John 14:5-14
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus and His name seem to start or create controversy...Whether it is about believing He existed, or believing in His teachings, or just reading many of His statements one can find controversy...Some claim He is just a Great Prophet, while others claim He is just a myth and is not a historical person...Some do not believe He is the Son of God, only a good or nice teacher...Others believe He is our LORD and our God...
When He walked the earth, with what He taught and the time He taught and where He taught would be of great controversy...This cannot be stated enough about early Jerusalem and with the people and God...Jesus taught in the nation of Israel and in the cities in and around Jerusalem...Israel had only one God...Only God could forgive sins, but Jesus went around forgiving people...He made statements like I and the Father are one...I AM the way, the truth, and the life...He who knows Me knows the Father...He who loves Me will be loved by the Father...You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it...
In His time and day, and in Jerusalem as the center of religion and with the God of Israel there, He would have been very controversial...By Jesus just walking around forgiving people, without looking for the original people that that person had sinned against, would have caused great controversy...It did and the Pharisees were one of the groups not accepting this...Jesus comparing Himself to God would be blasphemy (unless He is God or His Son)...We know that the First Commandment is there is only One God, and we shall have no other Gods besides Him...Again this would have caused much controversy in Jerusalem in His days...The critical Pharisees did not have much choice to being His opposition if they did not believe in Him...If He is not God or the Son of God, the Pharisees would have to do what they did and send Him to Pilate to be judged...
There are many more controversial statements throughout all the gospels...If we believe that He is the truth, then when we read His teachings and/or each teaching and we think is controversial, something is amiss...As we examine the controversy in this light, in His light, then we have been thinking wrong about that teaching or subject, if He is our Ultimate Truth...
The controversy is all about what we believe about Him and His Father...If we do not believe He was sent by God, then we must believe like the Pharisees...But if we believe in Him and the One who sent Him, we must believe in what He spoke and taught...Some of His teachings are tough, like loving your enemy...Some of His teachings like this are controversial and hard, because we do not to follow that teaching, for instance -to love our enemy...Some of His teachings are controversial, because He is from heaven, and we are of this world (John 3:13)...We cannot understand, because it is who we are...But His teachings are gospel...And when we read and feel His statement or statements are controversial, it is us, the reader causing the controversy through our limited understanding, because He is the Truth...