I am the Way

May 6, 2026

I am the Way

May 3, 2026

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Devotions for this sermon

Stone walls

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ his son. Amen.
Growing up in New Hampshire, many of the old farms were surrounded by stone walls. Stone walls like the one that Robert Frost wrote about his poem Mending Wall. These walls, which dot the countryside, were built without cement or mortar. The rocks were laid one upon another, each where it fit best. Constructed with great care.
Many of these walls still stand where they were built hundreds of years ago. Rocks of different shapes and sizes fitted into the wall, becoming something more than what they could ever be alone.
Much like the church, the Church of Jesus Christ is made up of people who come from every walk of life, from different nations, speaking different languages. We don’t always agree.
After all, there are those who vote for Clemson root for Clemson, and there’s those who root for Carolina. Right? And yet God takes us all and makes us one church.

Living Stones

Today, in our second reading, Peter tells us that we are called to be living stones.
Come to me, a living stone, though rejected by mortals, yet chosen and precious in God’s sight. And like living stones, let yourself be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Together, we, as the followers of Jesus, are continually being built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.
We no longer need a physical temple, nor do we need high priests to offer animal sacrifices. Because through Jesus, we have been made into something new.
We, the disciples of Jesus, have been built into a spiritual house, a new temple. And instead of sacrificing lambs and doves, we are called to offer spiritual sacrifices, sacrifices of ego, pride, willfulness.
We are called to sacrifice our selfish impulses, the impulses to care only for ourselves. We are to love our neighbors as Jesus first loved us.

John 14 comes after John 13

In our gospel reading, Jesus tells the disciples, I am the way, the truth and the life. And too often this verse has been used to exclude others from the love of God. But when Jesus tells us he is the way, the truth and the life, he is actually calling us to a life of love and inclusion.
We need to read these 14 verses in context.
John, chapter 13 is the story of Jesus. In the upper room, Judas has left. Jesus has washed their feet, and now he tells them that he is leaving. But. But before he goes, he gives them a new commandment.
I give you a new commandment that you love one another. Just as I have loved you. You should also love one another.
Peter, confused, asked Jesus where he is going, which leads Into John, chapter 14, verse 1.
Jesus tells his disciples:  I am going to prepare a place for you and you know the way to where I am going.
Now, bear in mind the word way in Greek is literally road.
And so, Thomas argues, we don’t know the road.

What is the way?

And Jesus says:
I am the way.
I am the map.
I am the address.
Brothers and sisters, if we are to follow Jesus, we need to love like Jesus.
The entire passage in our gospel today is surrounded by. By this new commandment that Jesus gives us.

The way of Jesus is love

And if we don’t fully understand that, you need to know that the very next verse, John 14, verse 15 reads, if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Then in chapter 15, Jesus says it again. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.    I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
So this passage about Jesus being the way, the truth and the life is surrounded by this new commandment that Jesus gives us.
The map to Jesus, the way of Jesus is love.
And more explicitly, it is the call to love one another as Jesus first loved us.

Love Binds us

Unlike the stone walls in New England, which rely on careful placement rather than mortar, we as living stones are held together by love, the love of God, the love we have for God and the love that we have for our neighbors. Love binds us together.
And when our ability to love one another begins to weaken, when our own needs and desires become more important than the community, the walls begin to crumble.

When we forget love…

One of the first signs of a struggling congregation is when it begins to turn outward, inward, when the congregation stops loving their neighbors as Jesus commands. And this is what it sounds, we have to pay our own bills first. We need to take care of our own before we can help others. We simply can’t afford to, to support the wider church.
You don’t have to take my word for it. There are plenty of books out there about church leadership that will tell you the exact same thing. When a church becomes more focused on itself than on the community around begins to die.

Thank you Jesus

But I am so grateful, praise the Lord, that these are not sentiments I have heard in this congregation or in our parish. And I am very, very grateful to be part of two congregations that remember Jesus words. Truly, I tell you, just as you did it for the least of these, you did it for me. But that temptation to turn inward, to care only about our needs, our wants, our desires, is always there.
We need to be reminded of the new commandment that Jesus gives to us, the commandment given to us on the night in which he was betrayed. Love one another as I have loved you.

We already know the way.

Sisters and brothers, as followers of Jesus, we already know the address.
We already have the map. And that map is the love of Jesus for all people.
This is the way to which we are called. Love one another.
This is the truth that God is love.
And this is the life, the new life we receive through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.