Thomas said, “How can we know the way?”
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to Abba God except through me.”
—John 14.5-6
A zen koan.
People have used it to imagine Jesus answering a question he wasn’t asked.
He was not being asked which religion will get you saved.
Not comparing one ism with another,
after all, he was Jewish, talking to Jews.
It’s not that there is one religion, one “way” and no other way;
there is no “way” at all. No set of rules. No formula. No ism.
Not even Christianity.
There’s only relationship. Presence. Love.
He’s not selling a religion, he’s offering himself.
Jesus is not trying to convert you.
He’s inviting you to love him.
“John,” the story’s author, sees Jesus as the embodied love of God,
the Word made flesh.
God’s koan.
Love is what Jesus means by “me.”
The only way to God is through God’s love.
Love is the way, the truth, and the life.
Forget religion.
Christ hides in all of life and whispers,
“Love me.”
Breath prayer: + love … me +
—May 10, 2017