He
Is The Way The Truth And The Life
(see
Jn 14:6)
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
In today’s Gospel, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior,
introduces Himself to us and to humanity as The Way The Truth and The Life.
First, Jesus Christ does not say that He is a way, any
way that people may or may not take to reach a given destination. He says that He is “The Way” in the
superlative, the highest, the absolute and exclusive degree.
In fact, Christ was declared by God the Father the Beloved
Son, with Whom God is well pleased.[1]
Christ is the only one Mediator between God and man.[2]
Jesus Christ was decreed by God the Father Lord and
Master and Supreme Judge of the universe and of all creation:
God greatly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him
the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should
bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.[3]
No name under heaven other than
the Holy Name of Jesus should the human race call upon to be saved.[4]
So, there is The Only, The Unique Way, The Way of Jesus
Christ, The Way that is Jesus Christ, through Which humanity surely reaches
salvation. No alternative way could be
found in God’s plan for the everlasting happiness given to all peoples, at all
times and in all places.
Second, Jesus Christ also tells us that He is The
Truth. He is not any truth but The
Truth. He is The Truth about God’s
merciful love toward all of us sinners.
He is The Truth that we, created by God in His image, and given a
dignity much higher than that of other creatures, have to live up to our noble
standing. This dignity should not be
violated by anyone and in anyway.
Besides, we, the chosen People of God, saved with the
precious Blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, should lead others by our good
example,[5] in particular by the total
trust in God and by unwavering faith in Jesus Christ.
Finally, Jesus Christ is The Life, the Only Life that is
so meaningful and so essential for all humanity that without Him born into the
world, suffering and dying on the Cross, and rising from death, we would have
remained forever most miserable slaves to the power of sin and victims of the
forces of evil.
To the urgent message of the Gospel for this Fifth Sunday
of Easter that Jesus Christ is The Way The Truth and The Life, let us do our
best to respond, seriously keeping in mind the very words of Saint Paul:
For one believes with the heart and so is
justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.[6]
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
