Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
“And the life” – Some of the definitions of the word “life” from the Merriam-Webster dictionary: “The quality that distinguishes a vital and functional being from a dead body/A principle or force that is considered to underlie the distinctive quality of animate beings/The sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual/One or more aspects of the process of living/Spiritual existence transcending physical death/The period from birth to death/A way or manner of living/LIVELIHOOD/A vital or living being specifically: PERSON/An animating and shaping force or principle/The form or pattern of something existing in reality/One providing interest and vigor/An opportunity for continued viability.”
Every plant absorbing carbon dioxide while emitting oxygen, every animal that moves and breathes, every bird flitting around or soaring high above, every fish or earthworm or single-celled microscopic entity has one thing in common – every human being as well – LIFE.
John 1:3-4, in speaking of Jesus, says “ was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” All living things have life in common, while none would have life if Jesus were not providing it or continuing to sustain it. Everything about us – our ability to earn a livelihood, our ability to move, our experiences, our heartbeat, our spiritual identity, our actual personhood – is provided by Jesus. He is the shaping force that makes us who we are and allows us to exist at all. His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection has provided us with an even greater existence to come – eternal life in the presence of God. When Jesus told the disciples he is the life, he was stating all of these things and more. Take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus “came that you may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10 ESV) – for Jesus is the life.
