One of Jesus’ most familiar lines comes when he responds to a question from Thomas and says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) It’s a landmark moment in terms of Jesus’ self-declaration to his disciples and, through them, to us.
But that moment at the table with Thomas is actually pretty interesting, because it’s not just a theological moment. Jesus isn’t simply getting through his material. He’s responding to Thomas’ questions. I think we sometimes miss this when we don’t pay attention to the setting.
Just look at the next line, verse 7, and how Jesus follows up. He says, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
There’s a lot going on here, of course. Jesus is identifying himself with the Father, which is enormously important for our theology. But try to imagine yourself in that room. You’re locked in a moment of anxiety. Your heart is deeply troubled. Your mentor has just told you that you’re going to be on your own for a while. You panic and say, “I don’t think I can do this without you.”
And you hear this response: Thomas, it’s going to be okay. You know me. You know God. I’m the way you’ve been following all along and we will find our way through this together.
For me, there’s a level of kindness here that often gets swallowed up in the weight of the theology in this moment. Don’t get me wrong, I love theology. But sometimes I think if we really want to understand Jesus, we have to learn to look through the theory to see the person he’s speaking to and the way he speaks to them.
One of the clearest self-declarations we have isn’t born of a monologue moment where Jesus lectures. It’s a conversation. As Jesus responds to the people in the room with him, people he loves, and people who are feeling a little bit lost.
I really think this is one of the most important things to getting Jesus right. He’s not teaching from a script. He’s not, like I am, employed to craft sermon manuscripts and make sure every word is exactly what I want to say. Jesus is, generally speaking, responding in real time to real people with real concerns, not just out of a commitment to theological precision, but out of a very real kindness rooted in divine love.
And that means that if Jesus is right, if to see him is to see God, then the implication is that perhaps God responds to us not just with mathematical precision, but with that same genuine care.
