“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it”.
These words of the Lord to His disciples before He returns to His Father are comforting. He will prepare a place for them and wants to have them with Him where He will be. Our Heavenly Father, who sent His Son into the world precisely to lead us back to Himself, wants to keep us with Him forever and to free us from every evil that separates us from Him.
Jesus Himself is the way to the Father. His disciple Thomas has not yet fully understood this, and the Lord has to explain it to him again with these significant words, which show the position of the Son of God in the work of salvation: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life’ Jesus answered him; ‘no one comes to the Father, but by me.’
Understanding the uniqueness of Jesus through the light of the Holy Spirit, it becomes clear that only through Him can one come to the Father. The Church has always been aware of her duty to bear this witness and has received from God the strength to proclaim it throughout the centuries, never giving up.
In more recent times, however, attempts have been made to relativise the claim contained in these words of Jesus, to the point of the reprehensible assertion that all religions are paths to God. With such a statement, one departs from the solid foundation of the Gospel and the binding doctrine of the Church. Moreover, such statements contradict the logic of Redemption, which was given to us through the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. In no other religion did such a thing happen, for their leaders were men, and not the Son of God, who became man. That is why other religions cannot offer a way of salvation to people. Even if some wisdom can be discovered in them – as the Church says, the ‘seeds of the Word’ are present – they are still full of errors and lack of knowledge of God.
The claim that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life also counts for the Jews, though no doubt they were specially prepared by God for the coming of the Messiah and possess a different degree of knowledge of Him. But if we were to stop proclaiming Jesus to them as the Messiah who was born from among them, we would be failing in the missionary mandate He gave us, and we would also be doing a great injustice to themselves, for only the Son of God is the Messiah and Saviour of the world, regardless of whether they believe it or are closed to the truth. A few days ago, we heard Jesus’ statement that whoever receives Him, receives the One who sent Him, that is, the Heavenly Father (Jn 13:20), and whoever rejects Him, rejects the Father (Lk 10:16). This is still true today, for the truth does not change.
Philip, one of the disciples, had not fully understood the unity between Jesus and the Father either. So the Lord made it clear to him once again: ‘He who has seen me has seen the Father’. And He asked him, ‘Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? ’
Further on, He assured him, ‘he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.’
In the Name of Jesus, His disciples will perform great signs. And whatever they ask in His Name, the Lord will fulfil it and thus glorify the Father.
On the eve of His death, Jesus once again prepares His disciples with these words of His, spoken for their comfort and strengthening. They will remember His words after the Lord has finished His work. The Church has preserved them for us, so that to this day they serve as a guide for us to follow the Son of God and thus glorify the Father.
