St John's Vodcast

Tom Cuthell
Sermon preached on April 20 2008

Most of us manage through the day without being troubled or vexed by the big questions of life. Who am I? What’s the point of being here at all? Where am I going? More often then not, it can take all our time and energy merely trying to cope with whatever the day lands on our plate, so we’re content to leave questions about the meaning and purpose of life to the armchair philosophers. Then something out of the blue happens — perhaps the sudden death of someone very close to us — something elemental and traumatic happens which knocks our usual routines off balance, puts the skids under us and forces us to wrestle with the core questions of life. For instance, we find ourselves wondering where we are going — if anywhere. What direction do we take when our very sense of direction seems to have packed up? We may feel we’re going round in circles, but not really getting anywhere - like the tropical fish who were fooled by their owner when he pasted postcards onto the aquarium to give them the impression they were going somewhere. A searing experience of profound loss always makes us question our own direction in life. Today’s Gospel would seem to suggest that it was no different for the original disciples. Jesus’ departure was imminent, a prospect that threw his close followers into barely controlled confusion and panic. Thomas articulates their perplexity - what direction are they going to take in the absence of Jesus? What Jesus does not do is give his disciples a theology handbook that will answer all their thousand and one questions about God. We might wish that he did, but clearly this was not his style. There are no maps into the future with specific maps clearly arrowed. Jesus simply points to himself - ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.’ He alone is the gateway to God, the unrestricted access to the Father.

It is the tail-piece to this statement, however, that really stokes the fires of controversy. ‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ - words breathtaking in their boldness, words that, to some, verge on the arrogant, words that sound insufferably exclusive and so unlike Jesus. His style surely was to draw a circle so broad, so inclusive, so all-embracing that even those who wished to stand outside it found themselves absorbed and enveloped within it. Are these words simply an uncharacteristic blip on the part of Jesus, or is he saying, with uncompromising honesty, that no one can come to God except through him? Is therefore Christianity the one and only way to God? Does Christianity alone have a monopoly on truth? ‘No one comes to the Father except through me?’ God help us, Christianity has much to repent of in dust and ashes in that, over the centuries. It has interpreted these words as some kind of licence to exploit, browbeat, oppress and even enslave people of other religions. The obscene irony is that all this evil and brutality was supposedly done in the name of Christ. The Crusades, the historical persecution of the Jews, the worst of Victorian missionary excesses that were often in effect expressions of Western cultural imperialism - these were at best misguided, and at worst, infamous misinterpretations of Jesus’ words.

It would seem, however, that in recent years the pendulum has begun to swing in the opposite direction. Humility is replacing arrogance. No longer do people of other faiths suffer the indignity of being lumped together to constitute ‘the heathen’, and so become valid targets for uncompromising, hard-sell evangelism. There is an increasing awareness that all the great world religions are attempting in their own way to understand what makes the world tick, to fathom the deep mysteries of life. There is also an increasing
awareness that the real challenge to Christianity today comes not from other faiths but from the cult of scientific rationalism - a materialistic world-view that seeks to rubbish all talk of a spiritual dimension to life. God – religion – worship – heaven - things of the spirit - are deemed to be a hangover from a more primitive, less sophisticated age. Be that as it may - as far as other religions are concerned the in-word today is dialogue. As Christians we are called upon to respect other faiths, to enter into dialogue with Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems, to listen to their spiritual journeys, to acknowledge that they too can have profound insights into the mystery that is God. Humility, sensitivity and tolerance are the order of the day - and praise be for that. God preserve us from ever resurrecting the bad old days when zealots and religious fundamentalists would honour the name of their God by exterminating those deemed in their eyes to be the enemies of the one true faith.

Does it follow, then that all religions are really saying the same thing, believing in the same God or heading in the same direction? - as the man-in-the-street would put it - ‘Well, we all believe in the same God anyway, so it doesn’t really matter what you believe because we all want to get to the same place(meaning heaven)’ I can assure you that no Muslim, Jew or Buddhist worth his salt would subscribe to such a watered-down, mushy statement of religious vagueness - and no Christian worth his salt should do so either.
The question is sometimes asked - ‘isn’t one religion as good as another?’ At lunchtime last Tuesday I happened to tune in to the BBC soap ‘Eastenders’. The episode featured one of my favourite characters Dot Brannan , or Cotton as I prefer to remember her, taking a trip down Memory Lane, re-visiting the hop-fields of Kent where she worked in her young days. What fascinated me was a conversation, or rather debate, involving pious, church-going Dot and the son of an old friend from these hop-picking days - the son - a renegade priest - who had become disillusioned with Christianity. The position the friend’s son adopted was tantamount to saying that one religion was as good as another, whereas Dot - bless her - resolutely defended the classic Christian stance, to the extent of quoting the words of Jesus - ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.’

So - is one religion as good as another? The short answer is ‘No’. Granted, all religions, including Christianity, fall from grace and become a corrupt, and sometimes evil caricature of the real thing. But nothing will persuade me to accept that all religions are on a par with each other. Take the gospel values of forgiveness and reconciliation. As Christians you and I may not practise these values very well. But in cultures which have not been seasoned with the salt of the Gospel, forgiveness is seen as weakness - reconciliation is regarded as folly. If someone offends or injures you, revenge is deemed to be the morally right and entirely acceptable reaction. Who is right? I know what my answer is. What I am saying is that there are differences between the great world religions - huge, gaping differences when it comes to how each understands God and heaven and prayer and salvation and humanity - differences that cannot be pasted over or compromised - differences that are irreconcilable.

Ever since man has been man, he has been reaching up and extending his arms to try and penetrate the unfathomable mysteries of life. And while it is undeniably true that other faiths have provided profound insights into these mysteries, there is nonetheless a take-it-or-leave-it quality about the claims of Christ and his gospel which cannot be ignored.

Now the unique claim of Christianity is that while other religions reach up to God, the God made known in Jesus Christ reaches down to us in saving grace and offers himself in categories of flesh and blood, in a child in a manger, in a nomadic preacher, in a crucified and risen Saviour. To put it another way - this God makes himself visible, tangible and accessible in and through Jesus.

To know and to believe the story of Jesus is to possess a special and beautiful insight into the heart and mind of God and the way the universe hangs together - to know and to believe the story of Jesus is to possess a special and beautiful insight into the meaning of the human adventure, and the mystery that surrounds us all our days.

For the sake of political or religious correctness Christians cannot abandon what is essentially a Christ-like and Christ-centred mission to all men, women and children. The adjectives are crucial. As I have already suggested, Christian mission has often been anything but Christ-like and Christ-centred. The Church may have to repent of past infamy before it can say anything about Jesus that will not immediately be invalidated by its own life and behaviour. But to wait for the Church to become perfect before engaging in mission would be to wait until Kingdom come. Despite all its faults and frailties, the Church is called to set forth the exclusive claims of Christ within the all-inclusive grace and love of God. One final word - Jesus did not say, ‘No one comes to God except through me.’ He said, ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’ Other faiths have provided deep insights into the mystery that is God, and it is the height of arrogance to deny this to be so. But in Jesus alone we see God the Father - Jesus alone is the gateway to the Father - Jesus alone is the unrestricted access to the Father - and never has there been a more life-transforming, world-transforming insight than this.

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