Truth with Skin on It

Have you ever thought about about the outlandish nature of some of Jesus’ statements? I mean, have you ever really thought about them?

Given the approaching Easter weekend, I’d like to nudge you this week to think about Jesus.

Consider this:

Most religious leaders point beyond themselves to something other or something greater. They include themselves as being on the journey to discover truth and offer instructions and insights on how to get there.

Not Jesus. He brazenly pointed back to himself and basically said, “If you want to know truth, look no further. It is standing right before you.” In short, Jesus linked truth to himself.

Jesus’ most notorious “I-equal-truth” statement is found in John 14:6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”

Scholars and skeptics alike have gone to great extremes to unpack and disarm this over-the-top declaration of Jesus. By far, this statement has created the most controversy for Christianity. It seems too narrow and exclusive.

No wonder people take issue with it. Jesus would be much more palatable and would fit better into the synchronistic religious landscape if he wasn’t credited with such an outlandish statement. As a result, many throughout history have worked overtime to remove the stinging implications of Jesus’ claim.

I, for one, feel no need to come to Jesus’ rescue here or try to diffuse this rather contentious comment. This man not only claimed to be God but also accepted worship as God. That being the case, this statement doesn’t seem so out of place for him.

Please don’t reduce Christ’s comments to something that he did not intend them to be. Jesus wasn’t stupid. He knew full well the implications of claiming to be “the way to God” in a highly monotheistic society. This was no slip of Jesus’ tongue; it needs no spin-doctor to clean it up. Jesus meant what he said. To do justice to any serious investigation of him, we can’t afford to dilute his comments.

Jesus wanted his audience to believe that he was truth revealed, truth with skin on it. He wanted men and women to point their respective searches for ultimate reality squarely in his direction, and then to stop when they got to him.

He claimed that if seekers of purpose, meaning and truth bet the spiritual farm on him, they would indeed find what they were looking for.

That’s pretty high cotton for a small-town carpenter.

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