Fifth Sunday of Easter-A
A month has passed since we celebrated the feast of Easter. The Gospel reading for this weekend is not directly associated with the Easter event; however, it comes from St. John’s account, written well after the momentous event. It doesn’t mean, however, that it has nothing to do with the resurrection or eternal life.
St. John recalls a meeting between Jesus and his disciples. Arguably, what he said about himself is the clearest description of who He is found anywhere in scripture. He tells his disciples. “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
There is a common definition of the ‘way” and one steeped in early Christian tradition. The former is fairly self-explanatory. It is the direction one takes to reach a destination. Then, there is the Christian meaning. At the beginning of the Church’s existence, Christians called themselves the Way. Saul, just before his conversion, went to the high priest asking permission from synagogues in Damascus that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.
Before he could fulfill his murderous plans, the Lord appeared to him on the road, asking why he was persecuting Him. Saul asked the Voice who he was, and the reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Notice what is happening here. Jesus calls himself the Way, uniting himself with his followers who also call themselves the Way. Further evidence of the intimate relationship between the bridegroom (Christ) and His bride (the Church). The early Christians understood that Jesus did not expect them to follow an idea, but a way of life in how they act and are.
Christians today need to be reminded of how the early Church members lived. They did not compartmentalize their faith as we too often do today. Rather, their faith was completely integrated into everyday circumstances and struggles. They believed at their core that no one comes to the Father (eternal life) except through the person of Jesus. Instead of being the bedrock of salvation, the modern mind wants to fudge on this claim by claiming there are other ways in which a person can attain salvation. The heresy is creeping into modern Christian thought under the banner of tolerance and diversity. No one is saved except through Jesus Christ.
Jesus goes on to tell us He is the truth. From the beginning of formal thought, the truth was understood as the unchanging and absolute reality imparted by God. Jesus prayed to His Father that his disciples be sanctified in the truth, reiterating that His Father is Truth. “Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.” As the Father’s Son, Jesus is also truth itself, along with the Holy Spirit.
By using truth as His divine attribute, Jesus is contrasting Himself with the deceiver, who has no truth, only lies. St. John makes the point of those who are unwilling or unable to hear the words of Jesus. “You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Finally, Jesus tells us that he is the Life. Last week’s post thoroughly illustrated that the Word, who existed from the beginning of all time, was the creative force and sustainer of all life. No other force or energy is responsible for the sustenance of life. No human, no technology, nothing random can account for the life of the world.
As if the creation and sustenance of life is not enough, our God, through the person of Jesus, offers the highest level of life, and it resides in the communion of the Trinity. The eternal life offered by Jesus through His death and resurrection means that the only way to eternal life is through Him. As mentioned earlier, the modern and heretical thought tries to suggest that there are ways to enjoy eternal life without Jesus.
The attributes of the way, truth, and life of Jesus are under attack and might influence how we practice our faith. But, for the faithful, we hold one to the words in which Jesus prefaced before telling us who He is.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” Jesus, I trust you!