Fifth Sunday of Easter (A) [Jn 14:1-12]
07.05.2023
Jesus the Way to the Father
1. Theme in brief:
As revealer of God’s love and life
Jesus is the way to God
2. Focus Statement:
Jesus is
the medium (or the way) for us to know who the Father really is, because
through him now we have access to the truth about the Father (or the revelation
of God’s true nature) and gift of supernatural life.
3. Explanation of the text
According to John’s gospel, Jesus prepares his disciples to face his impending ‘departure’ (technically, meaning his passion and resurrection) from this world at his Last Supper with them. When he finishes washing their feet, he tenderly addresses them as “little children,” and plainly admits that he will be with them “only a little longer” (13:33). This statement must have confused and saddened them. Today’s gospel looks like his ‘Farewell Speech’ in which he counsels them not to let their hearts be troubled or worried. At a time of such feelings, he advises them to believe in God and believe also in him (14:1). As per the meaning of “believing” in John’s gospel, we can understand that he advises them to overcome fears and anxieties with total trust in the Fatherly care of God and with a personal attachment to him (his Son) and trust his promises.
There is an added reason why they should not let such feelings overtake them -- his departure is for their own good, or for their own sake. Its purpose is to prepare a place for them in his Father’s house, that is, heaven (14:2). From there, he will “return” afterwards to take them to that “place” so that they may be where he is (14:3). This is a reference to his Second Coming (called Parousia). Thus, his relationship with them will go on for ever. If they can trust in this promise, their anxieties will be toned down very much. He speaks of heaven as his Father’s house with many ‘dwelling places.’ This should be symbolically understood to mean the Father’s large-heartedness to embrace in his heart all those who place their trust in him. God is neither selective nor exclusive; there is plenty of room in his heart.
One of the disciples, Thomas,
expresses his ignorance
of both the place where Jesus is going and the way to reach there (14:5). It is
something like not knowing even the address of the place, let alone the route
to reach there. In
answer, Jesus emphasizes his role as the one who not only shows the way to the
Father but also as the way itself. How and why he is the way? He is the way leading to the Father precisely
because he is the truth and the life of the Father (14:6). In him God’s attributes of truth and
life are in their fullness, because he is in the Father and the Father is in him
(14:11).
Truth refers to Jesus' role as the revealer of the full truth about the Father; that is, who God really (actually) is and to what extent he loves us. In other words, he is the complete revelation of what the Father is like or what is his real nature. Life refers to his role as the one who shares or gives divine life to anyone who ‘believes’ in his name. In other words, he brings God's gift of divine life to the ‘believing’ world. Thus, Jesus becomes the way or medium to know God because he reveals to us the true nature of God (thus removing our ignorance about God’s true love) and sharing with us his divine/supernatural life. In simple terms, Jesus becomes the medium (or the way) for us to experience the truth about God’s unconditional love and experience of his supernatural or divine life. He is also the medium through which we can reach our final destination (that is, heaven). To put it differently, Jesus is the way (or the gate as we find in Jn 10:7) for us, because through him now we have access to God’s true nature (that is, unconditional love) and God’s own divine life.
Philip’s request to Jesus to show them the Father, whose vision will
satisfy them tremendously (14: 8), brings out his earnest desire for the vision
of God which a
disciple needs to possess. This desire perhaps would be a remedy for their troubled hearts. It becomes
clear from Jesus’ answer, since he and the Father are one, those who “believe” (or
put their trust in him) really encounter God in their encounter with him (14:10-11). A
deep faith necessarily produces good works and a closer and deeper and deeper union
with Jesus in future can produce greater works than what we are doing now (14:12).
4. Application to life
All of us have our fears and anxieties generated by thoughts of being attacked by an enemy, killed in a bomb blast or accident, left alone in old age, ridiculed and rejected by others, becoming victims of dreadful sicknesses like cancer and heart attack, or natural/ man-made calamities (like accidents, floods, earthquakes, cyclones) and untimely or sudden death. There is a fear of the unknown future in all of us always lurking in our subconscious minds. Some of the frightening events such as riots, wars, terrorist attacks, rapes, and natural calamities bring so much tragedy, confusion and sadness to our lives. It is natural that our hearts get troubled or worried at those moments. In these situations, Jesus calls us to heed to his advice given to his disciples at the time of his departure from this world.
The first remedy Jesus
suggests for a troubled heart is a deep and unwavering faith or trust in God and in his
goodness, in his promises. The question is: Do we try to overcome fears and
anxieties with
total trust
in God’s providence or care? Jesus invites us to believe in the healing power
of faith in such trials – a power which can calm down or quieten our troubled
hearts. As Jesus says in other places, faith can ‘move mountains’ and ‘uproot
deeply rooted trees’ (cf. Mt 17:20; Lk 17:6; Mk 11:23). What it means is a
strong faith has the power to walk through mountainous anxieties or problems and uproot deeply-rooted bad habits or addictions (like
‘trees’). Of course science cannot prove this. If we need any proof, we need to
listen to the testimonies given by persons like those who came out of their
alcoholism or any other addiction, or sinful life and got reformed. To become
persons with an untroubled heart, we need to have a strong and living faith in
the Risen Lord.
