V SUNDAY OF EASTER
“I AM” SAYS JESUS
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jimenez
This Sunday we hear in the Gospel, “Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.” (Jn 14:6a) Jesus reveals himself as the most concrete part of what we live, of what we do and what we experience.
The first reading reveals to us the problems of the first Christian community. “As the number of disciples continued to grow, the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” (Acts 6:1-2) Throughout the history of the church there have been problems from within and many people criticize the church, there are many anti-Catholic people, and many who would like to see her destroyed. But it is also true that throughout the history of the church she has known how to overcome these difficult moments. From each of the errors the church has learned and been blessed. From this first problem the vocation of the diaconate was born.
The service of the deacons is born out of the necessity to attend to the poor, the orphaned and the widows. But they did not only serve them, because their ministry was about representing the apostles and they were the ones directly responsible for the community. They were serving through the gift of faith and the Spirit, not only in the social aspects, but also spiritual service and preaching. This diaconal service was an example of sharing in the primitive church. We are grateful to God for this beautiful vocation of service and we pray for our deacons and the candidates to the diaconate so they may persevere in their service.
“Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.” (Jn 14: 1-2) This is a farewell discourse. That night Jesus Christ communicated to his disciples the most profound truths of his life, of his existence and his pro-existence. Jesus presents himself as the way that leads to the Father, the truth that frees and the life that extends past death. We know that the way is a path to walk on to arrive at a goal, life is to live, to enjoy; the truth is to experience it as goodness when faced with a lie, which provokes anxiety and unhappiness. The way, the truth and the life are concrete things that we live, that are done, that are experienced. These are things that we all look for in our history and our existence.
“No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14:6b) Men and women look for God, we need God, but not just any God, but rather a Father. Jesus has revealed him in this way and has insisted on his word and his life: that is his truth, for which he died, for having God as his Father. The gospel writer Saint John is affirming for us in this text that it is not possible to experience God except through Jesus. We can say that the theology of Saint John about who Jesus is, for the Christian community, is a faith proposal; a proposal of the realities that we look for always and everywhere. He is the way that brings us to God the Father, because otherwise he would have continued to be an unknown God for us. Now the Father is closer and we know him, thanks to Jesus Christ.
Every baptized person has received as their inheritance the opportunity to enter into eternal glory. They have been consecrated by God as a chosen race. Jesus has won that for us, he is the living rock and the foundation of this religion of the people of the one true God.
In Spanish we have a popular phrase that translates “there is a solution for everything, except for death.” Well I would affirm the opposite: there is a solution for everything, including death; because to know and follow Jesus is to find the way, the truth and through that eternal life. May we follow, love and worship God the Father who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. Let us remember that Saint Peter tells us that we are living stones, and each one of us are an important part of the construction of the “spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)