5 May 2023

5 May 2023

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter

In the Gospel today, Jesus makes this bold claim, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). He claims here that he is the sole savior of the world and he makes a similar claim earlier in this Gospel when Jesus compares himself to Jacob’s ladder (John 1:51). In a pluralistic society, some – including some Christians –  might be uncomfortable with this passage. If Jesus is the sole savior of the world, what will happen to those who do not know or believe in Jesus?

            The disciples, too, may have also been uneasy with this statement. They might have thought Jesus is also going too far with this declaration. Certainly, some in Jesus’s time found this talk blasphemous and wanted to kill him for it. Before delivering this phrase, Jesus anticipated this worry and said, “Let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). In this Easter season, we know that Christ’s gift is peace: divine peace. He is the embodiment of God’s peace. So perhaps Jesus is implying that “the way, the truth, and the life” is the way of divine peace. We still are called to evangelize in the name of Jesus, but we can take comfort, perhaps because God’s peace can reach those who have not heard the name of Christ before.

            In The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Ignatius talks about consolation being the end for which we desire in prayer. We are always praying for God to bring peace to our souls. Perhaps, this is what Jesus means when He says He is the way to God: that the peace He is and brings is the way to God. We can pray for ourselves and that those who do not know Christ – or even those who have rejected him – may have this consolation from God and see the Father through Jesus, the Prince of Peace.