The second remedy proposed by Jesus is our hope in the promise of
Jesus that he has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us in heaven, and his
desire to take us where he is. He has gone before us precisely for this purpose.
He has told us that we must trust his promise as true; if not he would not
have made such a false promise. What a brotherly concern for us! What a consolation
and privilege to know the relationship we established with him at the time of
our baptism will go on for ever, unto eternity. When we think how safe we
are in his hands, our anxieties can settle down to a state of quietness and inner peace.
As we fix our eyes on that eternal abode, we get courage to face the troubles of
this life.
Even though we have advanced in our faith-journey for so many years,
still all of us are sometimes quite ignorant about God’s ways and designs or signs
of his love and care as we notice in Thomas, according to today’s gospel text. Though
we believe in the Risen Lord’s all-powerful presence in all situations, when
trial comes we behave as if we walk alone in our confusion and anxieties, and
forget that there is a Divine Companion who walks with us in all situations of our life’s journey. The moving story
of travellers to Emmaus in Luke’s gospel tells us that we are always walking
with a friend and a fellow traveller like us in our faith-journey, who is no
other than the Risen Lord. He has assured us that he not only shows the
way to the Father but personally walks with us. He not only tells us the address and
direction to reach God, but personally accompanies us in our journey towards
that goal. As the Risen Lord, he is not restricted or limited to one place or time,
but is present in all situations, in all the ups and downs of life. He is like
a shepherd who himself becomes the gate by sleeping at the only entrance of the
sheepfold, as was the custom in his cultural milieu (10:7).
As we have noted in the explanation of the text, Jesus
not only shows us the way to the Father, but he is the way itself. When we go
to a new place and do not know the way or direction to a particular spot, we
normally ask others how to reach there. Most people give us directions like
going straight, then turning to left or right, etc. But we forget what they
say. Occasionally, we meet somebody who not only shows the way but accompanies
us, telling us that he or she is also going to the same place. This is what
Jesus does to us with his promise of taking us to the Father. Jesus is the way
to meet,
know and
reach
the Father. He is the way to meet and reach peace and happiness. To know Jesus is to
know God. He is the embodiment of God’s nature and character. He himself
becomes the way to God: to see him is to see God; to obey him is to obey God;
to love him is to love God. There are so many other ways to achieve
satisfaction and happiness in life: ways of the world such as ways of comfort,
convenience, egoism, violent ways to achieve one’s aim, etc. These ways try to
achieve success, name, power and wealth through bypass methods – bypassing the
cross. We have to choose between Christ’s way and world’s way. Jesus’
way is the way of self-sacrifice or sacrificial love, humble service even to
the lowliest, compassion and forgiveness. Among the many ways to reach God
shown by Jesus the most touching is the way of the cross or attaining glory
through the cross. Our call and goal is to walk on this way and we are sure to
reach the Father.
The problem is not that many walk on
the wrong
way but they do not have a definite way (or purpose of life) they choose
for themselves. They prefer to blindly walk the alluring and attractive path of
the world or follow the fads and whims of the world. Just imagine where or to
which direction the ways of the world will lead us and where the way of Jesus
will lead. As a Christian, what is the way we have decided to walk as our
life’s purpose?
There are different ways to reach God shown
by other faith traditions, gurus and founders of religions. Our personal faith that
Jesus is the only
way to God may sound offensive to followers of other religions,
especially in the multi-religious context of
When people of other faiths ask me
such questions, without downgrading their faith and after showing due respect to
their religious views, I say: “I find meaning in the way of life shown by
Christ for the following reasons: Though he was innocent, he willingly took
upon himself all our sufferings, humiliation and death. When he was totally rejected
by all on the cross, he too felt like us that
even God had abandoned (forsaken) him. When we undergo unbearable suffering,
when our prayers are not answered and when we feel the absence of God, we too can
cry out with Jesus in the same way he cried out from the cross in the midst of
unbearable suffering: ‘My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me’ (Mt 27:46). This example attracts me immensely to follow
Christ. Now I follow Christ out of my personal choice,
though at first I became a Christian because of my parents. After all, adult
faith is a matter of personal attraction, personal choice and one’s own
conscience”
5. Response to
God's Word
Does our faith sustain us in our troubles? Is our faith a matter of going through only some rituals, or a great source of influence on our thinking, choices and behaviour? Which words of Christ or example influence you? Though you became a Christian in the beginning because of your parents, today why do you choose to be a Christian? Is it just because you were born in a Christian family, or you have your personal reasons? Are you able to explain to a well meaning friend of another religion why you follow Christ, when he/she sincerely asks?
6. A Prayer
Jesus, we believe that you are the way, the truth and the life. In the
midst of troubles and anxieties, we put our trust in you and your way. We believe
your power can calm down and quieten our troubled hearts; can move mountains of
anxieties and uproot deeply-rooted worries in us. You are the way to meet, know
and reach the Father. We regret for the times we chose the way of the world
instead of yours and thus remained cut off from the gift of divine life which
you offer. Grant that we may remain faithful to your way. Amen.
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