by Pastor Douglas Brauner

Jesus Is Our Way to the Father

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Jesus said to [Thomas], ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
John 14:6 New International Version

One of my fondest childhood memories was spending the evening at my grandparents house watching the Wizard of Oz. They had cable which meant the were able to watch all the Portland stations. We only had two stations in my hometown of Eugene. You couldn’t watch CBS unless you had cable.

We often wandered to my grandparents home to watch CBS, and once a year CBS would air the Wizard of Oz. I was enthralled by the movie, amazed with the vibrant colors of the land of Oz (yes, my grandparents also had a color television). I was scared by the flying monkeys an rejoiced when the wicked witch of the west melted away.

Dorothy believed that if she followed the yellow brick road she would arrive at the Emerald City, meet the wizard, and find her way back to Kansas.

Maybe you’re looking for the yellow brick road that will get you back to the life that you lived just a few weeks ago. As I write this devotion we’re beginning to feel the effect of the coronavirus. Some of us have tested positive, others have been quarantined, and most of us have been ordered to shelter in place.

We simply want to find the yellow brick road back home.

In the midst of this turmoil we hear Jesus tell his disciple, Thomas, that he is the road to our future, to our Father. We don’t know what will come of this virus, we don’t know what the new normal will look like, but we can be sure that in Jesus we have the way to the Father’s heart. We have the way into his love.

Through Jesus we can say with Dorothy, “There’s no place like home.” Only home isn’t in Kansas, it’s in our Father’s presence.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado