This weekend’s Gospel is one of the few extended scripture passages that I have committed entirely to memory, and it is solely because it is frequently used at funerals. With complete and total confidence at funerals I can look up and
recite John 14:1-6 while making eye contact with the entire congregation because I have read or heard it at least three hundred times. I don’t know if it gives the family comfort or not, or if it just makes them feel like I’m making it up, but it certainly allows me to pray with the text rather than feel like I’m reading it. That said, I almost never expressly preach on it at funerals, as there are always other things to be covered, and it serves as more of a backdrop to the grief
(and hope) of the family. So, with that in mind, this column is a touch of what I think every time this Gospel is proclaimed during the funeral rites of a parishioner or a friend.

Jesus starts this discourse by speaking a word of calm and peace to all those gathered. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” He is speaking to people who are concerned about their current political situation, whether or not they’ll be able to take care of their families, and probably a thousand other things. So, before they can reflect on the message that He wants them to hear, they
have to accept the peace that He offers them.

But perhaps the most comforting thing about this message, at least for me, is the understanding that He is the message itself. When Thomas asks Him how they can know the way, Jesus’ answer isn’t a complicated list of instructions to follow. It is simply a proclamation that He is Himself the way, and the truth, and the life. Our entire life of discipleship is a single, continuous act of following Jesus. Obviously, this has developed over the course of centuries to give us practical wisdom on how best to avoid sin and follow Our Lord, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to searching for Him. That is a message each of us can stand to hear especially during the Easter Season, but really, we should reflect on it every day of our lives.
 
Take some time in prayer this week to reflect on this question for a bit: When I struggle, do I turn entirely to Jesus as the way, or do I first see if I can work something out on my own? They aren’t mutually exclusive, because Jesus obviously wants us to live and work in the world as His disciples, but we should do so with a sense of the peace that He gives us, and with the understanding that it all boils down to following Him with our whole hearts.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC