5th Sunday of Easter – Year A
“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.” In St Peter’s first letter today, it describes the Church as being a spiritual building, constructed of ‘living stones’ with Christ Himself as the Cornerstone. Peter calls us to come directly to Jesus Himself, the ‘living stone’, rejected by humans but ‘chosen’ and ‘precious’ in the sight of God.
Peter shows us that Jesus is the Messiah, the chosen one, who was rejected by the leaders of Israel, who was put to death, but raised to life and became the cornerstone of God’s house. ‘Faith’ here is the key. For those people who have faith, this stone is ‘Precious & Holy’, a gift from the Father. However, to those without faith, this stone becomes a stumbling block, something to trip and fall over, due to their disbelief.
In our Gospel reading we hear the start of the farewell discourse, the departing words of Jesus to his disciples before he leaves them to sit at the Father’s right hand.
Jesus reassures His beloved disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” and tells them to have faith and to trust in God and in Him. Jesus as the Father’s Son, is absolutely reliable and trustworthy, and having faith in Him, is the same as having faith in God the Father.
Jesus refers to his home as my ‘Father’s house’, in which there are many rooms. Jesus now promises us that He will come back again and take us with Him into the Father’s glory. However, the disciples did not understand.
Thomas confessed that he didn’t know where he was going, nor did he know how to get there. Jesus responds with his sixth ‘I am’ statement.
As some of you may know, that the ‘I am’ title is the true name of God. It goes all the way back to the Old Testament in the book of Exodus when Moses speaks to God in the burning bush. God told Moses to go back to Egypt to set his people free, and Moses asked, what should I say to the Israelites when they asked who has sent me to you. What is your name? God said ‘I am who I am.’
So, when Jesus uses this ‘I am’ title, He is showing His Divine authority as the Son of God the Most High.
In John’s Gospel there are seven ‘I am’ statements. Can you remember them all?
‘I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the Gate; I am the Good Shepherd; I am the true vine; I am the Resurrection and the Life. And the one in today’s Gospel: I am the way and the truth and the life.’
Jesus is the ‘Way’ because it is only through Him that humanity has access to the Father, through the ‘narrow gate’, the ‘one mediator’ between God and the human race. ‘No one comes to the Father except through Him’.
Jesus is the ‘Truth’, the Word of God, the ‘Logos’, that has come from the Father to accomplish His saving work, by drawing all people to share in His Divine communion.
Jesus is the ‘Life’, because only He has come down from Heaven, and only He can lift humanity up to everlasting life.
St Paul writes, ‘Do not grieve, but have hope.’ Through Jesus’ promises, we have our Faith and our Hope. The Lord Jesus is our cornerstone, that our Church is built upon, with the Holy Apostles, and especially St Peter, on whom Christ said, ‘I tell you, Peter, on this rock I will build my Church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.’
So, let us rejoice like the new disciples who presented themselves to the Apostles, full of faith, filled with the Holy Spirit and Wisdom. As we are a chosen race, a Royal Priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart, who are willing to continue the work that the Lord has given to each and every one of us, for the Glory of His Most Holy Name.
Rev. Fr Philip Wrigley's Blog 