Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by me.
John 14:6, New International Version
When the disciples asked Jesus for the way to where He was going, He told them that "He" was the way. But He didn't stop there. He added two more facets to His life that they needed to know about. He tells them, "I am the truth and the life, too." He was making a powerful statement to us.
Our world is filled with lies about every subject. Bold, so-called experts, tout the truth about everything from diets, to finances, to relationships, and to spiritual things. When you drill down, we often discover they may have "truths" in them, but are lacking the Truth. This solidifies our insecurity that "no one can really know the truth about anything."
In Jesus' conversation to His disciples, He wanted to make one thing clear, "He is the truth." I believe He told them this because a person uses truth as their basis of trust. If we are not sure about what the truth is, we cannot put our trust fully in it. When Jesus declares, "I am the truth," He is saying that there is one place you can always trust. "It is not in a teaching, it is in a person, Me."
This was an important point at this critical time for the disciples. They were about to experience the greatest disorientation of their lives. What they believed about Jesus and His life was wrong. He was not going to be the King and live to rule but would become a Lamb and die to make a way for us to be forgiven and free.
During times of disorientation, Jesus wants us also to remember only one thing. He is the truth. Everything else may be a lie, but we can always trust him. Don't get hung up on truths that may be proven wrong in the end. No matter how educated we are, we know less than 1% on any subject. Instead, we can find ourselves being humble and humbled as we declare what we think is the truth and trade it for who we know is the truth.
When we come to pass from this earth, may we have our eyes directed to the only thing that is the embodiment of truth, namely Jesus.
Love, Pastor Stuart