Followers of The Way, Part 2 of "The Way" Series (Dec 2021)©

Whenever I get the opportunity to actually write the answer to the question on a form wanting to know my religion, I always write, “follower of the Way.” It’s what’s posted on my FB profile as my religious preference. And if people ask me what religion I am, I give the same reply. It is guaranteed to either stop the conversation cold or lead to more questions.

Part 1 of “The Way” series asked the question, who are Followers of The Way? The answer was followers are disciples. Not just “Christians,” but active, invested, committed-to-being-transformed, disciplined students of Jesus and his word. This begs the question, what is “The Way” they are following?

The simplest answer is that Jesus Christ is The Way. He said so himself. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). It really doesn’t get any more straightforward than that. In fact, this blog post could stop right here, mic drop, and we’re out.

But there is more to say.

The Way is a person. The Way is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for the world that the world might find eternal life in and through Him. The Way to God is God himself, whom Jesus claimed to be.

Where did this term, “the Way” come from? It came from the Bible. In the book of Acts, the Pharisee Saul asked for letters from his superiors to persecute “those who belonged to the Way” (Acts 9:2). This term is used again in Acts 19:9 & 23, where people were badmouthing the Way, in Acts 24:14, where it was called a sect (of Judaism), and in Acts 24:22 where the Way was apparently well known by the governor of that day.

In each of these verses, the word “way” is capitalized, making it a proper noun, a label for those who, at the time, were clustered into this strange new religion born out of Judaism but with noticeable differences. This was a label given by others to collectively identify those earliest believers in and followers of Jesus as Messiah. It was also a label embraced by those who belonged to it. We really don’t know who first coined the term, but it worked, and it stuck for a while and it seemed to help everybody understand who and what was meant.

Curiously, when Jesus called himself ‘the way,’ he didn’t capitalize it. A quick review of the Greek origin of this word clarifies that Jesus was claiming to be the only route or path or road to God the Father: he literally meant that he was the sole true pathway to eternal life with God the Father. This idea is what the author of Hebrews refers to in 10:19-20, where the “new and living way” to come into the Holy Place where God is. The separation had been bridged, the chasm crossed, and the way across that chasm is over the shed blood and resurrected body of Jesus Christ.

But there is more to say.

Scripture, particularly the First Testament (aka the Old Testament), is literally riddled with references to “the way” including but definitely not limited to:

· The way of sinners (Ps 1:1)

· The way of the righteous (Ps 1:6; Prov 8:20)

· The way of the Lord and the way you should go (Ps 18:21, 25:10, 25:12, 32:8)

· The way of his laws, precepts, commands (Ps 119:27, 30, 33 and tons more)

· The way everlasting (Ps 139:24)

· The way of wisdom (Prov 4:11)

· The way of insight (Prov 9:6)

· The way to life (Prov 10:17)

· The way to walk in (Is 30:21)

· The Lord leading them in the way (Jer 2:17)

· The good way (Jer 6:16)

· The way of life versus the way of death (Jer 21:8)

· The way of love (Eph 5:2)

· The way of truth (2 Pet 2:2)

· The way of righteousness (2 Pet 2:21)

And then there is one of my favorites: “There is a way that people think is right, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov 14:12, ERV, emphasis mine).

Any one of these verses could be a discussion on its own. I think the better approach at this moment is to look at the overall principle revealed by the collection of verses: there is a right way and a wrong way and there’s no two ways about it.

What is “the right way”? It is both the person of Jesus Christ and the manner in which he lived and called his disciples to emulate. This call was not predicated upon some prescribed set of rules, acquiring more gold stars than black marks in order to earn one’s way into heaven by being “good enough.” THAT is a lie straight from the pit of hell itself, and, one must always ask, “What IS ‘good enough’? Better than Hitler? Better than Mother Teresa? The trouble is, when we set a standard of “good enough” against another human being, we just can’t get there because human beings are not the standard of measurement: Jesus is. He’s the only one who can be.

No, this call to emulate the person of Jesus Christ was and still is predicated upon love. He loved us enough to bridge the chasm once and for all and he asks us to (a) believe that he actually did that, (b) receive it as a free gift, a ticket, if you will, to cross the bridge, and (c) love him back the same way – with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength – to the end of our days and then forever. This is where the following comes in (see Part 1).

So, what is The Way? It is the Person and the road we must follow. It is indeed the “road less traveled,” but that does not make it – or Him – any less worth pursuing. Far too many in modern-day westernized Christianity have lost sight of The Way, reducing their faith to tasteless pablum that neither nourishes nor inspires. It is time we reclaim The Way as our identifying moniker and as our intentional practice, indicating and demonstrating something deeper, something more than the vapid version of spirituality that characterizes the faith of so many who call themselves Christian.

I challenge you to start calling yourself a Follower of the Way, out loud, and see what happens. Be warned: you must be prepared to explain yourself.