May 22, 2011 - Fifth Sunday of Easter
Reading 1 - Acts 6:1-7
As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. So the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table. Brothers, select from among you seven reputable men, filled with the Spirit and wisdom, whom we shall appoint to this task, whereas we shall devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
The proposal was acceptable to the whole community, so they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, also Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicholas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles who prayed and laid hands on them. The word of God continued to spread, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly; even a large group of priests were becoming obedient to the faith.
Responsorial Psalm - Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 18-19
R. (22) Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Exult, you just, in the LORD; praise from the upright is fitting.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp; with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Upright is the word of the LORD, and all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right; of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness,
To deliver them from death and preserve them in spite of famine.
R. Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.
Reading 2 - 1 Peter 2: 4-9
Beloved: Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and, like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in Scripture: Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in it shall not be put to shame.
Therefore, its value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall. They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. You are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Gospel - John 14: 1-12
Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.”
Thomas said to him, “Master, 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, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? 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 speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Reflection
Last week, the Fourth Sunday of Easter, we heard a passage from John in which Jesus declares, “I am...” both “the gate” and “the Good Shepherd.” In Greek, the phrase is, Ego eimi; “I am” in English. At various points in the Fourth Gospel, Jesus announces, Ego eimi, “the bread of life,” “the light of the world,” and “the vine” to our branches. Each of these constructions employs the same pattern; Ego eimi (I am) is followed by an image meant to communicate a particular truth about the nature of Jesus. By referring to himself as “the Good Shepherd,” Jesus wishes to convey a radical intimacy among his flock and an unparalleled familiarity with each individual. The ascription to Jesus the qualities of a shepherd is a vivid analogy--God himself become human and caring for each of his creatures with a personal, palpable touch.
This week, we hear Jesus again use the Ego eimi structure, this time articulating that he is, “the way,” “the truth,” and “the life.” The Greek word here used for “way” is hodos, which, like its English equivalent, possesses numerous connotations. The original meaning of the term is “path” or “road,” as when you might ask someone if she knows the way to East Lansing or the best way to get to Cedar Point. But, as in our modern usage, hodos took on the meaning of a manner of doing things. For example, “Her way of doing things is very different from her predecessor’s,” or “The best way to lose weight is by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly.”
Jesus, a master of metaphor, undoubtedly played upon the various layers of meaning in this word, hodos, to make his point. When he begins this exchange, he talks about dwelling places in a house--clearly a physical location--and then indicates that he will come back for the disciples, who will be able to follow, because they know “the way.” But the disciples protest that, because they do not know where this house is (physically located), they could not possibly know the way. To which Jesus responds that HE is the way. But surely Jesus does not mean that he is a physical path, a stretch of highway that leads to this house... so he must be using the same word in a slightly different way (manner) now.
It would appear that Jesus now employs that same word, Hodos, in the sense of “way of life,” or “way of doing things.” As such, Jesus is articulating that the path to His Father’s House (i.e. Heaven) is precisely to live one’s life in the same manner that Jesus lived his. That is, in order to reach Heaven, we must literally be Jesus to one another. Previous prophets, and indeed, those from other traditions such as Confucious and Buddha, had acted as conduits for a code of behavior, teachers who sought to share a particular way of living that would lead to flourishing. Moses had brought the people Israel a set of guidelines, i.e. the Commandments, by which they might attain happiness. But Jesus does not rely solely on teaching an external set of guidelines or abstract ethical principles; rather, he told his followers that he HIMSELF was the way to live, and that they must therefore BE JESUS to one another.
Therefore, the way we are to be a follower of Christ is not to examine merely the words of Jesus and ask, “What did he say we should do in situation X?” but rather to explore the very life of Jesus and understand the way he lived his life. It is in walking this path, that is, living this way, that we will arrive at the place Jesus has prepared for us in His Father’s House. And what does this path look like? What does it mean to live according to “the Way?” What would it look like to BE Christ to one another? In order to answer that, we need to familiarize ourselves with the life of Jesus. To inhabit his experiences and assimilate his way of being.
