5 Easter/Year A/May 7, 2023
Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; John 14:1-14
Collect of the Day: (A New Zealand Prayer Book)
Eternal God, your Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life for all creation; grant us grace to walk in his way, to rejoice in his truth, and to share his risen life; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The gospel reading for today is another very familiar one…especially the first few verses (vs 1-4) that offer Jesus’ words of comfort and assurance in the midst of uncertainty and loss…the ones we often hear at funeral and memorial services…“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
It’s also a familiar one, in a not so comforting way for some listeners who don’t identify themselves as Christians…because vs 6 in John 14: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” is often preached in a way that seems to exclude people who have other religious beliefs and faith practices…
Let’s take a look at the wider context of this scripture passage: John 14:1-7…and consider anew what the living Word of God, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is saying to us today…
Just prior to this gospel passage, beginning in chapter 13: before the Festival of the Passover, Jesus and his disciples were gathered together for the last supper. Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.
Jesus washes the feet of those gathered, and gives them a new commandment to love one another, just as Jesus has loved them and shown them.
Jesus knew that he would be betrayed and denied by his closest friends, and he said this to those who were with him.
He knew that his closest followers were feeling disoriented, confused, unsettled by what Jesus was talking about that evening.
That’s when Jesus’ words of comfort and assurance (in vs 1-4) …come into the context of today’s story…right in the midst of his closest friends feeling ungrounded and unsure of what to believe now…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.”
What comes next in vs 5…is a question for Jesus from Thomas, who was obviously confused and baffled by what Jesus was talking about …Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus answers him, in vs 6…“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
We often tend to think Jesus’ answer ends there with vs 6...and vs 6 is often the verse taken out of context to exclude others…but Jesus’ response to Thomas’ question continues through vs 7…
If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” … (You do know the way)
Let me share that again, vs 5-7…all together…
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
(You do know the way)
This is important to note…Jesus is responding to a question that Thomas is asking him…Jesus is not commenting on other religious beliefs and faith practices…
He is speaking to Thomas and to all of us, who are asking this same question…How can we know the way? He’s speaking to those of us who have many questions, those of us who are striving to know God, see God, love God, and figure out how to love one another now, especially in times of such uncertainty and unknowing, and as we try to figure out how to love those we don’t always agree with…
He’s speaking to those of us who are longing for signs of hope all around us, in the midst of personal losses perhaps, or as we look ahead to the future with apprehension and worry about how to move through this time of our lives wherever we fall on the spectrum of the ages and concerns of the times…
Thomas has been following Jesus for some time now, and perhaps many of us can say the same… but he is worried, he is afraid, just as we are sometimes no matter how strong of a faith foundation, we believe we have… Thomas wants to understand what Jesus means when he tells them they already know the way…
And so does Phillip and the others…
Jesus reminds them: (You do know the way)…
Jesus reminds them that in their relationship with him in the past years, walking alongside of him as he prayed with them, opened up the scriptures for their understanding, broke bread together, witnessed his miracles and healing of many people, they have already seen many signs of God’s love and presence in their midst…they know the way that Jesus is talking about…the way of love, God’s love, as revealed to us in Jesus, a love and a way of life, that has the power to heal and transforms people’s lives…
They know the way…they have spent their past and present time with Jesus…and now Jesus wants them and us to trust and know that our worries and our fears and our futures are all in God’s hands too…
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”
As we leave the worship service today… we can step out in confidence that we do know the way…and we are invited and encouraged to step out in faith, one day at a time, to walk in the way of love that proclaims not only with our lips, but in our lives that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life for all creation. May the Eternal God grant us grace to walk in his way, to rejoice in his truth, and to share his risen life.
Rev Julie Platson, St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, Sitka, AK
Closing prayer/Hymn: (WLP) 793
1 Here, O Lord, your servants gather, hand we link with hand;
Looking toward our Savior’s cross, joined in love we stand.
As we seek the realm of God, we unite to pray:
Jesus Savior, guide our steps, for you are the Way.
2 Many are the tongues we speak, scattered are the lands,
yet our hearts are one in God, one in love’s demands.
E’en in darkness hope appears, calling age and youth:
Jesus, teacher, dwell with us, for you are the Truth.
3 Nature’s secrets open wide, changes never cease.
Where, oh where, can weary soul, find the source of peace?
Unto all those sore distressed, torn by endless strife:
Jesus, healer, bring your balm, for you are the Life.
4 Grant, O God, an age renewed, filled with deathless love;
help us as we work and pray, send us from above
truth and courage, faith and power, needed in our strife:
Jesus, (the risen One) , be our Way, be our Truth, our Life.
**IMAGE: The Sun -- Edvard Munch, Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway