Where I am, There You May Also Be

Where I am, There You May Also Be

Jn 14: 1 – 12

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Introduction

Today’s reading is a farewell discourse of Jesus addressed to his disciples. While Jesus tells them that he will be gone for a little while, he promises them that soon they will all be reunited once more in the Father’s house.

The Gospel

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And you know the way to the place where I am going.” ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹² Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

Reflection

Today’s reading comes as a surprise to a number of people who hear Jesus bidding farewell to his disciples. We are still within the Easter Season and are still in a joyful mood to celebrate the Lord’s resurrection. Hearing, however, the somber tone of Jesus saying goodbye to his disciples comes as a surprise. The disciples too must have been themselves surprised as Jesus spoke about leaving them. 

First of all, the context of this discourse or speech is indeed sad. Before Jesus spoke about his departure, Judas had already left the group to betray the Lord. Then there was the prediction of Peter’s denial. Lastly, Jesus knew that the hour has come for him to suffer and was well aware that his disciples would abandon him to die on the cross ( in John’s gospel, only the beloved disciple is at the foot of the cross ). But while the context of this discourse was sad and gloomy, it remains to be one of the most touching discourses Jesus makes in the gospel of John. 

The reading can be divided into four parts as follows:

1.    Farewell Discourse.  Jesus sensed that his disciples were troubled. He tells them to believe in God and in him. And as if wanting to console them, Jesus tells them that he is leaving because he is preparing a place for them. He talks about his Father’s house as having many dwelling places. Furthermore, Jesus reassures his disciples that he himself will come back to take them with him. Notice, however, the simple language Jesus uses in this farewell discourse. Like a grown up man, talking to little children, Jesus utilizes a language that could be imagined and well understood. But as simple as the language of this discourse may seem to be, what Jesus was telling his disciples was both touching and profound. Here is Jesus, one who, according to the gospel of St. John, was from eternity, happily living at the bosom of the Father.  He then becomes incarnate and dwells among us. Now, as he leaves and goes back to the Father, he finds it almost heart wrenching to leave humanity and doesn’t want anything less than spending his eternity with us humans, taking us with him into his heavenly abode. “Where I am, there you may be also“, is a phrase uttered by Jesus at this discourse. All at once, it seems that God could no longer live apart from us. This is why this discourse is very touching and moving as it reveals the very heart of God, seeking, longing and yearning to be with mankind for all of eternity. 

2.    Jesus the Way, the Truth and Life. After Jesus tells his disciples of that heavenly abode with many dwellings, he presumes that they already know the way to get there. Surprisingly, however, they do not. This prompts Thomas to ask: “ Lord, we do not know where you are going: how can we know the way?” Thomas’s question reveals how we ourselves would have asked Jesus the same question. Like Thomas, we too would not know how to get to those heavenly dwelling places. But Jesus tells his disciples that they already know how to get there by telling them that he is the way, the truth and the life. Knowing and following Jesus becomes the way to heaven. Embracing his words is embracing the truth about ourselves and about everything. It is Jesus, the way, the truth and the life who ultimately makes it possible for anyone to go to those heavenly dwellings in the Father’s house. Jesus then explains that he alone is the mediator between mankind and the Father; no one comes to the Father except through him and that knowing him is also knowing the Father.

3.    Seeing Jesus is seeing the Father. After Jesus tells them these, Philip makes a candid request, saying : “ Lord, show us the Father; and that will be enough for us.” The Lord apparently is taken aback by Philip’s request. Jesus perhaps expected him to know better after all these years living with him. Jesus then explains that knowing him is knowing the Father and that seeing him was seeing God face to face. We can then say that in Jesus, God has acquired a human face. In him, we experience the fullness of God. The words of Jesus are the words of the Father said through him. The works and deeds of Jesus are the works and deeds of the Father done and accomplished through him. Finally, Jesus tells them, that if they cannot believe him, they at the least, must believe in the work or the deeds that he has done. His deeds, his miracles which Jesus here calls the “ works”, testify that God is indeed present.  

4.    The Works that I do. The end of this reading concludes with a kind of promise to those who believe in Jesus. Jesus says that those who believe in him will do the same “ works” as he did. Jesus’ promise that anyone who believes him will do even greater than he did.  With Jesus returning to the Father, now seated at God’s right hand, he intercedes for us and blesses the works that we do in his name. 

What started out as a sad and somber farewell discourse apparently ends up with an optimistic and hopeful note. This gospel reading is less of a farewell discourse and more of a message of faithful love that assures the beloved of being reunited in some future time. 

This reading also speaks of God who yearns and longs to be with us; a God who builds many mansions or dwelling places in anticipation of our arrival in eternity. To live with God and be with God is God’s ultimate dream for all of mankind. That love for mankind has and always been a love that never died even as we chose for ourselves a different path that brought only pain and suffering on ourselves.

Finally, we discover God in and through Jesus who is the way, the truth and the life. Only in and through him can we hope to reach those heavenly dwellings and live with the Father for all eternity.  

Prayer

Lord, I know you will not leave me. And even if you leave me, I know it’s because you are preparing a place for me so that where you are, there I will be too. Don’t leave me Jesus. You are my way, my truth and my life. Amen.

^“ Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31: 6