Jesus did not mince words. He made bold, unapologetic, unqualified statements:
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
“No one comes to the Father except through me.”
“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14:6, 9
He speaks like that because He is God, for only God (or someone delusional) could speak like that, with absolute, unqualified authority. But He makes these statements to ground our faith and assure us that our trust in Him is not misplaced. He shares these realities with us, His intimates, His beloved, so we can live confidently and courageously.
With that same authority and boldness, He also tells us (John 15:5), “Apart from me you can do nothing.” At first He shares the intimacies of the Trinity with us and in the next breath devastates our fantasies of independence and self-sufficiency.
This is the unique beauty of God’s Son. On the one hand, He puts us in contact with Deity and on the other hand, reminds us of our mortality. He is the Vine, and we are the branches, and so all that is God’s life flows through Him (and only Him) to us.
So in considering our power for living, we must not think in terms of electricity, dynamite, solar panels, or even nuclear reactors. Similarly, we must not imagine “Grace” as a commodity stored in a heavenly warehouse and delivered by an angel to our door.
Rather, we draw upon God’s infinite resources through a relationship with His Son. He speaks to us in His Word, we meditate and act upon His commands and precepts, and then speak to Him in prayer. Our ability to do life will only be as good as our conversation with Jesus.
While Jesus was talking with the woman at the well (John 4), the disciples were out buying groceries for the day. When they returned, and offered Him something to eat, He replied (John 4:32, 34), “I have food to eat that you know nothing about. . . My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”
We, too, discover strength for living day to day as we internalize and obey His Word. That should not surprise us. After all, in His own authoritative and absolute style, Jesus declared (John 6:35), “I am the bread of life.”
“Our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.”
1 John 1:3