4th Week of Easter 2018 - Friday - The One and Only Way

On Tuesday, we read from the Acts of the Apostles, that it was in Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’. And that was about nine or ten years after the death of Jesus. For that first decade, Jesus’ disciples referred to themselves as followers of “The Way”

Jesus refers to himself as “The Way” in today’s Gospel. The Greek word he uses here in John chapter 14 is “hodos”. The word had many meanings, as it does today. A “hodos” was a path used for traveling from one place to another: a road or a highway. It was also a course of behavior, as in the “way to build a house” or “the way bake a cake”. Also, it was used to describe a moral or spiritual viewpoint, a set of teachings, the doctrine of a philosophical school.

Jesus gathers all those meanings into one, and adds something brand new to it. Jesus teaches the way from one place to another, from earth to heaven. Jesus offers a course of behavior, a way to a fulfilled life, a life in which our deepest yearnings are fulfilled. Jesus instructs us with a set of teachings by which we are to direct our life.

And yet, “the way” is not a some-thing, but a some-body. “The Way” is a person. Jesus says “I AM the way”, he claims to be that which no one had ever dared to claim before. He’s not a signpost, he’s the destination. The point of life, the reason for our existence, IS HIM, to be in right relationship to Him, to become united to Him, to enter into communion with Him, to conform our minds, our hearts, our lives to Him.

Throughout history, we’ve had spiritual thinkers like Krishna, Muhammed, Buddha, even Moses, each of them offering teachings to help point people to the “right way” of living, the right way to achieve the end or goal of human flourishing. In a sense, each of them point away from themselves.

The point of Islam isn’t to be in right relationship with Muhammed. The point of Moses’ teaching in the Torah isn’t to enter into a mystical and intimate relationship with Moses. So, to those who say that all religions are the same, we say, “no”. Jesus’ claim is unique among the world religions, it’s different.

Jesus Himself is making the claim that there aren’t multiple roads to human fulfillment, nor are all roads imperfect attempts at perfection. He IS the road, He IS the perfect way, who all of humanity is called to follow.

May our easter celebrations deepen our conviction of this truth, and help us to enter more deeply, and walk more faithfully, and to proclaim more boldly, the way of the Lord Jesus, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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God the Father was glorified in the death and resurrection of his Son. Let us pray to him with confidence.

God the Father bathed the world in splendor when Christ rose again in glory, may our minds be filled with the light of faith.

Through the resurrection of His Son, the Father opened for us the way to eternal life, may we be sustained today in our work with the hope of glory.

Through His risen Son, the Father sent the Holy Spirit into the world, may our hearts be set on fire with spiritual love.

May Jesus Christ, who was crucified to set us free, be the salvation of all those who suffer, particularly those who suffer from physical or mental illness, addiction, and grief.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

For the 9 men who will be ordained transitional deacons this evening at the Cathedral, that their road to ordination may bring them to encounter more deeply the life and heart of Christ the Good Shepherd.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.