I Am the Path
Jn 6:56-69; Mk 12:35-40
Illustration
by Brett Blair

Stanley Jones tells of a missionary who got lost in an African jungle, nothing around him but bush and a few cleared places. He found a native hut and asked the native if he could get him out. The native said he could.

"All right," said the missionary, "show me the way."

The native said, "Walk," so they walked and hacked their way through unmarked jungle for more than an hour.

The missionary got worried. "Are you quite sure this is the way? Where is the path?"

The native said, "Bwana, in this place there is no path. I am the path."

I think that it is here that Peter has one of his more honest and real moments. His guard was down because so many people were leaving Jesus. They were leaving because, quite frankly, things were getting a little too difficult. So, Jesus asks the twelve, are you going to leave me as well? "Lord, to whom shall we go?" Peter replied, "You have the words of eternal life. You are the Holy One of God." Peter speaks for us all. Because in this world there is not path. Peter, you are right. He is the Path!

ALTERNATE ENDING

Our path out of the jungle of this world is God in Christ. We may have some Rabbis, Masters, Father's, Teachers, and Reverends, but we are all like the missionary. We rely not upon men but Christ who is our path.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Illustrations, by Brett Blair