5th Sunday of Easter 2014
Robert VerEecke, S.J.
Show me the way! Dear God, show me the way! Have you ever prayed that
prayer? I would imagine that all of us have at one time or another begged
God to show us the way. There are so many times in our lives when we just
need to ask God to show us the way. Especially when we are feeling
troubled, confused, sad, or trying to make an important decision. We want
God’s guidance, the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit showing us the way.
In today’s Gospel we have God’s answer to all our pleas to have God show
us the way. We hear quite simply Jesus saying, “I am the Way” (and the
truth and the life). Jesus tries to speak to the hearts of those troubled, sad,
confused disciples and tell them that in him they have all they need. “Do not
let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God. Have faith in me.” Jesus
wants us to see him as the Way. He wants to us remain in his love in such a
way that he is the one and only way we need. He wants us to remain in his
love so that whatever those daily life anxieties and troubles are, they will
pale in comparison to the simple reality that he is with us on the way.
But it doesn’t seem as if his words, his presence, even his sacrifice on the
Cross is “enough”. Like the disciple Philip, who says “Show us the Father
and that will be enough for us”, we so often want evidence, clear cut
manifestations that he is with us, that he is “the way”. Do you ever hear
yourself saying? Jesus, if you can do this one thing for me, if you can help
me with this one problem, if you can see me through this difficult time,
THEN I will really believe that you are the ONE and Only Way. If you can
show me the way, just this once! Just this once! How often does the once
becomes “again and again”?
(Dear Jesus, if you can show me the way, teach me the truth, give me
life…just this once, then I will believe you are the Way, the Truth and the
Life.)
Can you hear Jesus’ exasperation as he says to Philip, “Philip, how long
have I been with you and still you do not know me?” Am I not “enough” for
you? Haven’t you seen the wonders the Father has done through me?
Haven’t you felt the freedom, the peace, the love that is my gift to you?
What more must I do to show you that I am the Way, the Truth and the Life?
If I lay down my life for you, give my life for yours on a Cross, then will
you believe and trust in me? If I leave the legacy of my life, my body and
blood in bread and wine, then will you believe and trust in me? If I entrust
you with my spirit, give you my Spirit who will dwell in your body and
blood so that we may be in communion, then will you believe and trust in
me? If I give you each other as companions on the way, to lift you up when
you have stumbled, to lighten your burdens when they are crushing you with
their weight, then will you believe and trust in me?
Oh well. This homily may be too “spiritual” for you, maybe too mystical.
Does it seem too irrational that you could have a one-to-one conversation
with Jesus the Risen One and that he would be listening? For some, it is
easier to believe that the Universe in which we live was once the size of a
marble because now we have evidence for the Inflation theory. Even though
the human mind cannot conceive of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth
of a second, it is maybe easier to believe this than it is to believe that we can
have a “real, live” conversation with the Risen Lord.
That is what today’s Homily really is, a conversation with Jesus in the here
and now. This is not a commentary on a text of Scripture written 2000 years
ago. The invitation today is to have a colloquy with Jesus, the Risen One. In
Ignatian terms, a colloquy is a conversation in prayer when we speak to
Jesus “as one friend speaks to another”. So, let Jesus speak to you today. I
think he’s used to “show me the way, teach me the truth, give me your life”
just this once and then you will have my undivided, complete, doubtless
belief.
And then imagine Jesus smiling at you and saying “Just this once?”