The Way - The Rev. Brian Petersen
I’m going to guess that many of you spent most or at least some of your journey to church this morning on El Camino Real. Outside of the 5 freeway, it’s the major thoroughfare in our area, taking you all the way from Carmel Valley to Oceanside if you so choose. In Spanish, “El Camino Real” can be translated as “the Royal Road,” but I’ll say that it usually doesn’t feel very regal to be driving on it (it feels more like being stuck in traffic!)
The name of the street goes back to Spanish colonial days, when El Camino Real was the name of the road that connected all of the 21 missions in California, 600 miles from San Diego to Sonoma County. If you grew up in California, you probably remember learning this in elementary school, when you were making mission models as one of your class projects.
Camino is also one of those Spanish words that carries a great depth of meaning, depending on the context. Camino can refer to a specific road or path, or it can refer more ambiguously to a “way”, as in the Camino de Santiago in Spain, or even just telling your friend that “Estoy en camino” – I’m on my way.
“The Way” is also the original name of the splinter group of first-century Jews who would later be called Christians – the early church, whose stories we are hearing in the book of Acts throughout this season. And why did they call themselves “The Way?” If we look at Jesus’ words in today’s gospel, given to his disciples during his farewell speech at the Last Supper, we might be able to figure it out – this is one of Jesus’ most famous statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
It’s a shame that this statement has been used by some Christians to promote a very simplistic understanding of the gospel – just call yourself a follower of Jesus, and you’re automatically good. But Jesus speaking of “the way” has a much deeper connection to a different story – the way of the journey through the wilderness, the winding road, like the journey of Israel in Exodus. It’s a path filled with ups and downs, twists and turns. After all, Jesus’ own way was none other than the way of the cross.
Jesus’ way is less like one of those moving sidewalks at the airport that quickly takes you to wherever you need to go (just get on and walk!) and more like a labyrinth, where we have to trust the process and take the next step even when the path isn’t clear. And as we learned from the story of the Emmaus Road a few weeks ago – wherever that path takes us, Jesus will meet us on the way.
But Jesus is more than just the way - he’s also the truth, and the life. We might shrink back a bit when we hear the word “truth” - we might even sound like Pontius Pilate: “What is truth?” And in a time when if you turn on the news or open up social media, you are almost guaranteed to hear someone (often someone in a position of authority) lying to you – we might be right to be suspicious.
Jesus comes to take us aside from all of that noise and tell us quite clearly – if you are looking for truth, you need look no further. Truth is not about the most compelling ideology or even the most rational message, because truth is not a proposition but a person - the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus didn’t say “I will tell you the truth”, he said “I AM the truth.”
That means when we want to know what is true, what is right, what God is like, what God requires of us – we need only to look at Jesus. The truth we see in Jesus is what we call the Gospel: the good news that God’s love for us knows no boundaries, and that not even death can defeat the power of life. It also means that there is no excuse – no one can exclude or oppress in the name of Jesus, because the truth Jesus reveals is that God excludes no one. Therefore we are called to extend that same love to others – and not only to people inside of our own families or tribes or nations, but to those on the outside – foreigners, immigrants, and yes, even those we consider our enemies.
We can know and trust that this is true, not because it makes sense or because it’s a good idea, but because we can see it brought to life in the person of Jesus. Jesus’ example shuts down any arguments about what God is like, who God supports or blesses or chooses, because as Jesus tells his disciples: “Whoever has seen me has seen (God) the Father.”
Jesus is the way and the truth, but let us not forget that he is also the life. You can have both the way and the truth, but unless they lead to life they are ultimately pointless. This is the “show me the money” moment for us in our broken world – how does all of this really change things? Where does this way actually lead us?
A path or a road is not useful unless it takes us to a destination. A “bridge to nowhere” doesn’t help anyone. Even in a labyrinth, while the destination might not be immediately clear, you eventually arrive at the center. But Jesus’ way (and truth) do have a destination: life. And as Jesus described in last week’s “Good Shepherd” gospel reading, it’s not just life, but abundant life.
Today’s gospel from John 14 is often read at funerals. And yes, that life does include life beyond death, the eternal life on which our hope rests. But resurrection life, the destination that Jesus’ way leads us to, is not just for when we die. It’s also for right now.
It’s that hope for right now that empowers us to go and actually do something to create a more just and loving world, a world shaped by God’s love. We do this, even when it seems unlikely or impossible, when the powers of cynicism and despair seem to have the upper hand. We know that it’s not impossible because Jesus promises that we will do even greater works than his, that through the Holy Spirit we will continue the work of restoration and transformation of the world that he brought forth in his life, death, and resurrection.
And we do this by staying connected to him, through prayer and gathering together in Jesus’ name, just as we do each Sunday as we encounter his presence among us and then are sent out to love and serve the world. The way of Jesus is not a formula or a statement of belief. It is a journey that may lead us to the mountain top or the valley of the shadow of death, into the desert or beside the still waters – but we can trust that it will lead us to abundant life, life that we can share to bring light and healing to the whole world.
That’s a truly royal road - un camino real - that’s worth following!
