Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, March 19, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This can be a problematic text. I mean, not for someone who holds that whoever doesn’t believe in Jesus is condemned to an eternity in hell. But that ain’t me. So how are we to unpack it? Do we just say, “Yeah, well John was a theologian and an apologist so it’s possible he just wrote it and Jesus never actually said it”? That can be problematic, too.
Here’s my theology around it—you can take it or leave it, of course! I ask the basic questions: can Jesus be limited to the human man particularly located in first-century, Roman-ruled Judea? Isn’t Jesus God? Can I say that Jesus doesn’t reach out and embrace all people in ways they understand rather than insisting everyone adopt a western, Christian theology? No, yes, and no. At least I think so.
The bottom line, of course, is that I’ll leave this up to God. It’s not my business what anyone else believes or doesn’t believe. I know that for me, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. As for everyone else, I trust God’s got their backs.
What do I think about whether non-Christians are “saved”?
