FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER A

[cappie]

So many people, everywhere feel so uncertain. So many plans have been upended, suspended? How long will this last? When will we get to go out/gather/travel/work normally/work at all/hug/feel safe again?  This unseen virus reaching into our homes, churches, schools, hospitals. We may feel suspended, unable to get a foothold on something solid and dependable, concrete, and unshakeable.

Here is the message of our Gospel for today. The feeling of uncertainty is real, the feeling of being off course without our regular patterns and way-markers is real.  And yes, God gives us a way that is steadfast. God gives us precisely what we need for this moment, God gives us a person and makes us into a people. All of our readings today bear witness to this assurance.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” says Jesus. With Jesus, we have sure footing. With Jesus, there is a way forward. We may not see the next step, but he does, and if we stay close, follow him, and depend on him, we can move forward undergirded by the unmovable, unshakeable, unshifting ground that supports us, the guide that won’t leave us, the God who won’t lose us.

Jesus assures us that if we know him, we know the one he calls Father, also. God is knowable because Jesus is knowable.  The God we know in Jesus Christ became flesh and lived among us,  cared for the sick, fed the hungry, blessed children, washed the feet of his disciples, wept at the death of his friend, promised that death will not be victorious, met his disciples even when they had isolated themselves in an upper room, went ahead to prepare a place for us, and will come and take us to himself, that where he is, we may be also. God is with us, even in our vulnerability, our uncertainty, our flailing and failing and fear. Reach out, here is God. Take a step forward on the way. Our footing is sure. The path holds. The way leads to life. Though we are weak, Jesus is strong. Though we get distracted, Jesus stays focused. Though we stumble, Jesus holds onto us.
Jesus was talking to people whose families thought they might be crazy for following him, who were risking their livelihoods and lives to call him Saviour.  “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Keep going. The footing is sure. The path is solid. You cannot get lost. God will not let you go. Jesus offers assurance that following him is the way to know God, the way to an abundant life, the way to peace and joy, no matter our circumstances. Following Jesus is not a waste of time, or a dead-end road. Jesus is the way. God gives us a way that is steadfast when all feels like sinking sand, a truth that is certain when all feels slippery, a life that is assured when all is shifting because God gives us a person, Jesus, to be the Way for us.

 God gives us a person and makes us into a people. St Peter says “Come to [Jesus], a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” On Jesus as our foundation stone, chosen and precious in God’s sight, God makes us into a people, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, a dwelling place for God, a place from which and in which God works and is worshipped, made of living stones.
This temple made of living stones—us, people of God, called and loved and gathered, and built up together by God, even when we are physically apart. In making us into a building God sustains through all time and space, spanning and including all generations, God is not granting certainty at the price of stagnation.  This temple of living stones, built on Christ the sure foundation, is dependable but creative, just like the God in whose image we are made. Living and life-giving.

The reliability of Jesus, Jesus’ love, Jesus’ care for us forever is not provisional, temporary, unknowable. It cannot be cancelled. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. God is our rock, a strong castle to keep us safe,  our stronghold. Jesus Christ is the unshakeable, firm foundation on which we are being built into a temple made of living stones.