Gospel Reflection for Sunday 10th of May 2020 The 5th Sunday of Easter
Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life
Although we ‘celebrated’ Easter Sunday five weeks ago, we are in fact still making our way through the Season of Easter, which will conclude when with great feast of Pentecost on May 31st – we still have a way to go until then.
So perhaps the words of encouragement that Jesus offers his followers at the very start of the gospel are also meant for us as we deal with this difficult time of living with the Coronavirus.
He says to each of us personally this very day,
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me.’
This is I believe is another way of saying the great phrase of the scripture, ‘Do not be afraid.’ People far wiser than I have said that this small but powerful phrase appears in the bible three hundred sixty five times – that’s one for every day of the year.
It is a phrase that Jesus used himself when speaking to his followers. It reassured, comforted and strengthened them in their own times of fear, doubt and anxiety. As we each in our own way live and deal with the impact of the virus, perhaps now more than we too need this reassurance form Jesus; ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still and trust in me.’
We have mentioned that Easter ends with the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. However, before that we will celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, when he returns to heaven from where he came. In the gospel today, he is already preparing his followers for his leaving them. Imagine their sadness, loss, confusion and disappointment.
They had seen him die and be buried; he is now standing before them and he is telling them that he is leaving again! He may be leaving them, but he is not leaving them alone. He will send them the Holy Spirit; the Advocate, the one who will strengthen and encourage them. The one who will take away their fear and transform it into courage. This promise is not only made to them, but to you and me today and every day.
When we are lost, Jesus is our Way, when we are confused, Jesus is our Truth and when we are tired, Jesus is our Life. We are not alone and never will be, with Jesus with us and by our side, especially these during these challenging days. Through the words and message of Jesus, we hear God speaking directly to us; to look at the face of Jesus, we see God looking back at us; we are not alone and never will be. If God is for us who can be against us? Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Sadly over these last few weeks and months many people, young and old have died. Most of whom we will have never known, some close to home we might have. Death and bereavement are never easy. There are made all the more painful when we are unable to say goodbye properly. However as long we remember and pray them for them, they are never far from us – they will always be with us. Jesus promises never to leave when says, ‘I will be with you always, until the end of time.’ We are not alone.
As St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians reminds us, ‘So then, let us encourage each other with these words. (1.Thes. 4.18)
-Br Michael Moore OMI
Gospel for May 10th John 14:1-12 ©
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Jesus said to his disciples
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God still, and trust in me.
There are many rooms in my Father’s house;
if there were not, I should have told you.
I am going now to prepare a place for you,
and after I have gone and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you with me;
so that where I am you may be too.
You know the way to the place where I am going.’
Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:
‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.
If you know me, you know my Father too.
From this moment you know him and have seen him.’
Philip said,
‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied’.
‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him ‘and you still do not know me? ‘
‘To have seen me is to have seen the, Father,
so how can you say, “Let us see the Father”?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me?
The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself:
it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.
You must believe me when I say that
I am in the Father and the Father is in me;
believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.
‘I tell you most solemnly,
whoever believes in me
will perform the same works as I do myself,
he will perform even greater works,
because I am going to the Father.’
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