ENCOUNTERING GODIn the verse prior Jesus even asserted, “All who
came before Me are thieves and robbers” ( John 10:8).
What an intense statement! That would include
Lao Tzu, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster or any
other person (actual or mythical) who claimed to
be either a divine incarnation or a master teacher
leading people to ultimate reality.
I don’t think any of these persons (who were
actual, living, human beings) intentionally tried
to ‘steal’ a position belonging only to Jesus. Most
likely, they were sincere in explaining life and
spirituality as they saw it. However, by claiming
to teach absolute truth, yet misrepresenting the
same, they all ‘robbed’ Jesus of His rightful place
as “the way, the truth and the life” ( John 14:6). In
that same verse He insisted:
“No one comes to the Father except through
Me.”
Either that was a grandiose claim, totally
baseless and egotistical, or Jesus really was
who He claimed to be – the Great Teacher, the
only begotten Son of God, and the only image
of the invisible God in this world. There is no
middle ground. One or the other has to be true.