Preaching that Jesus is the only way

A pastor colleague wondered on Facebook, “If you're not preaching that Jesus is the only way, then what in the world are you preaching?” I take this to be a rhetorical question with the implication that one ought to preach that Jesus is the only way.

I’ve been giving this a great deal of thought since he wrote it. I asked him what he means by “preaching” and what he means by “Jesus is the only way.” By “preaching” he means “proclaiming”. By “Jesus is the only way” he means that “Jesus is the only way to the Father” and so forth.

I’ve been wondering whether anything that is true is simply by virtue of its truth something to be proclaimed. I’ve come to think that it is not. The following are examples of statements that may be true, but are the sort of statements that should generally NOT be proclaimed: “I’m sorry.” “I need you to know that you hurt me.” “You’re mistaken about that.” “You’re confused about that.” “What you did was wrong.” It seems to me that generally these are statements that ought to be spoken tenderly, vulnerably, and with respect. The context of these statements requires a different tone of utterance than proclamation. If they are proclaimed, they are unlikely to lead to a truly honest conversation.

I can affirm that “Jesus is the only way.” (Though not in all the ways that my colleague affirms, but those may be small disagreements). At the same time I recognize that making that statement has as its implication some of the statements I cited above as ones that ought not generally to be “proclaimed.” Since those are some of the implications, I resist preaching that Jesus is the only way.

I am aware that Jesus sometimes spoke sharply to his adversaries. As far as I remember, these situations were ones in which the adversaries were in the habit of proclaiming judgment on the weak and vulnerable and outsiders. Jesus’ proclamation in the Gospel of John that he is the only way are made, not in public contexts of argument, but in the context of the most intimate conversation he has with his disciples (John 14:6).

I think that Jesus’ preaching by his word and deed of the will to powerlessness is a more fundamental proclamation. To the extent that Christians live out THAT proclamation instead of adopting an arrogant and triumphalist tone, the more paradoxically compelling will be our witness.