Life Through Faith!

Friday, May 16, 2025

Acts 13:26-33; Jn 14:1-6

Today’s Gospel highlights our relationship with Jesus as a solution to our inner agitations because he is the ‘Way, the Truth, and the Life.’

If the first part of the Gospel provides the reason to live in union with Jesus, the second part of the Gospel shows how Jesus becomes the very foundation of our being. 

The first part begins with Jesus calming down his disciples. Because of the predictions that Jesus made about his ‘glorification’ on the cross, Peter’s denial of him, and Judas’ betrayal in the previous chapter, the disciples had reason to be discouraged and perplexed. Hence, the text begins with Jesus calming down those agitated hearts with a promise of reunion with him after a brief time of separation. What Jesus puts forward as a solution is not some verbal assurance but a relationship with him. Our hearts find peace when Jesus becomes our friend. When Jesus talks of his ‘Father’s House,’ we are reminded of heaven. Instead of confining our thoughts to a physical place, we must understand heaven as where Jesus is and where we will be united with him. Yet another clarification is that when Jesus claims that he is going to ‘prepare a place’ for us, he also prepares us for that place. 

In the second part of the Gospel, we find Jesus claiming that he is ‘the way and the truth and the life.’ We must understand these statements with the exclusivity that each of the three words is characterized by. ‘Jesus is the Way’ would mean that Jesus is not one of the many ways there are, but he is the only way so that ‘no one goes to the Father except through him.’ ‘Jesus is the Truth’ because in Jesus, the definitive revelation of God took place. Jesus is the invisible face of the Father, and therefore he is the repository of truth. ‘Jesus is the Life’ because Christians cannot imagine a life apart from Christ. Our relationship with Christ becomes the very lifeline for us to survive and thrive. It is only through our faith in Jesus that we Christians can sustain our lives on earth. 

Let us pray that we may find our life through our faith in Jesus. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar