Responding to a “pew to pulpit” question:

Why do we have to go through a man (Jesus) to get to God? We should be able to go straight to God and not through Jesus first.

Before Jesus, there was already a line of communication with God. But God realized it wasn’t enough.

God wanted to be more intimate with us, to connect better with us, and to give us a point of connection so that we could better relate to God.

Here’s how it’s explained in Scripture:

In John’s Gospel, in the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters, Jesus announces how He will be betrayed by one of His disciples, the one named Judas; and that another will deny him, the one they call Simon Peter. Eventually, Christ asserts that they should “[not] be troubled. [They must] trust in God. [And] trust also in [Him]. [His] Father’s house has room to spare.” He mentions how he is going to prepare a place for them and will eventually return to take them with Him and they will know the way to the place in which he is going.

In due course, one of the disciples known as Thomas (and later on, lovingly referred to as doubting Thomas) is listening to Jesus. Thomas asks: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?” to which Jesus Christ answers:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

That would certainly seem to put an end to our discussion about why we can’t go directly to God and must go through Jesus Christ to get to God. Clearly, we are given the answer straight from the Hosanna one’s mouth.

Well, that would be true, if we were to stop reading right at that passage. However, if we press on, this is what we find:

Immediately following that statement by Christ, we hear:

“If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”

Which then prompts Philip to request: “Lord, show us the Father; that will be enough for us.”

And that is followed by a response from Jesus proclaiming:

“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been with you all this time? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:1-11 CEB)

This latter part of John—after Christ’s assertion of being the way, the truth, and the life—is more critical to us because it essentially explains how and why Christ is the way, the truth and the life in this world.

He is that way because both He and God are one in the same. He is that way because they both work in unison. He is that way because His words are God’s words and His actions are God’s actions.

The gift of Jesus Christ was a gift for us to enjoy, appreciate and love. It wasn’t meant to be a blockade to prevent us from getting to God.

By receiving that gift, we have been given so much more in life: A God who loves us and has lived with us, who wants to support us, who gives us the promise and hope of a life beyond this one.