The Word God Spells

John 14: 1-6
Acts 13:26-33 / Ps 2:6-11

I am the way and the truth and the life. . .
(John 14:6)

Christ Jesus is the only Way,
This vital Truth we all should know;
His Word’s our nourishment each day,
As well as our path to follow.

Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Reflection

Jesus Christ is our Way to the Father, and there is no other way. He is the Truth, and others who proclaim otherwise will be proven false. He is Life Eternal — the life that begins not when we die but when Christ begins to live in us. And the words of our Lord should provide a great consolation: “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” (Jn.14:1-2).

In our annual trek to Mt. Apo, we can easily get lost in the forest without our porters to guide us. The thick virgin forest can be very treacherous for the uninitiated, and without proper orientation, hunger, hypothermia or a treacherous ravine can be the cause of untimely death. The same is true in this jungle called life. Without Jesus as our guide and model, how easily we can get lost and fall into sin. But Jesus does not merely show us the way. He is the Way. God became one of us in order to blaze the trail for us in this life, and His death and Resurrection became the beacon of light for us to follow on the way to His Father’s home.

There may be many rooms in heaven, but Jesus will only welcome the most worthy, just as we would only invite the most select friends into our home. Not a great multitude will follow the Way of the Lord. After all, how many people can avoid the pitfalls of adultery, blasphemy, covetousness, envy, falsehood, greed, hedonism, and all the sins on earth that one can classify from A to Z? And millions of these victims of the evil one never had the chance to see these sins in the context of the Truth in Holy Scriptures, much less encounter Jesus as their Path to everlasting Life. The ultimate destiny of fallen souls will remain a mystery to us until we cross the Great Divide.

This much is certain: the souls that will fall into eternal damnation can only be those who choose to deny the Divine Mercy of God, who prefer darkness instead of light. These are the ones whom our Lord said would be judged by their own decision.

Father most loving, because of Your great compassion we find comfort in the thought that our Lord Jesus has prepared accomodations for us in Your home, and as long as we remain faithful to Him and His Word, our hearts will never be troubled. Amen.