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Jesus said, I am the truth
Have you ever had to describe someone you know and struggled to find the right words? This has already happened to me and I know that it has happened to others too. We all have friends or acquaintances whose description is difficult to put into words. Jesus had no problem with it. He was always clear and precise, even when it came to answering the question “Who are you?”. I particularly like one passage where he says in the Gospel of John: “I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me ”(John 14,6).
This statement sets Jesus apart from all leaders of other faiths. Other leaders have said, “I am looking for the truth” or “I am teaching the truth” or “I am showing the truth” or “I am a prophet of the truth”. Jesus comes and says, “I am the truth. The truth is not a principle or a vague idea. The truth is a person and that person is me. "
Here we come to an important point. A claim like this forces us to make a decision: If we believe Jesus, then we must believe everything he says. If we don't believe him, then everything is worthless, and we don't believe other things either that he said. There is no downplaying. Either Jesus is the truth in person and speaks the truth, or both are wrong.
That's the wonderful thing: to know that he is the truth. Knowing the truth means I can have full confidence in what He says next: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8,32). Paul reminds us of this in Galatians: “Christ set us free to be free!” (Gal. 5,1).
To know Christ is to know that the truth is in him and that we are free. Free in judgment of our sins and free to love others with the same radical love that he showed his fellow human beings every day of his life here on earth. We are free in confidence in his sovereign rule through all time and over all of creation. Because we know the truth, we can trust it and live according to Christ's example.
by Joseph Tkach
