Reading: John 14:1-14, The Way, the Truth, and the Life
If you could ask Jesus one question right now, what would it be? That’s a tall order, for sure, but we have them, don’t we? They might be the kind of “why” questions we encountered yesterday- “why the virus?” “why my family?” “why is the world this way and not some other?” Or perhaps you are drawn to those questions much less angsty and existential; much more practical and grounded: “how should I spend my day?” “what effect will the fallout of the virus have on my plans next year?” “how can I get through another day stuck inside with these people?”
Thomas’ question in today’s text sounds an awful lot like our own: “Lord, how can we know the way?” The questions the disciples ask Jesus are filled with uncertainty, earnestness, curiosity, and deep practicality- they have followed Jesus, some of them for years, as he has healed, preached, and announced the coming of a new kind of kingdom, and now it’s coming to an end they cannot see. If Jesus were going away, and you did not know where, wouldn’t you want to know how to follow him?
But if we learn well that Jesus wants us to ask him questions- he welcomed Thomas’, didn’t he?- then let us learn all the more that he has given us an answer, and it is the same answer that he gave Thomas: I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
An oft-quoted line from The Fellowship of the Ring is appropriate here: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Or perhaps it’s ironic, given the current social distancing guidelines (in all seriousness, do stay home!). But the sentiment still fits: we do not know where following Jesus will take us. A life shaped by enemy-love, patience, reconciliation, truth-telling, preaching the good news to (and with) the poor, forgiveness, and worship of a new kind of King, will often take us where we never thought we would go. It will lead us outside the bounds of American values; it will take us across the lines of conservative and progressive ideologies (and back again, for all the Tolkien folks still with me); it will introduce us to friends we never thought we’d have; it may also produce enemies we never thought we’d make (you should bless them anyway, though). It may take us into assisted living facilities, onto welfare lines, into prisons, down roads we’ve been told are unsafe, or into homes we’ve been told are disreputable. It may take us, as it does in our current moment, back into our homes for the very sake of those we have been called to love.
We do not know where following Jesus will take us, but we know the way. He is the Way, and we must follow in it. Yesterday we spoke of worshiping Jesus; today we speak of following him. It will not be easy; it will mean giving up control, as he did. It will mean giving our lives away in love, as he did. It will mean suffering, as he did. It will mean taking up our crosses, as he did (he was actually pretty explicit about that one).
But what we know, what we have seen and what we testify to is this: this Way is the way to life.
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Reflection Questions
- Do you identify more with Thomas here- curious, anxious, confused? Or with Phillip- confident (maybe overly so); perhaps often not totally aware of everything you, in fact, don’t know?
- What questions do you have about this text? Where do you find comfort? Where do you find challenge?
- Where is Jesus calling you to follow him in this current moment, even as we are physically restricted? Given that you, like so many others, are bound to a particular place, what is Jesus calling you to follow him in? Is it the way you are spending your time? Your thought patterns? Your attitude towards those in your immediate space?
- What “ways” are you asking God to make clear for you right now? Future jobs, opportunities, or financial situations? Potential crises, uncertainty or anxiety? Take five minutes right now and ask Jesus about these things, but once again, do not rush towards an answer- allow him to bring comfort to you here; consider the ways this passage may be speaking into that situation.