Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6). We are quite familiar with this verse, but often fail to appreciate the gravity of this statement. This seemingly simple declaration did away with all the religions of the world by which people try to attain salvation. If the church leaders and theologians had understood this one simple truth, they would not have erred. The church leaders converted the Way into a religion a long time ago. They also changed the gospel of the kingdom of God to the gospel of personal salvation. We have developed an impressive theology that does away with the essential values of God’s kingdom. We have built a selective moral code that has mollified our conscience into believing that everything is alright, when it is not.
The single most serious sin that human beings can commit is to thwart the purposes of God. Jesus said to the Pharisees again and again that by their traditions they were frustrating the purposes of God (Matt. 15:2). The other thing they were guilty of was the show of their piety, which exhibited their holiness to other people. They said one thing and did exactly the opposite (Matt. 23). We can see that the pharisees made these mistakes but, somehow, cannot see that we are committing the same mistake. We claim to have repented of our sins and have received a new life, but there is no difference in our lives and that of the others who do not believe. We can see the hypocrisy of the Jews, but we are totally oblivious of ours. These are very serious matters. There are host of other issues e.g., cultural pride, wealth, greed, power, and the use of violence that need addressing.
Jesus laid down a few conditions before his followers and said that they can’t be his disciples, or they can’t enter his kingdom unless they fulfil them. One of those conditions was obedience. Jesus warned his followers that unless they obey his commandments, they will not find his favour on the judgement day, even if they had called him their Lord and performed great signs and wonders in his name (Matt.7:22-23). This was the result of following a religion rather than obeying Jesus, as mentioned above. There are seven conditions that Jesus put forward before the crowd that followed him. We have just discussed one here to show the serious consequences of not living by them.
God simply wants us to love him and love one another. This is only possible if we submit our lives completely to him and follow the values of his kingdom that Jesus outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. We may throw our hands up in despair and say that it is impossible, and that we can’t live by these lofty values. But Jesus promised that he will send a Comforter, the ‘Holy Spirit,’ who will help us fulfil these demands. The new life in Jesus Christ lived by the help of the Holy Spirit is the only way we can find God’s approval. Jesus is the Way. Saint Catherine of Siena Said, “All the Way to heaven is Heaven, because He said, I am the Way.” We need to make sure that we are following Jesus and not a religion.
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