5th Easter Sunday (year A)

(John 14:1-12)

John 14:1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

John 14:2 In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you;

John 14:3 and when I have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, so that where I am, you may be too.

John 14:4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’

John 14:5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?’

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is about to leave his disciples. His death on the cross will surely trouble their hearts, shake their faith, and purify it of all the imperfections that had accumulated upon it over the years. Faith must be shaken from time to time; otherwise, the dust of the superstructures that the minds and thoughts of men constantly add to it becomes too great. The death on the cross of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, must shake the faith of the people of the Covenant in order to give it its proper and true heavenly dimension. Every earthly thought must be measured against faith in the crucified and risen Messiah. It is a grace when our faith is shaken by God. A faith that is not pure, not aligned with God’s thoughts, always produces turmoil. If Jesus’ disciples wish to have a purified faith, they must begin to believe in the crucified Messiah. This is where the true journey of faith begins for every person.

Jesus presents his death as a round-trip journey. But where is Jesus going, and why is he going? He is going to his Father’s house. He is going to prepare a place for his disciples. In his Father’s house there are many mansions, many places. No one can count them. These places, however, must be prepared and assigned. Jesus goes, prepares the places, and assigns a specific place to each of his own. Everyone in Heaven can have their own home or dwelling. Heaven has no limit of space.

Jesus does not merely leave, does not merely go, does not merely prepare a place for each of his own, but he returns. He returns to take all his disciples with him. Where he is, they too must be. Where he dwells, they must dwell. This is the truth of love: eternal communion; being one with the beloved for all eternity. A love that divides, separates, or fades away is not love. Love is endless. Only Jesus can bestow eternity and truth upon our love. Those without Christ will never know the truth and eternity of his love. They cannot, because only Christ is eternity and truth. Our society has lost the truth and eternity of love. This means it has lost Christ.

The disciples already know – or at least ought to know – where Jesus is about to go and also the path he must take. The place is the Father’s house, his Heaven. The path is the cross. It is the cross that is the ladder by which Jesus ascends to his Father. Jesus had pointed to this path both as his own path and as the path of every one of his disciples. However, this path was impossible for them to accept, as their faith had not yet been shaken by the death on the cross.

Thomas says with extreme clarity and simplicity that they do not know where Jesus is going. If one does not know where the other is about to go, how can one know the path he must take? To Thomas, Jesus replies with equal simplicity: “I am the way, the truth and the life”. “I am the way”: In the Old Testament, the way was the Law, but Jesus is the way that brings to fulfilment every other path previously laid out. It is the perfect, complete way, to which nothing can be added and nothing taken away. Whoever wishes to go to the Father must walk in his Word.

“I am the truth”: Truth is the very essence of God, which is the essence of Christ Jesus. It is the essence of both his divinity and his humanity. Jesus is the truth that makes us conform to him. No one else is the truth. Whoever wishes to be true, to become true, must be made a partaker of this one and only truth that makes every person true.

“I am the life”: Jesus’ life is eternal life; it is the life of God, which must be shared with all who believe in his name. Jesus is the new tree of life. Whoever feeds on him becomes eternal life, just as Christ is eternal life. Whoever does not feed on him will never become eternal life. They will remain in their falsehood and in their death.

Now Jesus speaks a thought that deserves our full attention: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” This statement allows for no exceptions. Whoever wishes to go to God must do so through Christ, through his way, his truth, his life. Whoever does not wish to go to God through Jesus Christ simply does not go to God. Jesus Christ is not one of many paths leading to the Father. He is the only way. There are no others. This means that no religion possesses the way, the truth, and the life to reach the Father. Only Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. All religions, at best, are impure, imperfect, and unfulfilled ways, truths, and lives—not brought to their fulfilment—or they are even false and deceitful ways, truths, and lives. Not even the Old Testament is the way, the truth and the life. It is an incomplete way. It lacks the truth and eternal life. Truth and eternal life are given by Christ.

Today, many children of the Church no longer possess this faith. They do not know that salvation is to be accomplished today. It is today that salvation is found only in Christ. No one else can make the true man. Where the true man is not made, there salvation is not fulfilled. The true man must be built on earth, in history. This is the mission of the Church.  

 Argentino Quintavalle, author of the books 

- Revelation – an exegetical commentary 

- The Apostle Paul and the Judaizers – Law or Gospel?

Jesus Christ, True God and True Man in the Trinitarian Mystery

The Prophetic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24–25)

All Generations Will Call Me Blessed

Catholics and Protestants Compared – In Defence of the Faith

The Church and Israel According to St Paul – Romans 9–11

(Available on Amazon)