But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of The Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Tyurannus. Acts 19:9 NASB

Read Acts 19 for the back story. Paul is in Ephesus teaching. He has 12 new converts. The synagogue leaders were hardened against them and they moved to the school of Tyrannus. (That’s the short synopsis).

While reading Acts this year, this particular verse stood out in neon to me. That the early Believers were seen as believing in “The Way”. Why “The Way”?

In Greek, the word “way” is “hodos”. It can mean a road, a highway, progress. But in Matthew 13;4,19; and Mark 4:4, 15,the word hodos is used as a pathway between fields. I thought that was such an interesting concept.

As a child we had just that. Field roads between the fields. These paths or dirt roads gave access to different fields without destroying crops. We could do a check on the crops, or take one of the roads from the field to pastures. In any case those paths/roads gave access.

Giving access, isn’t that what the shed blood of Jesus did for us? Gave us access to YHWH God the Father? Without that redeeming blood, we have no access. We cannot get from where we are to where He is. But in Christ Jesus we have a pathway, a hodos that is the path, the way between our place of sin into new life in Christ.

I just thought that as we move from the “field “ of 2022 into the “field” of 2023, we can be confident that we are part of The Way. We are followers of Christ Jesus…and He has made the way, He has gone before us, even into this New Year.