5th Sunday of Easter 2020

SarahReesJones / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

When we consider the Gospel passage of this Sunday, we see at the centre, the well-known saying of Jesus, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Notice that a question leads to this saying and a statement follows this saying. The question that leads to this saying is, “Lord we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus was talking about going away from his disciples to prepare them a place in the Father’s house. I believe it can be taken to mean that Jesus will depart to his Passion so that his followers would be able to enter heaven. St. Thomas was the disciple who asked the question. Many scripture scholars are in the opinion that St. Thomas was someone who preferred to deal with the tangible than with the intangible. That was why he wanted proof of Jesus’s resurrection. Similarly, he asked for the exact place Jesus was going. Yet, we see that he would move away from that way of thinking and embrace the fact that Jesus the man was also God when he uttered, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).

Like St. Thomas, many people in our era deal more with the tangible than the intangible. Empirical science is more convincing because it deals with the tangible. Religion does not always produce tangible answers. If one cannot produce physical proof of God’s existence, then God does not exist. Religious faith is thus a mere illusion because there is no physical proof. While many of us would profess that we have faith and do not doubt in the existence of God, we might still have doubts in our hearts. We might think, “If God loves me, why am I suffering?” Perhaps we might think, “If God loves me, why am I not at peace?” When we think this way, are we not saying that we need proof of His love?

Jesus does not chide St.Thomas; He gives St. Thomas an answer:

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.

Would St. Thomas have understood his answer? This saying of Jesus was not a direct answer to St. Thomas’ question. Jesus tells St. Thomas that to know where Jesus was going, he was to focus on Jesus Himself. Jesus was going to the Father and to know where that was, St. Thomas need only to focus on Jesus. If we want to go to the Father, we would need to focus on Jesus as well. In short, the person of Jesus would lead us to the Father; the words of Jesus would lead us to the Truth and the acts of Jesus in His Passion and Death would lead to true and everlasting life. This is reinforced by Jesus’s next words:

If you know me, you know my Father too.

From this moment you know him and have seen him.

When we focus on Jesus, we will come to encounter the Father and come to know Him. God is Spirit, not material. Thus, for us, who are physical and tangible, we are not able to perceive God with our physical senses. Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, has taken on a physical form so that we can perceive God with our senses. Thus. to know God the Father, we would need to know Jesus. The word “know” here would imply a relationship. However, St. Philip misses this point and interjects with the statement:

Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied.

Imagine how Jesus must have felt. This was the last meal He was having with His disciples before his Passion, and they were not clinging to His words! They had been with Him for three years and they were still not able to discern the truth of His words.

Among us, there are those who were baptised just a year ago, there are those who have been Catholic all our lives. No matter how long we have been followers of Jesus, it is important that we cling to Jesus’s words. It is true that we should be stronger in our faith the longer we are Catholics but this is, sadly, not always true. The influence of the world sometimes lead us astray and we would need to find our way back to Jesus. When I say “clinging on to Jesus’s words,” I mean that we take Jesus’s teachings seriously. It is not about memorising the words by rote. Rather, I mean that we do what we can to understand the meaning and significance of His words. Do we pray when we read scripture? Do enquire when we are unsure of the meaning or the implications of His teachings? Are we ready to live His teachings authentically?

Jesus expresses his distress when he says to Philip:

Have I been with you all this time, Philip … 

and you still do not know me?

To have seen me is to have seen the Father,

so how can you say, 'Let us see the Father?'

Do you not believe

that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

These words remind us that Jesus is indeed the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the way to know the Father. Jesus, the Truth, is the visible expression of what the Father wants to communicate with us. Jesus is the first, the archetype, of the Life the Father wants to give us in the Resurrection. Jesus reassures his disciples and all of us that what he says are not empty words.

I tell you most solemnly,

whoever believes in me

will perform the same works as I do myself,

he will perform even greater works,

because I am going to the Father.

The Acts of the Apostles bear testament to the fact that after the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles and those who had come to believe in Jesus achieved more than Jesus did with respect to the spreading of the Good News. Today, our Christian life has the potential of bringing salvation to others without the need of performing miracles. The grace of God enables us to show the love of God through our compassion and works of mercy. As long as we cling on to the fact that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, and live it, our lives can bear witness to the message of the Good News. When we bring the Good News to others, we are evangelising as Christians.


