May 7, 2023 – The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Good old Doubting Thomas returns today – as I predicted he would. And today Jesus challenges the disciples in a new way. He says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves” (Jn 14:11). To believe involves more than intellectual agreement. It involves committing the whole self to the care of God. It is a living bond of trust between two beings.

TRUST, Jesus says, when they see him arrested. TRUST, when they see him rejected and crucified. TRUST, when they see him dead and buried. As terrible as things appear, it’s not the end. The cross will be God’s incomprehensible way of deliverance, and Jesus’ way home to God, where he will go to prepare a dwelling place for his beloved.

The promise of Jesus in the Gospel of John is everlasting, mutual living in Christ. And Thomas isn’t about to launch out on a journey when they “do not know where you [he is] going” (Jn 14:5). Jesus answers Thomas with a great summary, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn 14:6a). Ironically, this may be the one thing that they DO “know,” but they don’t even realize that they know it.

Those of you who have been paying attention to the Gospel of John know that Jesus has already been established as “the life.” Life is in the Word (“And the life was the light of all people” in John 1:4). Those who believe in Jesus have “eternal life” (John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”). Jesus is “the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25).

And Jesus has also identified with and as “the truth.” He is described as “full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14, 17). Jesus says that John the Baptist “testifies on my behalf” and has “testified to the truth” (Jn 5:32-33). Jesus is the answer to Pontius Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38).

But what about “the way”? There is no other way, no alternate route – “No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6b). In fact, this is one of the boldest and most startling (and exclusive!) statements in all of Scripture. It defines who Jesus is, inviting us to accept his way.

When we believe – when we commit ourselves to Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life – we are empowered. As a consequence of believing and living in Jesus, we as disciples share Jesus’ power. We are to do the works of Jesus. We are to commit to continue Jesus’ mission, to bring life to all who will receive it. Whatever we need to accomplish that mission of bringing life, Jesus will give to us; we need only ask.

This is the presence and power of God released into the life of us believers. There can be no greater gift to us than this. This gift alone has the healing power to soothe the disciples’ “troubled hearts” and to prepare them for the life of self-giving that will necessarily be a part of following Jesus on the way. 

Well, that’s my take on the way, the truth, and the life… but my friends, what does it mean for you – right now and in your life day in and day out – that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”?