JN 14: 1-14 

Jottings on John…Easter 5…2017 

Some years ago my wife & I land at Dublin airport, pick up a car, & head towards the B & B we’re booked to stay in. We have what appear to be clear directions; down the highway, turn off at such & such a road, then turn left at the pub on the next corner. Do you think we can find that, ‘pub on the next corner’? Not we! Three times we re-drive that stretch with no success. (Is there a Celtic understanding of ‘Trinity’ emerging in real life?) But, God is good! Help is at hand! We spot an elderly gent beside the road, so we pull over, tell him our problem, & ask if he can direct us. He says, “Sure & the pub’s just up there a wee bit, on the corner.” We say, “It may be up there on the corner, but we can’t find it! Our gent simply says, “I’ll come with you & show you the way!” So he hops into the car with us, & off we drive; rather more than ‘a wee bit’! Our passenger suddenly says, “ Turn here”. So we turn where he says, & with a triumphant pointing of his finger, “There it is! Didn’t I tell you, now?” Would you believe we still can’t see this pub on the corner! But sure and it is there. Just completely hidden by a hedge of trees so thick no-one who didn’t know it was there could possibly find it!

We thank our guide profusely. He says, “Goodbye to ye. I don’t suppose we’ll ever meet again in this world, but we’ll meet again one day in Heaven!” and off he goes. To this day we’ve never been sure whether we were shown the way, &, better still, taken there, by an elderly gent or a leprechaun in the service of our guardian angel (whom we’ve come to believe over many years is St. Raphael - but that’s another story!) What still strikes us is that our Irish friend has the very essence of Gospel in his heart. Not the ‘we’ll meet in Heaven’ bit; anyone can say that. It’s the, “I’ll come with you & show you the way” bit that matters; and is at the heart of today’s passage. Can we perhaps recall other personal examples of being shown the way, have someone walk the Way with us, rather than just given directions? Such personal stories resurrect Jesus’ offering Himself as the Way.

Seeing it’s Mothers’ Day, a lot of us will think of our mothers (& fathers!) as those who didn’t just give us directions but walked the Way with us. Let’s be honest; more & more parents are finding that increasingly difficult & frustrating for all parties in today’s rapidly changing world. Rapidly changing in a lot of wrong & complicated directions. Despite that, & because of that, it’s never been more important that all of us, mothers, fathers, & those of us who are neither, walk the JS Way with our JS family, our natural or adoptive family & our wider-world family.

In our passage, Jesus does even better than our Irish friend, be he leprechaun, or archangel’s apprentice! For not only does Jesus come with us & show us the way; Jesus Himself is the Way. A Way that doesn’t beckon us from round corners, nor from hiding behind hedges; not anything like that. Jesus’ Way is an inner Way that leads us to become like Him. John often points to Jesus’ Signs. Jesus Himself is Sign that if His Way is inside us, then His Truth is inside us, too; & His Life! A package deal if ever there was a package deal! He is not only with us in Spirit as we journey; He IS the journey. The further we walk His Way, not just with Him, but in Him, the more we discover His Truth, & live out His Life. That’s a very personal resurrection right here & now!