The Life
Scripture: (John 14:6) 6 Jesus
said to him, “I am . . .the life.
Devotion:
In this devotion I want us to explore
Jesus’ proclamation that he is the life. What does this mean to us today?
Why does Jesus include this word in this setting? Let us seek to find out what
Jesus is talking about in this verse. Let us learn how can Jesus be the life
for us in our daily lives.
Let us begin with a little word study
on the word life. The Greek translated life here is zoe which is defined simply
as life. Used as a noun here it refers to the state of being alive. Jesus here
is using the word simply to mean that if we are “in him” we will be alive as
Jesus himself is alive and sits down with the Father on the heavenly throne.
Looking at the word in the full context helps us understand how the word is
used here. Here is John 14:6-7 in full.
“I am the way, and the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had
known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have
seen him.”
Thomas a’ Kempis writes ““I am the
way, the truth, and the life. Without the way there is no going; without the
truth there is no knowing; without the life there is no living. I am the way
which thou should pursue; the truth which thou should believe; the life which
thou should hope for” (Thomas à Kempis, “Imitation of Christ,” iii., 56). We
can see from the above commentary that our word life fills out the meaning of
passage. We can see that seeing Jesus as the way and the truth simply needs to
be filled out with Jesus being the life for each of us to live.
Earlier in the John’s gospel Jesus
uses the phrase that he is the life when talking to Martha as he is about to
raise Lazarus from the dead. John 11:25-26 reads as follows: “Jesus said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet
shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never
die.” Here Jesus claims that he is the resurrection and the life perhaps foreshadowing
his own resurrection. And pointing to our resurrection as well.
John’s gospel is the only book of the
Bible that has Jesus uttering these words. John simply remembered these words
because the Holy Spirit brought them to his mind in order that he would write them,
and we would read and hear them and have this word picture for our Lord.
We have now looked at the way, truth,
and life trilogy of words. It is important to read them together in context to
give us the true meaning John intended these words to convey. Together they are
meant to direct us to Jesus as the very means of our salvation. They should
comfort us that Jesus shows us in his life, death, and resurrection the true
way of salvation. So, we can know how we then should live our lives as Jesus
followers. Let us pray:
Glory be to you Lord God Almighty. You
have shown your people the way of salvation that you have provided through your
own dear son Jesus. Help us to be faithful followers of Jesus through the power
of the Holy Spirit. Help us to know how we should tell others about the true
way to eternal life through your son Jesus. In whose name we ask this. Amen.
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