Easter 5

Easter 5 (John 14:1-14) You know the Way.

The Way of salvation is the way of life. The way of life is Jesus Christ.

After three years of walking with Jesus, the disciples already knew the way of salvation. They knew the way in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They blocked that knowledge as they chose to redefine Jesus in the very limited one dimensional category of the human will to power.

The disciples wanted Jesus to give them a well defined program for the Kingdom. They wanted that program set forth in very detailed laws, charts and time tables. The program needed to meet the needs they had identified for themselves. They cast those needs in the categories of politics, economics, culture, religion, pleasure and power.

None of those categories are necessarily bad. None of those categories can bring salvation. And none of those categories is the foundation for life.

What did the disciples already know?

They knew Jesus. They knew his unconditional love and compassion. They knew his sinless life. They knew his active dynamic and passionate participation in all aspects of human life. They knew his priority for living in the world: Worship, service, personal holiness.

The Way of Salvation is the Way of life. It cannot be limited to a single list of dos and don’ts. It cannot be contained in a narrow religious, cultural or political system. It is not about programs. It is about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The principle underlying our Heavenly Father’s Plan of salvation is that we become who or what we worship. We discern who or what we worship through our priorities.
That is why Jesus said: not everyone who says Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Salvation is not just about the outward and visible signs of religion. Salvation is about the inward and spiritual choice we make to mold and shape and develop our souls, our personal identity.

The Kingdom of Heaven was right in the midst of the disciples but the disciples couldn’t see it. They also would not see it. They wanted something else. They wanted the power and the wealth and the assertion of their own self will.

The Bible is very clear that people tend to look past the clear and simple message of salvation. People complicate Biblical teaching because we don’t want to hear the simple and direct message God placed in the Bible. Sadly, this tendency to ignore what God reveals only results in greater levels of frustration, fear and anxiety among the religious.

So, Jesus, as he prepares for his arrest, torture and execution, reveals to the disciples what they had missed.

First, Jesus tells them: do not let your hearts be troubled. The frustration, fear and anxiety come from a choice we make to ignore who God is. The troubled heart is a heart focused on making the world of matter, energy, time and space the sole arena of meaning and purpose. Religious people tend to use religion to try to make the world of impermanence and duality stand still.

The world won’t stand still. All things in this world are only temporary. Mother Teresa once said: hold all things lightly. She did not say: give up all things. This is the world of duality, the world of action and reaction, the world of pleasure and pain, the world of life and death.

There is only one thing permanent in this world. The one thing that is permanent is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the co-eternal Beloved of God the eternal Father.

And so, Jesus redirects his disciples to focus their belief in God. No other person, program or object is worthy of belief. God is not an instrument by which we achieve our goals. Worship is not something we do to gain God’s favor and avoid God’s punishment. If we approach God as a means to an end we miss the meaning and purpose in life. God is the goal. God is the end.

The Way we enter into the reality of God is Jesus Christ.

The disciples all had religion. They also all missed the relationship.
The four biographies of Jesus Christ very clearly focus on the specific and personal relationships Jesus formed. Jesus reached out to everyone he met with friendship, healing, laughter, compassion and unconditional love. He brought forth that love in holiness.

For most of his public ministry, people simply chose to look past who Jesus was and what he offered. At the end of his life, at the foot of the cross, only a teen named John and Jesus’ mother with her two companions chose to value the relationship more than the anticipated reward.

The disciples knew the way of salvation. It was the way of life. It was Jesus Himself as he modeled a life of worship, ministry and personal holiness.

Jesus’ statement: I am the way, the truth and the life, is an outpouring of divine love and holiness to all people. It is not, as some seek to assert, religious chauvinism. It is grace. It is mercy. It is the peace that passes understanding. It is the new life and the new way of living. It is the Original Blessing of Creation re presented to a lost and rebellious species that chose the way of separation.
Before any one invented the word “Christian” the followers of Jesus simply described themselves as the followers of the Way.

The Way begins in a moment of time at the baptismal font. The way unfolds and transforms as we make a real choice to enter into the real presence of Jesus Christ through Word (the Bible) and Sacrament (Holy Communion).

Those who enter into the personal relationship with God the Father through God the Son enter into a new way of life. That new way of life is defined and characterized by the Presence of God the Holy Spirit.

The way of salvation is the way of life. Every choice we make, every priority we set is either contributing to our personal transformation in the divine love of God, or it is inhibiting our ability to live the abundant life our Heavenly Father offers us in Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the way in the context of a personal friendship. Jesus is not the way in the context of religion, culture, politics or programs. These things have their place and they are also transitory and passing away.

Jesus is eternal. His friendship is forever. The relationship he offers us is active, dynamic, transforming and limitless.

You know the way, Jesus told his disciples. I suspect he said this with a smile and an invitation.

Jesus offers the same invitation to us today. You know the way. Like the first century disciples we can easily look past who Jesus is. And so, the Holy Spirit reminds us. He just doesn’t remind us, He also helps us make better choices, wise choices.

What does it mean for you today to hear the message that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life? What difference does Jesus make in the way you make choices and set priorities?

Jesus is very clear. We don’t need more knowledge. We need more love: steadfast, holy, unconditional love.

We don’t need to make judgments about who is right and who is wrong. Judgment cultivates pride and pride kills. Divine love and compassion covers a multitude of sins and heals a multitude of hurts. Divine love and compassion preserves the relationships. We need to cultivate the relationships God has given us. The reality of life is in the relationships we choose to embrace. The joy of living emerges through those relationships.

Jesus says: you know the way. Do you believe this? Will you make a real choice to seek the way in a personal transforming relationship with the Living Lord, Jesus Christ?