Monday, December 29, 2008

Jesus as "The Way"


I just started reading "The Jesus Way, a conversation on the ways that Jesus is the way" by Eugene Peterson. Just in the introduction, I found this quote:

Here is a text, words spoken by Jesus, that keeps this in clear focus: "I am the way , and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). The Jesus way wedded to the Jesus truth brings about the Jesus life. We can't proclaim the Jesus truth but then do it any old way we like. Nor can we follow the Jesus way without speaking the Jesus truth.

But Jesus as the truth gets far more attention than Jesus as the way. Jesus as the way is the most frequently evaded metaphor among the Christians with whom I have worked for fifty years as a North American pastor. In the text that Jesus sets before us so clearly and definitively, the way comes first. We cannot skip the way of Jesus in our hurry to get the truth of Jesus as he is worshiped and proclaimed. The way of Jesus is the way that we practice and come to understand the truth of Jesus, living Jesus in our homes and workplaces, with our friends and family.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good stuff to ponder