5th SUNDAY OF Easter
1Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-12
“I am the way, the truth and the life;
no one comes to the Father but through me.”
The gospel readings
on the fifth, sixth and seventh Sundays of Easter are taken from the farewell
address of Jesus (Jn 14-17). Our liturgy has ample reason for this. It is to
prepare us to celebrate the big feast of the lord’s ascension. Let us note,
however, that here in the
1. “I am the Way.” There may be several
paths to happiness as there are many ways of killing a dog. That is why man has
resorted to many beliefs and religions in his search for happiness. And since
the quest for happiness is as old as humanity, we cannot count by our fingers
the many ways man has resorted to since the foundation of the world. But once
the Word became flesh; once God himself opted to become man like us, the way to
happiness has zeroed down to one: Jesus! Jesus is the way, and there is no
other way than him. He is the only way since it is what the Father wants every
man to follow.
The way of
the Lord is a way of service. And he shows the perfect image of service by his
simplicity and humility. He starts the path of salvation by stooping down. In
Paul's language, "Though he was in the form of God, Jesus did not deem
equality with God something to be grasped at. Rather, he emptied himself and
took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of man". (Phil 2:6).
One like us, he led a simple life of a carpenter, befriending the poor
fishermen, joining and teaching the ordinary folks, healing their sick and
consoling them from grief and from every life's misfortune. By this, he showed
the true sense of service in a most simple and humble way. By word and example,
he taught them that he came to serve and not to be served!
The way of
the Lord is a way of suffering. His simplicity and humility resulted to his own
abominable suffering. His suffering is both physical and moral. He took upon
his shoulders the weight of the cross and marched toward the valley of death.
But what made the cross heavier than ever was the betrayal and denial of his
friends, and of course, the sins of the world. And behold, hanging on a cross,
be felt the most terrible pain of abandonment, as if being totally left alone
even by his own. Father. For many reasons, we ask why life is full of
suffering, and why Jesus must suffer too. But
The way of
the Lord is a way of love. What makes the way of service and the way of the
cross the way of Christ is the fact that it is the way of love. "If I give
all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not
love, I gain nothing" (1 Cor 13:3). Love has it all. Love counts all
others. That is the love of Christ. And that makes his way the only way. From
the lowly stable to the heights of
2. "I am the Truth." Christ is
the truth since he is the fullness of revelation. This takes a two-fold sense.
First, Christ is the fulfillment of scripture. The scripture is the Word of God
and it contains the most sublime truth. It is the revelation of God's mind,
will and plan to man and his creation. But all that had been written point out
to Christ as its fulfillment. Thus, the truth of scripture is the truth of
Christ. This goes to say that Christ is the truth of God's word. In fact, he is
that very word, the word from which all things come. John is so precise as he
says: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God” (Jn 1:1).
But not only
that. The second sense is even much stronger. Christ is the fullness of
revelation because he is the perfect image of the Father. He is the fullest
manifestation of the Father's being. He and the Father are one. Thus, he who
sees him sees the Father. By becoming one like us, he unveils the whole truth
in his person and in his words. “If you really knew me, you would know my
Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” He has made
known to us the most divine secrets of the Father since every truth he tells,
comes from his Father. Christ alone and no other can do that since “no one has
gone up to heaven except the One who came down from there, the Son of Man who
is in heaven" (Jn 3: 13).
3. “I am the life.” Perhaps the first and
greatest gift we all receive is life. That is why although pains and
frustrations sometimes make us detest life, we actually try to love and
preserve the life we have. This we do since we know that our life is not really
ours. At one time we have it; at another time we lose it: We believe that the
life we treasure so much may just come and go according to the Absolute One who
has authority over it. This Absolute One is Christ. Today, we hear him say: “I
am…the life.” By this, we learn that Christ is not only the source of life but
life itself. In him, we have our being. In him, we have the fullness of what we
are both as creatures and as children of God. Indeed, he has come that we may
have life and have it to the full (cf Jn
But more than
that, Christ is life because he conquered death. Death is the direct enemy of
life. It defeats life; it ends life. But by the resurrection of Christ, death
has been put to death. Thus, death has no more power over him and over those
who share in his resurrection. That is why, no one can ever separate us from
the love of Christ, from Christ who is life.
4. Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, makes his warm assurance as he utters his farewell address to his beloved. He knows that he is going to leave them when the right time comes. But he could never leave them at a loss. His "departure for a while" is to bridge time with eternity. Thus, what he all asks is enough amount of trust: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.