On the last three Sundays of
Easter the gospel reading provides some excerpts from Jesus’s discourses during
the last supper. This year we read two selections from chapter 14 of John. In
the passage we have just heard, Jesus invites his disciples not to be troubled
and to have faith in him, just as they already have faith in God. It is an
indirect way to exhort them to put Jesus on the same level as God.
It is so long a time that the
disciples are with Jesus, but they have not yet understood who Jesus really is.
They certainly love him, esteem him; they think that he might be the expected Messiah;
but they would never have imagined his divine identity. So, Jesus takes the
opportunity of the last supper with his disciples, to reveal himself to them.
The first great revelation is
contained in the answer to Thomas’ question: “Master, we do not know where you
are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus replies: “I am the way (Ego sum via) and the truth
and the life.” If you remember, last Sunday Jesus had compared himself with a
gate; now, with a road. The idea is the same: if we want to be saved, we have
to pass through him. There are no other ways to attain salvation. Jesus is not
just one of different ways to salvation; he is the way. In this case
Jesus explains better the meaning of his statement. There are two aspects to
consider. First, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” So, Jesus is
the way to reach God, in whom we can find salvation. It is what Jesus means as
he says: “I am the life.” Second, “If you know me, then you will also know my
Father.” So, Jesus is the way to know God. It is what he means by saying: “I am
the truth.”
The apostles, despite the
statements quite clear of Jesus, continue not to understand. Philip asks Jesus:
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Philip is
expressing a deep desire of man: to see God; it is a natural instinct. As Saint
Augustine says, our heart is restless until it rests in God. But Philip has not
yet realized that God has already manifested himself to us through Jesus Christ:
he is the Son of God made man. That is why Jesus can say: “Whoever has seen me
has seen the Father.” We do not have to wait for any other revelation from God:
he has already made himself known in his incarnate Son. Whatever Jesus says,
whatever Jesus does, it is God in person who is revealing himself to us.
In the second reading we find
another image, which expresses the role of Jesus Christ in the Church—the
stone. Nowadays, we do not have a high opinion of stone, because it is hard, it
is cold, it is unchangeable; and so, in a “liquid” and emotional society like
that in which we live, we cannot appreciate the natural virtues of stone. Stone
is what stays firm through cataclysms; on stone the foundations of a house are
laid. In the gospel, Jesus invites us to build our house on the rock, and not
on sand, if we want it not to collapse during the storm (Mt 7:24-27). Well, Peter compares
Jesus with a “living stone,” which was rejected by men, but has become the
cornerstone of a spiritual house—the Church. The Church is built on Jesus
Christ. Saint Paul says that “no one can lay a foundation other than … Jesus
Christ” (1Cor 3:11). Since the Church—the spiritual house—is made up of us, we
are the stones of this house; we also are, like Jesus, “living stones.” We are
the stones of the house and Jesus is its cornerstone. Since we are founded on
him, we participate in his characteristics: as he is the high eternal Priest,
we too are a holy, royal priesthood. It is the so-called “common priesthood” of
all baptized, through which we can announce the wonderful deeds of God and
offer spiritual sacrifices. Considering that we are stones, we can’t complain.
Q
