IS JESUS THE ONLY GATE TO GOD? April 13, 2008
Scripture: Psalm 23, John 10:1-10
This week I am returning to a sermon that I preached three years ago, one that was quite well received. I have made some changes; however, most of it is the same. I started with a quote from Captain Eddie Rickenbacker about an experience of being lost at sea with his men for 21 days during WWII.[1] This Navy crew was flying to the Pacific Islands on a special mission when their plane crashed. Rickenbacker later wrote and I quote, “In the beginning many of the men were atheists or agnostics, but at the end of the terrible ordeal each, in his own way, discovered God. Each man found God in the vast, empty loneliness of the ocean. Each man found salvation and strength in prayer, and a community of feeling developed which created a liveliness of human fellowship and worship, and a sense of gentle peace.”
My guess is that most people who hear these words feel good about these men being able to find God, each “in his own way”; however, many if, not most, Christians today believe that the millions of people who find God outside of Christianity are not saved. The scripture reference for these beliefs comes from our Gospel today where Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved…” And later in John 14:6, an even stronger statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The author of the Fourth Gospel is very fond of using metaphors, figures of speech where one word or phrase is used to illustrate a certain meaning in place of another word, usually used to help in understanding; let me give you a non- religious example: The Internet is an information superhighway or life is a journey. John is the Gospel of the “I AM” statements; I AM the bread of life, the true vine, the light of the world, as well as I am the gate. Historically, the Johannine community was a small minority of Jews who had become Christians and thus kicked out of the Temple and frequently persecuted. When people are a minority it is especially important to stick closely together and the belief that “our way is the only way” often is an identity marker as well as being a protective and self-enhancing belief. When circumstances change, as in the growth of Christianity, the language and often the original ideas remain. So for over 2000 years we have heard that Jesus is the only way to God, the only way to be saved.
When I was looking for various views to answer the sermon question, I came across quite a few websites that emphatically believed that Jesus is the only way to God. The reasoning was along these lines: “Either the Bible is right and there is no other way to salvation, or the Bible is wrong and all other religions are right. If all roads lead to God then the Bible is a false book and does not have any reliability. If anyone claims to be Christian and says that other religions are equally valid he or she is saying that Jesus is a liar. There are probably some of you here today that agree with these statements. This view is the product of a Christianity that takes the Bible literally rather than a truth set in a historical and cultural time. I can’t remember which Indian tribe has a creation story that ends with, this is all true and some of it actually happened!
Another view of those who believe that Jesus is the only way to God uses the example of the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant and each ending up describing the elephant in very different terms. This view says that each of these men was blind and each was wrong, stating that as long as we are blind we remain in the darkness, not aware of the truth of God being revealed through Jesus. I won’t discuss any more of these beliefs that come from the literal interpretation of the Bible as most of you are well versed in them.
There are Christians that do not believe in the exclusiveness of Jesus being the only way one can enter God’s kingdom. One of these groups is known as Progressive Christianity, a group that I have talked about in many different ways over the almost 5 years I’ve been with you. My last two long-term ministers before I went to seminary were both active believers in Progressive Christianity. One of them, Fred Plumer from the Irvine, CA church, is now the president of this group. They have eight basic points, the first of the original version says, we are Christians who “proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God;” followed by the second point that says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God’s realm”. (Repeat) In 2003 they made some revisions to the 8 points and these two now read like this: “we are Christians who have found our approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus. The second point says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way (or gate) to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.” I really like that. It’s the kind of belief that I believe would be very much approved of by the Jesus that I follow. I love Jesus; his way is my life. I believe that in Jesus Christ, God has opened a way into God’s eternal heart and everlasting life with others at the heavenly banquet table. It‘s not up to me to determine who else is sitting at that banquet table. But I know one thing for sure and that is the job of saying Yes or NO is already filled, taken by God, a God I believe has endless compassion and love, desiring all of us to repent and turn to God. There are so many mysteries in our faith, in our life, and I would encourage all of you to approach these mysteries with humility and gentleness. Another Progressive Christianity point is that we find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty—more value in questioning than in absolutes. So we may be surprised at who is sitting around that heavenly banquet table, if indeed we are sitting there ourselves.
In the New Interpreters Bible, the commentary I regularly use in preparing my sermons, Gail O’Day, a scholar of the Fourth Gospel, states that the statement that no one comes to the Father except through me is the joyous affirmation of a community that saw Jesus as the incarnation of God and accepted his statements that he and the Father are one. She differentiates between “Father” and “God” and says that “no one” meant those in this band of followers, not necessarily anyone in the world forever (Vol IX, p.744). She points out that this is not a cry of a powerful world religion but a religious conviction of a religious minority in the ancient Mediterranean world. She sees it as a being particular to this faith community rather than an exclusionary statement for all time and places. This scripture says “This is who we are… the people who believe in the God who has been revealed to us decisively by Jesus Christ.”