(Chinese Translation below)

当我们考虑这主日的福音时，我们发现在中间就是耶稣的这句名言：「我是道路、真理、生命。」我们会注意到，这句前有发一个问题，这句后有发表一条声明。所发的问题是：「主！我们不知道你往那里去，怎么会知道那条路呢？」耶稣正在谈论要离开门徒，为他们准备在父的家中的住处。我也相信这表示耶稣将要以祂的受难，使门徒能够进入天堂。圣多默是发问的那一个门徒。许多圣经学家认为圣多默倾向面对有形而不是无形的问题。这就是为什么他要求耶稣复活证据的原因。同样的，他询问耶稣要去的确切地方。但是，以后他会改变这种想法，接受耶稣是真人真天主，说道：「我主！我天主！」（若20：28）

像圣多默一样，我们这个时代的许多人倾向面对有形的事情。因为科学是面对着有形的东西和有形的证据，所以它更使人信服。宗教所谈的是无形的，因此不能给满足的答案。世人有着一个想法：如果无法以科学证明天主的存在，那么天主不是真的。因此，宗教信仰只是一种幻想，因为没有任何物理证据。虽然我们会承认我们有信心，并且相信天主的存在，然而我们内心还可能有疑虑。我们可能会想：「如果天主爱我，我为什么还在受苦？」也许我们可能会想，「如果天主爱我，为什么我心还不安？」当我们有这种思想时，岂不是在说我们需要天主爱我们的证据吗？

耶稣不责怪圣多默。他这样地回答圣多默：

我是道路、真理、生命，
除非经过我，谁也不能到父那里去。

圣多默会明白耶稣的回答吗？耶稣没有直接回答圣多默。耶稣告诉圣多默，如果要知道耶稣去哪里，他必需瞩目于耶稣。耶稣要去天父那里，要知道那是什么地方，圣多默只需要把关注集中于耶稣。如果我们想去天父，我们也需要注视于耶稣。简而言之，耶稣会带领我们到天父那里去。耶稣的话将引导我们走向真理，耶稣在受难和死亡将领我们向真实永恒的生命。耶稣继续强调：

你们若认识我，也就必然认识我父；
现在你们已认识他，并且已经看见他。

当我们瞩目于耶稣，我们将遇到天父并认识他。天主是神，不是物质的。 因此，对于我们这些身体和有形的人来说，我们无法利用我们的身体感觉来感知天主。耶稣，成了血肉的天主子，取了肉身的形式，使我们能认识天主。要认识天父，我们就需要认识耶稣。说到「认识」，指的是有一种关系。然而，圣斐理伯误解耶稣的意识，而说：

主！把父显示给我们，我们就心满意足了。

想象一下耶稣的感受。那是他在受难之前与门徒要吃的最后一餐，而他们不能坚注祂的话！他们和耶稣在一起已经有三年的时间，他们仍然无法辨别他所说的话。

在我们当中，有些人一年前受洗，有些是一生作教友。无论我们跟随耶稣多久，我们都必须坚注耶稣的话。的确，我们作教友越久，我们的信仰就应该越坚强。不过，可悲的是，并非时时如此。世界的影响有时会使我们误入歧途，而我们需要找到回到耶稣的道路。当我说「坚注耶稣的话」时，是指我们认真对待耶稣的教导。这并不是要死记硬背。相反，我的意思是我们应该尽力地理解耶稣话语的含义和意义。我们读经时有没有先祈祷呢？当我们不能确定耶稣所教导的意义或含义时，会询问吗？我们愿意在生活里真实地活出耶稣的教导吗？

耶稣很失望因为祂这样地对圣斐理伯说：

斐理伯！这么长久的时候，我和你们在一起，而你还不认识我吗？
谁看见了我，就是看见了父；
你怎么说：把父显示给我们呢？
你不信我在父内，父在我内吗？

这些话提醒我们，耶稣确实是道路、真理和生命。我们沿着耶稣这条路，我们就能认识天父。耶稣是真理，显现了天父与我们人类所要沟通的。父愿意在复活中赐予我们的永恒生命，耶稣就是这种生命的原型。耶稣向门徒和我们保证祂所说的不是空话。

我实实在在告诉你们：
凡信我的，我所做的事业，
他也要做，并且还要作比这些更大的事业，
因为我往父那里去。

宗徒大事录证明了在耶稣升天之后，宗徒和那些相信耶稣的人在传播福音方面比耶稣取得了更多的成就。今天，我们的基督徒生活，没有奇迹，也能帮助世人得到救恩。天主的恩惠使我们能够通过我们的同情和怜悯之心表现出天主的爱。只要我们在生活里坚持耶稣是道路，真理和生命，我们就可以为福音作见证。当我们把福音传达给别人时，我们就是福传的基督徒。