February 2024

‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’. John 14.6  (GN)

Here Jesus and His disciples are together, having celebrated the Lord’s Supper;  Judas Iscariot has left, and Jesus is now imparting critical information to the eleven.   This dialogue is intimate, and so beautifully worded by St. John.

Thomas asks a question: ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way to get there?’.  Jesus replies: ‘I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;  no one goes to the Father except by Me’.  This personal response is the very core of a fulfilling philosophy of life for us. Jesus is not only claiming to know it, but He actually is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

‘I am the Way’: The solution to our question: ‘Lord, how do we get there?’ lies in having a relationship with Him.  He is the way to the Father, because only He has an intimate knowledge of God.  As John 1.18 says: ‘No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known’.  If we want to get to know God better, and allow Him deeper into our hearts, then Jesus is the Way.

‘I am the Truth’: In our world of sometimes fake news, especially on social media, truth is often sadly neglected, or omitted.  As we sit quietly during our contemplative time, our deepest hearts yearn to know the real truth about life.  Jesus never promises us a life devoid of pain and suffering, but He does promise that ‘I will be with you always; to the end of the age’.  Jesus has the power to make sense of our trials, as well as our joys.  Our will and mind are challenged, yes, but our hearts warm as we learn from His teaching in our Bible.  

‘I am the Life’: Jesus did not live with death as the final chapter of His life.  Biblical commentators suggest that He is the Life after death as well as the life before it, because He was not subject to death, but made it subject to Him.  If we really ‘own’ His words, how heartening they are, perhaps not initially, but as time passes, especially for any who have lost loved ones.  In our Intercessions this February, let us pray for them.

Jesus is indeed the Way, the Truth and the Life.