Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

I am going to prepare a place for you.

Throughout Saint John’s Gospel mystery shrouds Jesus’ origins. Where does he come from? Where does he live? Where is he going? He answers the questions sometimes, but his answers resolve very little. He comes from above? His kingdom is not of this world? At one point Saint John even seems to tease those who say he came from Nazareth, or was it Bethlehem?

Today we hear he will prepare a place for us, but we cannot go with him yet. Some disciples wonder if he will kill himself. It’s altogether mysterious.

And then he says, “You know the way!” which is too much for Thomas. “We don’t know where you are going, how can we know the way?”

Like a house that is easy to find when you know how to get there, Jesus’ answer is clear to those who understand it. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Jesus’ way is that of covenant, trust, faith and obedience. It is the way of forgetting what you want in order to get what you want. It is the way of finding oneself by losing oneself. It is arriving at one’s destination by setting out on the way. The destination is the road. The process is the end.

As I have lost, regained, lost again and regained again my mental balance, I realize that I wanted to “be there” in that safe, static place where everything is just right and nothing needs to change. That’s like standing still on a bicycle. It can be done but not for long. It’s a lot easier to keep moving, to stay in the way and on the road.

Jesus is the way and the destination; he is the mercy and the justice; he is the afflicted conscience and the peace of mind.