I am the way the truth and the life

John 14: 1-12

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where [I] am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, 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, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

Discussion Questions:

1. If you believe Jesus is the “the way and the truth and the life”, what are the qualities in Jesus you most admire and try to imitate in your daily living?
2. How has coming to know Jesus deepened your relationship with God the Father? 
3. Within your personal prayer life and experience, how do you understand Jesus’ statement; “if you ask anything in my name, I will do it”?
4. What is troubling your heart most at this time, and how does God give you peace, hope, and keep you centered?
5. What in you today needs re-centering? “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places”

Biblical Context

John 14: 1-12
Sr. Mary M. McGlone CSJ

Today’s Gospel brings us back to the table of the Last Supper. As John organized his Gospel, the Last Supper, from the washing of the feet to the final prayer (13:1-17:26) takes up five of the 21 chapters of the Gospel in which the only significant action was Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples. All the rest is comprised of Jesus summarizing the essence of what he had taught about himself, his relationship to the Father and the life he offered the disciples.

As our selection opens, Jesus has told the disciples that he is going away, that Judas will betray him and Peter will deny him. Jesus’ next statement, our opening line, is “Do not let your heart be troubled.” This is perhaps the only place in the Gospel where Jesus tells the disciples not to imitate him. John has told us that Jesus had been “troubled” on various occasions: at the death of Lazarus (11:33), when he announced the coming of his hour (12:27), and when he spoke of being betrayed (13:21).

Because John has been so clear about Jesus being deeply troubled, he gives us the impression that Jesus is speaking from his own experience when he calls the disciples beyond their distress. When Jesus tells them not to be fearful he contrasts being troubled to having faith: they can be troubled or have faith, but not both. Fear springs from the assumption that you will be overpowered, trust is based on the confidence that God is with you even if you cannot imagine a good outcome. In calling for their trust, Jesus assures the disciples that they will never be alone. Yes, he is going away, but that doesn’t imply that he will be absent from them. That idea provides the lead-in to his talk about his Father’s house.

In the early part of the Gospel Jesus had berated the people who desecrated his “Father’s house” by making the temple a marketplace. He then declared that when they destroyed the temple, he would raise it up in three days, a statement John clarified by saying he was speaking of the temple of his body. Thus, in typical Johannine fashion, Jesus actually identified himself as the Father’s dwelling place, the person through whom the disciples would experience peace.

It will take a while for the disciples to understand what Jesus was telling them. From their day to our own the idea of “many dwelling places” has fired imaginations with many images. But if we hear this in the light of John’s patterns of thought we realize that Jesus was not talking about architecture but presence. Because he dwelt in the Father and the Father in him, his promise was that he was the way for his disciples to do the same. Their faith, their committed union with him would bring them into the same relationship with the Father that he himself enjoyed.

 Untroubled Hearts

Reflection
Sr. Barbara Reid O.P.

There are people who have the extraordinary gift of being able to exude a calm, unworried presence, even in the most trying of times. They are not oblivious to suffering and troubles, but they do not allow these to turn them into grim bearers of the glad tidings. Nor are they bright-eyed optimists who resolutely see the sunny side of every situation. It is not that they absolve themselves from involvement in caring for those who are suffering or from rectifying injustices. Rather, their outward joy is a reflection of a deep-seated hope and trust in God no matter what the circumstances. They have been able to take to heart in a profound way Jesus’ admonition to his disciples in today’s gospel: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” You know people like this. Are you one of them?

In today’s gospel, Jesus not only exhorts his disciples to have untroubled hearts, but he helps them know how to find the way there. The setting is the Last Supper and the disciples have plenty good reasons to be distressed. Jesus has been speaking of going away and of being handed over and of being denied by two of his closest friends. The disciples are confused and anxious. Where is he going and how can they know the way to be with him? Unlike the Gospel of Mark, where a central question is, Who is this? (2:7; 4:41; 8:29), throughout the Fourth Gospel the prime concern is “where.” The first potential disciples want to know, “where are you staying?” (1:38, NRSV). Jesus knows from where he has come and to where he is going, but[…]” “NRSV). At the empty tomb, Mary Magdalene’s distress centers on Jesus’ whereabouts: “we do not know where they have laid him” (20:2, NRSV; see also 20:13).

Throughout the Fourth Gospel, where does not refer to a geographical space but refers to inner communion with Jesus that rests on belief in God and belief in him. Jesus desires for his followers the same kind of indwelling that he enjoys with the Father, as he prays, “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (17:21, NRSV). Oftentimes Jesus’ assertions that there are many dwelling places in his Father’s house and that he is going to prepare a place for the disciples (14:2) are taken literally. Some Christians envision a heavenly mansion, where Jesus is reserving “a room with a view” for those who are faithful to him. But, the dwelling place of which Jesus speaks is a profound union with him that is both a present reality and a continually deepening movement that will be brought to completion in the fullness of time.

This is not an easy thing to grasp, nor is it a facile journey. “Yet in another sense, there is nothing more simple: Jesus himself is the Way. Thomas, who in John’s Gospel always voices the believer’s doubts and misunderstandings, blurts out, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” (14:5). An easy sidestep is to claim not to know the way. Another diversionary tactic is voiced by Philip: “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us” (14:8). His willingness to settle for a mere glimpse of the One who invites us into deep, abiding union is like stopping at a cheap motel when palatial accommodations are offered. We do know the way into the untroubled heart of God, and we have seen the fullness of the Divine visible in Jesus. Believing and following him, even in the face of death, our hearts can be “calmed and quieted … like a weaned child with its mother” (Ps 131:2, NRSV).”

Excerpt From “Abiding Word” Sr. Barbara E. Reid OP