Let me affirm that Jesus is my gateway to God—God’s life, realm, being. Jesus is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm, my shepherd that leads me beside still waters. However, that does not mean that what is true for me as a Christian has to be true for all people. A contemporary author and theologian, Wm. Sloane Coffin, says as paraphrased by Marcus Borg, “God is defined by Jesus, but not confined to Jesus. Borg also quotes a Hindu professor at a Christian seminary that was preaching on the Gospel verse about the ‘only way’ as saying, “This verse is absolutely true—Jesus is the only way. And that way—of dying to an old way of being and being born into a new way of being—is known in all of the religions of the world. The way of Jesus is a universal way, known to millions who have never heard of Jesus.”[2] It seems to me that what the Hindu professor means is that the way of Jesus is not about a set of beliefs but about a way of life; not believing doctrines or words like Jesus, rather seeing the way of Jesus, his life as being the way of transformation from an old way of being and doing to a new way of being and doing. For us as Christians that new way is Jesus, the way of non-violent, unconditional love. Borg calls this Jesus as being the disclosure of what a life full of God looks like. We can say, “this is who Jesus is for us” without also saying, “This is the only way God can be known for anyone ever.” For me a theology of Christ that leads us to respect other religious traditions, not to deny their religious truth, is keeping with the belief that God is part of all of us, and we are all a part of God. My doorway may not be the doorway others can enter; however, it is my doorway and I am so thankful that for me that doorway to God is Jesus.
So as I end this sermon, I would urge any of you that are disturbed by what I’ve said today to come talk with me. In no way do I want to have a debate about our differences, yet I am always interested in what you have to say. Our opening story talked about how beautiful it would be to give others the freedom to experience their faith differently than ours. I pray that the words of Edwin Markham’s poem “Outwitted” could be true for us here at DCC.
He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win.
We drew a circle that took him in.
Amen and amen.
[1] Gary Wilburn, Gateway Into God’s Realm, online at www.tcpc.org/resources/articles/gateway.htm .
[2] Online, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/39/story_3972_1.html
This week I am returning to a sermon that I preached three years ago, one that was quite well received. I have made some changes; however, most of it is the same. I started with a quote from Captain Eddie Rickenbacker about an experience of being lost at sea with his men for 21 days during WWII.[1] This Navy crew was flying to the Pacific Islands on a special mission when their plane crashed. Rickenbacker later wrote and I quote, “In the beginning many of the men were atheists or agnostics, but at the end of the terrible ordeal each, in his own way, discovered God. Each man found God in the vast, empty loneliness of the ocean. Each man found salvation and strength in prayer, and a community of feeling developed which created a liveliness of human fellowship and worship, and a sense of gentle peace.”
My guess is that most people who hear these words feel good about these men being able to find God, each “in his own way”; however, many if, not most, Christians today believe that the millions of people who find God outside of Christianity are not saved. The scripture reference for these beliefs comes from our Gospel today where Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved…” And later in John 14:6, an even stronger statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The author of the Fourth Gospel is very fond of using metaphors, figures of speech where one word or phrase is used to illustrate a certain meaning in place of another word, usually used to help in understanding; let me give you a non- religious example: The Internet is an information superhighway or life is a journey. John is the Gospel of the “I AM” statements; I AM the bread of life, the true vine, the light of the world, as well as I am the gate. Historically, the Johannine community was a small minority of Jews who had become Christians and thus kicked out of the Temple and frequently persecuted. When people are a minority it is especially important to stick closely together and the belief that “our way is the only way” often is an identity marker as well as being a protective and self-enhancing belief. When circumstances change, as in the growth of Christianity, the language and often the original ideas remain. So for over 2000 years we have heard that Jesus is the only way to God, the only way to be saved.
When I was looking for various views to answer the sermon question, I came across quite a few websites that emphatically believed that Jesus is the only way to God. The reasoning was along these lines: “Either the Bible is right and there is no other way to salvation, or the Bible is wrong and all other religions are right. If all roads lead to God then the Bible is a false book and does not have any reliability. If anyone claims to be Christian and says that other religions are equally valid he or she is saying that Jesus is a liar. There are probably some of you here today that agree with these statements. This view is the product of a Christianity that takes the Bible literally rather than a truth set in a historical and cultural time. I can’t remember which Indian tribe has a creation story that ends with, this is all true and some of it actually happened!
