Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter
Acts 13:26-33  +  John 14:1-6
May 12, 2017

“‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’”

The setting of today’s Gospel is another exchange between the Lord Jesus and the apostle Thomas.  There are two significant exchanges in the Gospel between Jesus and Thomas.  We hear the more famous exchange on the Second Sunday of Easter.  But today, on a weekday during the middle of Easter, we hear another form of doubt from Thomas.

Thomas expresses doubt in two ways.  First, he expresses doubt about Jesus as a leader.  A good leader makes sure that his followers know their goal.  So when Thomas claims that “we” do not know where Jesus is going, he’s expressing doubt about the goal of Jesus.  Do you ever share this doubt, or lose sight of the goal that Jesus is leading you towards through your vocation?

The second expression of doubt concerns the way to the goal.  Thomas’ words seem to hold some sort of logic:  if he does not know the goal, how can he know the way?  Only a fool sets out on a journey without knowing the goal.  If he doesn’t know the goal, then each and every step is as likely to take him farther away from his goal than it is to take him closer toward the goal.

However, this second expression of doubt is also a doubt about Jesus as a leader.  If Jesus is a good leader, which of course He is, then why do we have to know the goal?  The leader is the way to stay on track:  staying close to Him ensures progress towards the goal.  Thomas also has to learn from Jesus, though, that Jesus is the Life:  that is, the very goal to which Jesus is leading His disciples.