life were embodied in Jesus Christ when he became human. In him, we witness God’s gracious truth (John 1:14).

It seems only fitting to end today’s devotional with this prayer from Sunday’s collect: “Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”