the Way, the Truth and the Life

"Thomas is the first to make a statement and then ask the question that is our question: How can we know the way?

Jesus' response to this question is one that has caused enormous suffering and harm through the centuries.

But I think we have not read his response for the plain statement of truth that it is. Jesus first says:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life

And then he says:

No one comes to the Father, except through me

Now, if we simply substitute for the "me" in the second statement with who Jesus says "me" is - the "I am" in the first statement, we get:

No one comes to the Father, except through the way, the truth, and the life.

That statement, I think, is NOT grounds for slaughtering non-believers in Jesus, or forced baptisms, or worrying that non-believers have been condemned to everlasting damnation. It is, I think, a plain statement of the simple truth that the life to come will be a way of truth and life - and thank God for that. And, since Jesus has said that he will come and take us to himself, we can trust that we will not be abandoned and left on our own to find this impossible-for-us-to-be-nothing-but-truth-and-life way."

http://www.holytextures.com/2011/04/john-14-1-14-year-a-easter-5-sermon.html