Another view of those who believe that Jesus is the only way to God uses the example of the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant and each ending up describing the elephant in very different terms. This view says that each of these men was blind and each was wrong, stating that as long as we are blind we remain in the darkness, not aware of the truth of God being revealed through Jesus. I won’t discuss any more of these beliefs that come from the literal interpretation of the Bible as most of you are well versed in them.
There are Christians that do not believe in the exclusiveness of Jesus being the only way one can enter God’s kingdom. One of these groups is known as Progressive Christianity, a group that I have talked about in many different ways over the almost 5 years I’ve been with you. My last two long-term ministers before I went to seminary were both active believers in Progressive Christianity. One of them, Fred Plumer from the Irvine, CA church, is now the president of this group. They have eight basic points, the first of the original version says, we are Christians who “proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God;” followed by the second point that says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God’s realm”. (Repeat) In 2003 they made some revisions to the 8 points and these two now read like this: “we are Christians who have found our approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus. The second point says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way (or gate) to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.” I really like that. It’s the kind of belief that I believe would be very much approved of by the Jesus that I follow. I love Jesus; his way is my life. I believe that in Jesus Christ, God has opened a way into God’s eternal heart and everlasting life with others at the heavenly banquet table. It‘s not up to me to determine who else is sitting at that banquet table. But I know one thing for sure and that is the job of saying Yes or NO is already filled, taken by God, a God I believe has endless compassion and love, desiring all of us to repent and turn to God. There are so many mysteries in our faith, in our life, and I would encourage all of you to approach these mysteries with humility and gentleness. Another Progressive Christianity point is that we find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty—more value in questioning than in absolutes. So we may be surprised at who is sitting around that heavenly banquet table, if indeed we are sitting there ourselves.
In the New Interpreters Bible, the commentary I regularly use in preparing my sermons, Gail O’Day, a scholar of the Fourth Gospel, states that the statement that no one comes to the Father except through me is the joyous affirmation of a community that saw Jesus as the incarnation of God and accepted his statements that he and the Father are one. She differentiates between “Father” and “God” and says that “no one” meant those in this band of followers, not necessarily anyone in the world forever (Vol IX, p.744). She points out that this is not a cry of a powerful world religion but a religious conviction of a religious minority in the ancient Mediterranean world. She sees it as a being particular to this faith community rather than an exclusionary statement for all time and places. This scripture says “This is who we are… the people who believe in the God who has been revealed to us decisively by Jesus Christ.”
Let me affirm that Jesus is my gateway to God—God’s life, realm, being. Jesus is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm, my shepherd that leads me beside still waters. However, that does not mean that what is true for me as a Christian has to be true for all people. A contemporary author and theologian, Wm. Sloane Coffin, says as paraphrased by Marcus Borg, “God is defined by Jesus, but not confined to Jesus. Borg also quotes a Hindu professor at a Christian seminary that was preaching on the Gospel verse about the ‘only way’ as saying, “This verse is absolutely true—Jesus is the only way. And that way—of dying to an old way of being and being born into a new way of being—is known in all of the religions of the world. The way of Jesus is a universal way, known to millions who have never heard of Jesus.”[2] It seems to me that what the Hindu professor means is that the way of Jesus is not about a set of beliefs but about a way of life; not believing doctrines or words like Jesus, rather seeing the way of Jesus, his life as being the way of transformation from an old way of being and doing to a new way of being and doing. For us as Christians that new way is Jesus, the way of non-violent, unconditional love. Borg calls this Jesus as being the disclosure of what a life full of God looks like. We can say, “this is who Jesus is for us” without also saying, “This is the only way God can be known for anyone ever.” For me a theology of Christ that leads us to respect other religious traditions, not to deny their religious truth, is keeping with the belief that God is part of all of us, and we are all a part of God. My doorway may not be the doorway others can enter; however, it is my doorway and I am so thankful that for me that doorway to God is Jesus.
So as I end this sermon, I would urge any of you that are disturbed by what I’ve said today to come talk with me. In no way do I want to have a debate about our differences, yet I am always interested in what you have to say. Our opening story talked about how beautiful it would be to give others the freedom to experience their faith differently than ours. I pray that the words of Edwin Markham’s poem “Outwitted” could be true for us here at DCC.
He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win.
We drew a circle that took him in.
Amen and amen.
[1] Gary Wilburn, Gateway Into God’s Realm, online at www.tcpc.org/resources/articles/gateway.htm .
[2] Online, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/39/story_3972_1.html
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 10:07 AM
<< Home