Sts. Philip and James, Tuesday – 3rd May 2022 — Gospel: Jn 14,6-14
Embracing the Way
Jesus began his proclamation declaring his true identity: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” His earliest followers were energized, particularly with the notion that Jesus was “the way”. In this identity, they could encounter in Jesus what they had previously found as a distant relation with the Father. The God of the ancestors had not been approached as the Father remained hidden, except Moses who met him on Mount Sinai. However, in New Testament times, the one who knows Jesus also knows the Father for Jesus revealed the Father as Father. In Jesus, one sees the Father as never before because no one has revealed him like Jesus does. Therefore, Jesus becomes the revelation of “the way” to the Father. In offering himself on the Cross, Jesus has offered all the revelation that the disciples need to identify the Father. In persecution and martyrdom, those who chose closely to follow the Lord were aptly labeled people of “The Way”. They courageously bore witness to “the way” of Jesus, as they experienced the primary aim of God, namely that Jesus came not to condemn but to save humanity.