Jesus grew up obedient to his parents and deferential to authority. But he also diverged from the typical life path of those around him when he gave up what seemed like the obvious choice for his occupation, i.e. carpentry, since his father had been a carpenter, in order to pursue the unique vocation he understood God to have called him to. Surely this took discernment and an openness to God’s plan for his life, even if it was one he himself may not have chosen. Too, it took trust in God that the plan would work out--we see at times in Jesus’ life, most notably during the Agony in the Garden, that even Jesus struggled with the hardships and burdens that accompanied his vocation.
Also in reading the Gospels, we see how Jesus treated others. We see how he reached out to those on the margins--women, the poor, the sick, the sinners--and how he strove to reintegrate them into the community. We see too how he interacted with the religious authorities of the day, challenging them to examine their own hypocrisy and self-righteousness, even when speaking that truth might result in negative repercussions for himself. Moreover, we see that, in his attempt to heal those who suffered from some physical or psychological ailment, his focus was not on what sin caused their affliction, but on how his own gifts might be used to bring healing and restore fullness of health to the person.
We see, finally, that his unqualified selflessness led him to accept the ultimate punishment--death on a cross--if it meant that we might be saved. It is the archetype of self-sacrifice, the paradigm of love for neighbor. Thus while it is unlikely we will ever find ourselves persecuted to the point of martyrdom for our faith or our friends, it demands of us a rare and potent form of unconditional love for other that we might be willing to give of ourselves, even when it will cost us a great deal.
Each of these examples of the hodos, the way, that Jesus lived, that we are called to, have contemporary equivalents. Ours may not be the vocation to cure blindness or drive out demons, but it is unquestionably our call to help bring healing to those who suffer. It may be to be provide a sympathetic ear to a sibling or friend as s/he goes through a particularly rough breakup. It may be to cancel a weekend vacation so that we can go home and spend time with a parent who is battling cancer. Recognizing our call to heal, to live “the way” Jesus did in that sense, does not require that we stop what we are doing an register for the MCATS or forsake our Engineering PhD in favor of a Nursing program. It entails being attentive to the people in our lives who are in need of some form of healing, and being willing to use our own gifts and invest of our own time, in whatever way we can, knowing that, ultimately, it is God who heals, and we who act as instruments of that healing, the same way that Jesus did.
“The way” Jesus lived his life was to forgive his best friend, Peter, when Peter betrayed him. It was to insist that everyone, even adulterers and tax collectors, was loved by God and invited to be part of the people of God, not simply those who already were living a life of righteousness. It was to trust, absolutely, that God’s plan--illogical as it sounded (to have to die in order to bring about eternal life)--would work out. That way of living--forgiving those who hurt us, reaching out to those who are not one of us, and trusting in a plan that makes no sense to us--is the vocation of a Christian. Living that way is every bit as challenging in the 21st Century as it was in the 1st, but it is also every bit as guaranteed to lead us to Eternal Life.
Questions for Reflection
1) Jesus says that HE, and presumably He alone, is “the Way” to Eternal Life, but what about other “ways” of being in relationship with God, e.g. Judaism, Islam, Hinduism? Are these ways simply wrong? (The way that it would be going “the wrong way” to Cedar Point if one hopped on 94 West towards Chicago) Or is it merely that they are not the BEST way to get there (as though one took a less direct route, but still headed in the general direction of Sandusky)?
2) Which specific stories (e.g. the conversation with the woman at the well; the healing of the Centurion’s Servant, etc.) stand out to you as epitomizing certain aspects about the way Jesus lived his life? What do you understand about how Jesus lived his life from this story, and what does it mean for you to be called to live YOUR life in that way?
3) Are there any particular dimensions of the way that Jesus lived his life that you struggle to emulate? Which ways that Jesus lived do you find easiest to live out yourself? Which are the hardest?
