Fifth Sunday Of Easter
JOHN 14:1-12 (Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9)
In the gospel reading for this Sunday John showcases two as yet obscure disciples of Jesus: Thomas (of later doubting fame) and Philip. The setting is the Last Supper Dis-course. In the other three gospels Jesus says very little at the Last Supper. John develops a discourse, more meditation than discourse, on various themes in chapters 13-17. One theme is the impending departure of Jesus from his earthly life to return to the glory,
“which I had with thee before the world was created,” 17:5. Departure is the headline of this gospel reading. The Johannine Jesus begins with words of consolation, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.”
Note the equality John proclaims between faith/trust in God and faith/trust in Jesus. The Gospel of John is the most “divine” of the four canonical gospels in its overwhelming emphasis on Jesus’ equality with the Father. This theme is also present in the other gospels but with less emphasis. Thus the claim is repeatedly destroyed of those who, like the Witnesses of Jehovah, attempt in vain to "prove" from John’s gospel that Jesus is not God. True, one or two statements can be used to that purpose, but those statements have to be taken entirely out of context for such a "proof"’ In the beginning of his gospel, that is, in the Prologue, John already equates Jesus Christ with “the Word of God, who was in the beginning with God, and the Word was God.”
The next statement attributed to Jesus: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places (rooms, inns, mansions). If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” What are we to do with such a statement that concretizes heaven as a plush hotel with private rooms, etc., when St. John Paul II gently tried to lead us away from such a material concept? In three audiences in 1998-1999 the Pope explain-ed that heaven, hell and purgatory should not be thought of as places or localities in the way people think of being in a room or locality in this life, but as a spiritual presence with God. Benedict XVI clarified St. John Paul’s words, when he said, “Heaven is God.”
Biblical language is full of the concept of the afterlife being “in a place.” From Isaiah’s heavenly banquet of fatty, cholesterol filled foods and fine wine, Isaiah 25:6-8, to Jesus’ statements in today’s gospel reading, the concept of place in a hereafter occurs through-out Old and New Testament. St. John Paul recognized this and the limitations of human language to express God and the afterlife. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the same as the Popes, when it states, “…this perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity, this communion of love and life with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed is called ‘heaven.’ Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness,” #1024.
We are faced with a mystery which is ultimately the mystery of God. In 1 Corinthians 4:6, Paul instructs us to tread warily in matters beyond our comprehension, “Learn from us not to go beyond what is written.” And in 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul guides us to the security of faith, as he writes, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of humankind conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.” According to St. Augustine, died 430 A.D., the “place” Jesus is preparing is ourselves, “In this way, Lord, prepare what you are preparing. For you are preparing us for yourself and yourself for us, since you are preparing for yourself in us and for us in you. As you have said, Lord, ‘Abide in me and I in you.’”
After Jesus says that “you know the way where I am going,” Thomas is given a line, “Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Thomas serves the author of the gospel as a "straightman," who must ask a question on a crass and material level, so that Jesus can elevate our minds to a higher level. Jesus’ response is the renowned statement, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” Once again John adds a proclamation of equality between Son and Father, “If you would have known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him, and you have seen him,” that is, seen him in the Son.
Philip, whom Thomas Aquinas, died 1274, described as being just a bit mentally challen-ged, comes on stage with an observation which shows him to be another of the author’s “straightmen,” when he says, “Lord, show us the Father and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus gently scolds Philip and once more claims equality with the Father, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” Even Jesus’ words are said to be the words of the Father. Most ap-propriately so, since John at the very beginning of his gospel proclaimed Jesus as the ultimate “Word” of the Father. Also the works that Jesus does are the works of the Father. As this segment began with a demand for faith in Jesus, so it closes with the same demand, “Believe (trust) that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe (trust) me because of the works themselves.” The works or miracles of Jesus, which John calls "signs," stimulate our faith and trust in Jesus’ identity revealed in those "signs," whom Thomas will later proclaim, “My Lord and my God!”
