“Except Through Me. . .”
Today’s Gospel reading includes a phrase that causes a lot of concern and discussion among Christians. The entire reading is this:
GOSPEL: John 14: 1 – 14 (RCL)
John 14: 1 – 12 (Roman Catholic)
John 14:1 (NRSV) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
The phrase that causes problems is this: No one comes to the Father except through me.
Today’s Forward Day by Day (thoughts on the readings for the day) is very comforting. It says this:
Today’s gospel text is another hard one. The absoluteness of Christianity is affirmed over and over in John’s Gospel and never more disturbingly (to our pluralistic ears) than in this passage. Jesus declares himself to be “the way, the truth, and the life” that leads to the Father; no one comes to the Father except through him.
This grates on us. What about Jews? Muslims? Buddhists? Agnostics? C. S. Lewis, addressing this concern in Mere Christianity, reminds us that “God has not told us what his arrangements about other people are.” We know that no man can be saved except for Christ, but we do not know that only those who know him can be saved through him, Lewis adds. The heart of the matter, then, is not measured by the extent of our awareness. Grace is a mystery, not a formula-and not subject to our prior approval.
The Spirit blows where it will.
The epistle to the Hebrews reminds us that the word of God spoken in Christ is “living and active.” In hidden ways we cannot see, control, or imagine-even in other religions-Christ is bringing the whole world home to the Father, one beloved person at a time.
I have a sweet Moslem family who loves me. When they come back from Hajj, they always bring me prayer beads, and they always pray for me at the most important time and place. It delights my heart; it delights me that they love me and want me to be in paradise with them, and I will accept prayers for me from anyone, any day of the week!
One of the most meaningful things they ever said to me was that, in spite of everything, they believe I will be in the afterlife with them. They are devout. I know their beliefs exclude me, and somehow they have found a way to think I might be included.
I like this devotion for the same reason. I want to believe that God/Allah is so big that we can’t begin to comprehend how much he loves us, his creation, and how his mercy and forgiveness and powers of inclusion will work. We don’t believe the same things, not exactly the same, and yet I believe there is a way we can all be saved.
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Absolutism is an essential part of most major religions. Each claims that its respective path leads straight away to heaven and bliss. I think it’s a crucial part of a religious ideology to have this particular promise of a better afterlife incorporated such that those who suffer find comfort and retreat in what that particular religion has to offer. That being said, I really would like to point out a thought about Christ’s promise of heavenly life for all those who live “through him”. The Christ’s inclination here, to me at least, is that all those who show compassion for their fellow humans, feel for the needy and poor, denounce earthly attractions in favor of those that are heavenly, are merciful and considerate, respectful and appreciative of the blessings of their lives, and above all, loving; are destined for eternal comfort and peace.
“Except through me” does not necessarily imply being Christian. At the time of the Christ Christianity was merely a reformation movement within the Jewish religion. Jesus himself was viewed as a Jewish reformer that has rebelled against the power of the clergy. Christianity as a stand-alone religion was not formed until years and years after Jesus’s death.
Jesus defined a lifestyle of love, peace and compassion and his message was that of serenity and calm. It is through this particular understanding of the human inter-relationships that he has made a promise of heaven to those living through his message.
This post was very educational. I think that some Christians confuse the Muslim’s view on the rest of the world. I say that because the “devout” Muslims are the ones that believe that People of the Book will be given a chance into Paradise. The conflict is associated to the principal of the Trinity. A lot of Muslims believe that this very concept means that in stead of one God, Christians misinterpreted Christianity into believing in three Gods. That of course, is not actually the case.
One Priest explained it to me as fingers of the same hand. This is such a foreign concept to us Muslims because we believe that God transcends any form of life. However, those who believe in one God and live honorably can never be discounted from paradise. Devout Muslims know that…
Wa Allahu ya3lam. (Only God knows)
As a muslim, I find “No one comes to the Father except through me” very aligned with my beliefs. No contradiction here, coz in Islam you HAVE to believe in all the prophets, therefore we believe in Jesus (that he’s a messenger of God) and that no one can go to heaven without believing in Jesus. So, I think we’ll go to heaven through Jesus, in a way.
I find a little problem with this though “From now on you do know him and have seen him.” If the writer meant ‘seen him’ as in seen his qualities or mercy or something along those things, then yeah, we can see God’s wonders on earth. But I’m guessing thats not what the writer meant.
interesting read 🙂
Where is Error? Why hasn’t he checked in on this one?
Kinan, you are one of the most educated Christians I have met, (or haven’t met!) and with all my heart, I hope your analysis is the reality. I just love “The Spirit blows where it will.” It reminds me of Exodus where God says he will have mercy where he will have mercy. We can’t begin to fathom the greatness of his thinking.
q80Saracen, The Trinity is hard for us, too, trying to explain. I usually say that to my son, I am a mother, to my husband, I am wife, and to my mother, I am daughter – I have multiple personas all in one body, and we all share the same substance. And God is just so much bigger than we are, it boils down to just being a mystery, one which will be clear to us in the next life, insh’allah. 🙂 I learned from YOU that as people of the book we have a chance to go to Paradise – I thought we were excluded.
Yousef – Here is where it gets really interesting to me. Jesus often spoke in parables and used analogies. His very closest followers would ask him questions, and often what they thought was right was wrong and Jesus would have to correct them. Your close reading caught that – we don’t really know specifically what that is meant to mean. Different people will tell you different things. We do know that John calls Jesus “the Word,” and I believe the Qura’an also refers to him as The Word.
I kinda have to go with Kinan’s thinking. Jesus was always taking what people thought and turning it upside down. He said we are to love our neighbors, take care of the weaker ones, and love and obey God above everything else. It seems to me that is also pretty much what you believe?
The way I see it is that what is being said in the scriptures is that you cannot get to god without knowing yourself. The self that you need to know is like Jesus who himself represents the attributes of ONE that are desirable of a heaven on earth as well, possibly, as beyond. The fact that ONE has a heavenly family is a fantastic testament to ONES progress towards heaven on earth. But there is still a need to take what one has learned from ones family and engender the same feeling(s) in the wider circles of interaction.
Hmmm. Aaron, I will have to ponder that one in my heart . . .