Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is the way to the Father. He is not merely a guide to the Father, not simply someone who knows the map and can lead others. He himself is the way. It is as though there were an uncrossable chasm between humankind and God over which Jesus himself, and especially his cross, became the bridge.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
Going by the way of Jesus means that we are meant to do more than follow him, we are meant to be united with him. Only by being united with him through his Paschal mystery can we be with him in his Father's presence.
And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (see John 1:51).
Jesus is the truth itself. He is not merely one who knows and can teach the truth. Rather, truth is a person, it has a name, Jesus Christ. Other truths are true because they participate in the one who is truth itself. The truths of science are possible because God himself gives them existence and sustains them. Without such a grounding superabundant truth as is found in God nothing else would even be comprehensible.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (see Colossians 1:17).
Jesus himself is the life. Apart from him we are creatures headed toward death, ensnared by the devil and his pride, separated from God and his plans to bless us. Apart from the life we find in Jesus we have only the leftover life passed on to us by Adam and Eve, who had squandered the gift of life that they were originally meant to pass on. Apart from Jesus we experience the poverty and fear caused by living in the shadow of death. Jesus does not desire to horde this life for himself, but rather came to share it with us. We in turn must come to him to receive it.
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. (see John 5:40).
Philip correctly senses that his heart will finally be able to find rest in the vision of God himself. All other goods, paths, truths, and possibilities for life find their final transcendent affirmation in him as things that exist to point to his glory.
Philip said to him,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Philip did not yet realize that Jesus himself, the one whom he knew to be the lamb of God, the one whom he believed to be the messiah and savior of his people, was more than those things. Jesus himself revealed the Father to the world. By union with him on his way, by believing in his truth, by sharing in his life, we could come to share Jesus's own knowledge of the Father, not to the same perfect degree, but more than enough to satisfy our hearts forever.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (see First Corinthians 13:12).
If the words of Jesus about his Father remain somewhat obscure, he also reveals him to us by his actions. We see the Father implicated at every moment of the life of Jesus in a mutual interpenetration of love. We see call, obedience, trust, offering, provision, providence, and unity of purpose that is sufficient to overcome any apparent obstacles.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Though Philip received correction when he prayed, "Show us the Father", this prayer is nevertheless a good starting place, properly understood. We should desire to have this profound desire that was expressed by Philip, a desire for a vision of that which matters most, that which alone can satisfy. We can then realize that Jesus himself is our answer to this prayer and receive him as such, that is, as our way, the truth to which we cling, and the life by which we live.
Let us spend enough time with Jesus so as to know him and become witnesses, like Philip and James and Paul and Cephas, of the victory of his resurrection.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
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