During
my 44-year career in Information Technology I would occasionally have to travel
and be away from home for several days, sometimes even a week at a time. When
our four children were little, I would sit down on the floor, hold each of them
and tell them that I had to be away for a little while, but would be coming
back to them very, very soon. That’s kind of what’s happening in the gospel for
this coming weekend, the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
The
setting of that gospel is the Last Supper, the Passover meal that Jesus is
sharing with his closest friends. He knows that he will have to leave them for
a while. And he knows how devastated they will be by the terrible things that
will happen.
He
sits down on the floor, embraces each of them, and promises to come back and
take them with him to the Father. He uses the imagery of a house, his Father’s
House to, describe eternal life with God. And he bewilders them by saying that
not only do they already know how to get there, but they are, in fact already
there.
And
bewildered they are. Everything they witnessed Jesus do for three years is
simply not enough. It all goes over their heads. Thomas wants directions to the
Father: a navigation system, or at the very least a roadmap. Philip wants
sensory proof: he wants to personally meet and shake hands with the Father.
They
just don’t get it. What the disciples seek, they already have. The place they
want to be is where they already are. Jesus himself is the map.
The
Way to the Father, the road to eternal life, is to live each day like Jesus
lived his: with unconditional love and forgiveness; with compassion and
inclusion for all – without exception. That, Thomas, is the Way to the Father;
that, Philip, is the Father. Each of us is called to be an imitation, a carbon
copy of Christ within all the circles of our life.
Jesus
gave us that roadmap. He made it clear in the parable of the Last Judgment in
Matthew chapter 25, where Our Lord separates the sheep from the goats: “I tell
you: Whatever you did or failed to do for the least, the most unwanted, reviled
and discriminated against of your sisters and brothers, you did or failed to do
for me.”
Sunday’s
1st reading from the Acts of the Apostles is also part of that
roadmap. In it the early Christian community is called to love and serve all
without distinction. There is no Hebrew and no Greek. There are only beloved children
of God. Our 21st century Christian community is still being called
to love and serve all without distinction. There is no male or female, no
white, black, brown, yellow or red; no gay or straight; no liberal or conservative.
There are only beloved children of God.
We
are all the living stones Saint Peter speaks about in Sunday’s 2nd
reading. We have been called to build the Kingdom of God. We are the stones
that God is using to build his eternal dwelling place in the here and now.
Jesus
shows us the way to eternal life. Christ himself is the Way. We are each called
to be imitations of Christ, to be other-Christs. We are called to be Christ for
our world.
………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday
Life
Synchronicity as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for
Spiritual Direction and Pastoral Ministry
