This is a dense gospel reading, John has a way of packing a lot of meaning into just a brief message, I will attempt to do some unpacking… but I’ll try to remain brief. When I look at this week’s readings, I see two major emphases. The first is one of reassurance and the second is one of instruction and empowerment.
Stephen states his assurance in God when he says, “Lord receive my spirit.” David expresses his trust in God by writing, “You are indeed my rock and my fortress; …Into your hand I commit my spirit;” Peter writes that even the rejected will find a place of prominence. And of course John tells us that Jesus began his farewell message with, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me” He reassures the disciples that he is going ahead on a journey; a journey that they will follow, and in fact, Jesus tells them that they actually already know the way.”
A journey? And we know the way? The disciples balk and question and show their lack of faith, as disciples are wont to do. And then we read the familiar words, “‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The disciples wanted to know the way and Jesus told them… Jesus is the way, the truth, AND the life. But it’s not so plain to understand, is it? So… as Ricky says so often to Lucy… I think we got some s’plainin to do.
To understand what this passage means, we need to look at the context. What was going on? Jesus has just finished telling this group of disciples who he loves and who loved him, their teacher and their Lord, that he’s going away where they cannot follow... at least not yet. He continues by telling Peter (who has fully pledged his love and life to Jesus) that Peter will betray him, not once, but three times before morning. Slam after slam... worse yet, the disciples might have gotten the feeling that they are being punished since previously, Jesus had told the skeptics that where he was going they could not follow. So the disciples are in the same boat as the skeptics? I’m sure they were thinking, "Oh no! What did we do? Why is he leaving? What’s going to happen to us? When will we see him again?"
How many times in our own lives do similar fears and anxieties come upon us… such as after the loss of a friend or family member or on the occasion of saying goodbye to our family members from other parts of the country after they have come to visit?
Last week is known as "Shepherd Sunday" because of the quotes about Shepherds in many of the readings. I’m thinking that this Sunday could be called "Nervous Sheep Sunday" because the Shepherd says, "Hey, I’m going to go now... but don’t worry, you will follow later, and again, don’t worry, because you know the way." You can imagine the sheep responding, “What!? We know the way!? How can that be? We are just sheep? AAAAaaaahhhh!!!” What a panic the disciples must have been in. Having tossed aside their lives and plans and families to follow Jesus and now he’s going away!?
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled… you know the way to the place where I am going.’
Now maybe that helped some of the disciples or maybe Thomas and Philip were the only ones bold or scared enough to ask for more information. How could we know the way? Show me the Father! Clearly, Philip must have been from Missouri, the Show Me State. Reading this today, we might be tempted to ask, “Were these disciples so short of faith? How could they be so dense?”
No, I don’t think people like Thomas and Phillip are any different than the rest of us. I know I can relate to them, can’t you? I think of the words of a Caedmon’s Call song:
I hear it all depends on my faith
So I’m feeling precarious
The only problem I have with these mysteries
Is they’re so mysterious
I’ve begged you for some proof
For my Thomas eyes to see
A slithering staff, a leprous hand
And lions resting lazily
A glimpse of your back-side glory
And this soaked altar going ablaze
But you know I’ve seen so much
I explained it away
I thank God for the narratives about people like Thomas and Philip. They are our reassurances that even these guys, who have followed Jesus around for years in person, still can have fears and still can worry about what is to come. We’re human and so we sometimes doubt. So we cry out, “I believe. Help my unbelief. Show us the way. Show us the Father.”
So how does Christ respond? What answers do we find? To Philip’s request to see the Father, we read that Christ responded with the mind-boggling words “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father… Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” To Thomas’ question about how they could possibly know the way since they didn’t know where Jesus was going, John reports that Jesus says, “You know me. And I am the way. I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, we can also say that no one comes to the Father except through the way, the truth, and the life. These are the instructions for the disciples, and in fact, for us all. To follow the way, the truth, and the life… is to follow Jesus, to follow Love. Jesus told the disciples that they knew the way because they had been following and listening to Jesus for years. He had been teaching them the way all along. He had been engraining himself into their hearts… giving them a way of knowing that is, as Georgine says, not only knowing by head… but knowing the way by heart.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled… you know the way to the place where I am going.’ In fact you know the way by heart.
In fact, this way of knowing may go even deeper than that… it may be part of our very being, knit into the fabric of our bodies, and ever present in the essence of our minds. Have you ever heard a tune and you could just anticipate what the next note would be? Or have you ever listened to a poem that you could guess the next phrase? Or maybe you’ve been blessed with a gift of dance and when you learned a new step it just flowed as if you knew it all along. I think that’s what Jesus is talking about when he says, “You know the way.” We know the way because when we encountered Jesus for the first time, we were changed into “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that we may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We know the way because we know Christ, we know love.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled… you know the way to the place where I am going.’ It is part of who you are.
So what are these? The way, the truth, and the life…
Jesus is the way (our model for behavior; how we live our lives)
Jesus is the truth (our guide in knowing God’s will)
And Jesus is the life (a promise of shalom which means more than just peace but more appropriately translates as fullness and completeness of life).
The way – Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’
- The way in which we are called to live our lives is the way of love, love for God with our whole being and love for our neighbor as ourselves.
- The way of love is the way of forgiveness, the way of caring, the way of compassion. We see the way of love in how Christ lived with us, wept with us, rejoiced with us, fed us, healed us, and humbled himself for us.
- Acts 7:59-60 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died. [When he did this, he was walking in the way.]
The truth – Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’
- The truth is that God loves us, all of us. God loves us so much that God redeemed us through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- The truth of God’s love is shown in Psalm 31:3-5 You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
- The truth of God is proclaimed in Acts 7:56 ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’
- Sometimes the truth of God’s love is not always easy to share. In the passage just before today’s passage from Acts, Stephen, was accused of blasphemy and brought before the council. But when given an opportunity to defend himself against the charges, he spoke hard truths to them, pointing them toward the way. It was a hard truth resulting in Stephen’s death, but it had dramatic consequences... it may have planted the seed that led to Saul’s conversion.
The life – We have this life, this newness of life. We sense it keenly when we reconcile with a quarrelsome sibling, forgive an obstinate spouse, or show grace in any way. When the Spirit of God flows over us and we wonder at the beauty of a piece of music or the majesty of the sun shining out from behind the clouds, we sense this life. The blessing of community, our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances of all walks of life, denominations, religions, and so on share in this blessing of life when we follow the Way, speak the Truth, and show forth the Life. We attain Shalom. Glory to God in the highest for the gift of life and life eternal.
- John 10:10b I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
- 1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled… you know the way to the place where I am going.’ The way is Jesus, Jesus is God, God is love, and through love, we are walking on the path to God, the place where we are going.
