ARE YOU NEW HERE?

GOSPEL — JOHN 14:1-14
The Fifth Sunday of Easter

“You know the way to the place where I am going,” Jesus tells his followers (John 14:4), but they aren’t so sure. So he goes on, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), but they’re still confused. Finally, he asks, “Have I been with you all this time . . . and you still do not know me?” (John 14:9). It’s as if he’s asking them, “Are you new here?”

They’ve had him all this time. They’ve watched him and listened to him and learned from him. But, suddenly faced with the idea that he won’t always be there in quite the same way, it’s as if they remember nothing.

Yet, Jesus isn’t one of those teachers who says, “Do as I say, not as I do.” He lived his very life here on earth as a model for us, even now. Our road map to the place where he is going is to understand his words and actions, not only as his way, truth, and life, but as our own as well.

It’s as complicated as that, but it’s also that simple. “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1), Jesus tells them. Indeed, road maps are meant to reassure us, by giving us direction and setting us on the right course.

He didn’t say it would be easy. He also didn’t tell this to any of them alone, and his words are intended for us to hear in community today as well. Living out our understandings of Jesus as the way, truth, and life is a collective act, not an individual one. We do this every time we gather in community, whether that’s a congregation, a parent-teacher organization, an extended family, or a neighborhood Buy Nothing group.

“You know the way to the place where I am going,” Jesus tells us. We might feel new here, but it turns out we’ve had the road map all along.

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From sundaysandseasons.com.
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