Fifth Sunday of Easter

Cascading flowers

“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.”

The dialog in Saint John’s gospel is often contentious. People ask Jesus questions; he explains; they don’t understand; he explains more; they take offense and leave. But some remain and, by the time we get to today’s passage from Jesus’ farewell discourse, we have an identifiable group of true disciples. The last of his betrayers, Judas Iscariot, has left the room.  

Jesus’ would wrap his arms around this group and embrace them to his heart. His affection for them is palpable. Repeatedly he assures them there is nothing to fear. He tells them over and over how dear they are to the Father. He promises the Father and the Son and the Paraclete will abide among them forever.

But they are wobbly. They don’t understand; they cannot fathom what is happening to them and around them; they wonder where this is going; they keep asking the wrong questions and making the wrong observations. They have already been through many trials; they believe him and trust him; but they lack insight:

Thomas said to him,
“Master, we do not know where you are going;
how can we know the way?”

Philip said to him,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

What Jesus teaches -- that He and the Father are equals and enjoy total agreement of heart and will -- is neither irrational nor implausible, but it demands submission and openness. And submissive openness requires brokenness. Despite their eagerness the disciples keep stumbling over their own feet; they get in the way of their own success. They will not understand until they see Jesus crucified, buried and raised up.

In that hour, because they are baptized and eucharisted and confirmed in him – they are in effect his own flesh -- they too will be shattered. They will die with him and rise with him. Then they will understand what is beyond human explanation; they will have a “keen grasp of the obvious” although it had been incomprehensible. They will know him as he knows the Father; and will find in the core of their being the wisdom, power, authority and courage of his Holy Spirit.