This is not about what religions are acceptable and which are not.
This is not about who is right or wrong.
This is not about who is "saved" and who is "not saved."
This is about going somewhere - going somewhere following Jesus.
Many conceive of truth as an objective, unchanging reality. But Jesus presents truth as dynamic. Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." He ties truth to the "way" making it move on a journey. He ties it to "life," which grows organically. He ties it to himself--a living, breathing expression of flesh. Living flesh is constantly adapting to its environment. It cannot be pinned down. This undefinable reality, Jesus says, is how we find, see, know God ("the Father").
We trip easily over the phrase, "no one cometh to the Father but by me." A bold, challenging statement, it sounds exclusive. But it cannot be understood outside its context. The phrase was uttered to calm the anxiety of followers who feared they would be lost without him and needed to know a way. It was said by a man under threat to a community looming on dissolution. The man was being sought by the authorities. When found, he would go to the cross - punishment for threats to the social, religious, political, and economic order.
When Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" he implicitly equates "the way" with the way he is going. The way is the way of the cross. In other words, we can only reach God by giving our lives totally over to living a vision that will likely put us in the hands of our enemies.
"I am the way" does not constitute an ego trip. Jesus is not so self-absorbed as to make everyone's relationship to God all about him. Instead, "I am the way" tells Thomas and the rest of the disciples that they need not worry. They know him - that means that they know the way. They have experienced Jesus' work for God's kingdom. They have seen demonstrated before their eyes the sharing of bread among thousands of poor, the breaking of boundaries of hate, the formation of community against the worst that Rome and its Jerusalem collaborators can throw at them. Even when they feel lost after he is gone, the Spirit will maintain and even enhance the work.
Those who are self-absorbed, who insist that they alone have the truth - the powers of political, economic, social, and religious empire - perceive the dynamic, life-giving way as a threat. The powers always see the building of connections among the disenfranchised as a threat. They understand that when people begin to see each other's interests as mutual interests, their ability to play factions against one another (through fear and focus on difference) is diminished. Love - the connecting force that builds mutual responsibility and affection between disparate people - can be strong. The way that Jesus walked, the truth he embodied, the life that he lived too often they lead to a cross. The dynamic, ever-changing way must be halted by the powers and principalities and the life ended. The dynamic, ever-changing truth must be controlled, defined once and for all, fastened down. The open-ended pilgrimage of "the way" becomes "One Way." And Christ dies, nailed to the cross.
It makes the usual use of the "I am the way" passage so ironic. Most frequently, it is wielded as a weapon of domination. It is thrown down as a threat to enforce conformity with one theological vision or position.
To quote this passage in triumphalist, exclusive tones, is to miss the point entirely. When, in the long shadow of Constantine, Christians claim this passage as proof that we are right and others are wrong and that anyone who doesn't use the name of Jesus is going to hell, we violate its very premise. We attempt to conquer others rather than submit with love to a path that may lead to crucifixion.
"I am the way" comes as Jesus' message of reassurance. Just read the story, Jesus seems to say. Walk the way that I, Jesus, have walked and you will realize that you already know the way. Remind one another of your connections (as vines and branches are connected) and you will realize that you have the truth within you already. You need only go forward pursing what nurtures health and wholeness for all people and you will understand that you are living "the life."
"I am the way, the truth, and the life" calls us to mutuality. It calls us to care for one another. It demands that we acknowledge that salvation lies in continuing the process of making the Word flesh. It means honoring the physical, economic, social, and spiritual needs of all people.
Far from dividing the world into the saved and unsaved, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" testifies that we are all God's children. It calls us to spiritual respect and nurture of one another in openness to the Spirit.