Welcome to our Sunday Worship on the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Our Church services today are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11 am at St Thomas'. If you are unable to be with us in person, you can find today's Gospel reading, a reflection and prayers below.
Our first hymn this morning is "Morning Has Broken"
Today's Gospel
John 14: 1-14 Jesus the Way to the Father
Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
Reflection
Only a couple of paragraphs in this reading but there is some fairly heavy theology involved.
In today’s passage we see Jesus acting in the role as comforter. So why do His disciples need comforting?
Well, imagine this scenario; you work for a highly successful company and the CEO has invited you and some of the other leading people in the company out for a meal. Having had some great food and a few drinks, the CEO announces that he is going to quit and leave the company. He goes on to say that one of the senior staff has embezzled cash from the company and is in the process of selling company secrets to the opposition. Then last but not least, one of the most respected members of the board is going to go on social media and publicly disown the company. I think most of us would be a little shocked, and perhaps the first thing we might think about is – what does this mean for us and our future?
John is describing the scene very similar at the Last Supper. Jesus has told His disciples that one of them is about to betray Him, His ‘right hand man’ Peter, will deny Him three times before the night is out and to cap it all, He is going to leave them and they won’t be able to go with Him.
Here is a someone that they have given up their livelihoods and left their families for. Someone they believed was the Messiah, and now He’s talking about leaving them. They must all have been thinking, ‘What’s going to happen to us?’ So, in that context, it is not surprising that Jesus could feel their pain and inner turmoil and wanted to reassure them.
His opening words are, “Do not let your hearts be troubled”. His compassion and love for His disciples is so overtly evident. Imagine for minute how you would react to these words, spoken by the Messiah?
In this one sentence He is providing the comfort they so need. He is also about to reinvigorate their trust and faith in Him and dispel their fears as He reassures them that He is not abandoning them forever. He also tells them that he is returning to the Father and not only that, He is also going to make preparation for them to join Him. Most importantly, Jesus is coming back for them.
It is clear that the disciples are struggling to understand what Jesus is talking about. We should bear in mind that Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension haven’t happened at this point when Jesus is talking about these things, so they don’t have that experience to help them understand ‘the big picture’.
On the one hand, Jesus has told them that they cannot follow Him yet, so from their perspective the destination is a mystery. Hence Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus lovingly tries to describe not the destination, but that He is the means to get there. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also.”
As we can see, all is still not clear and so next it is Philip who seeks clarification. “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” It’s as if Philip is saying, "Yeah I sort of get it, but you still haven’t told us exactly where this place is and how to get there. Can you give us a bit more information so we can find it on Google Maps?" They were trying to take what Jesus was saying in a literal sense.
I think if I were Jesus, I might have been getting a little frustrated at this point, but we have to remember, the disciples were ordinary everyday folk from villages and not well educated scholars or theologians.
So Jesus explains as simply as He can; “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father……… Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?"
Now He is spelling it out, Jesus and the Father are one and the same. He is the route, (the traveller’s guide), if you follow Jesus, His teachings and examples, you are following the way to Holiness and the Father. This follows on nicely from last week’s Gospel reading John10: 1-10), Jesus spoke of himself as "the gate" through which his sheep enter into salvation.
To sum up, If we want to know the way to the Father it is quite simply through Jesus. This was part of Jesus’ mission, to enlighten us as to who God is.
Jesus who came from the Father and returned to Him is our revelation of the nature of God. If we want to know who God is then we need look no further than Jesus.Paul
Our Prayers
Father, thank you that you listen to our prayers.
Thank you for your son Jesus Christ, our Way, our Truth, and our Life.
Help us to understand Your Word, especially at times when we struggle.
Enlighten us and open our eyes and our minds to see the glory of Your kingdom.
Guide us to follow You, that we may receive the promise of a place in the Father's House.
