It is the Way
Ōtūmoetai – 5th Sunday in Easter - Year A -2026
Readings:
What I want to say:
How do the words of John 14 help us see the risen Christ among us, active in our world this Easter
What I want to happen:
How might we be “We must be people of the way, being the dream and hope of God, as we participate in abundant life while here on earth together” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter/commentary-on-john-141-14-6)
The Sermon
1. Introduction: ###
Alleluia Christ is Risen
He is risen indeed Alleluia
Easter is 50 days between Easter Sunday and Pentecost
- makes Pentecost last Sunday of Easter
Time to enter into the mystery and awesomeness of that resurrection story
How ever we understand that
And then to reflect on how WE experience the risen Christ amongst now,
- active in our world.
and to ask what difference that makes for our everyday lives
Began with the story of Jesus being raised from death and the effect that had on his followers
now offered stories help us wonder how we might be invited to live resurrected lives
So last week we spent some time looking at how Jesus places himself in the God the Good Shepherd tradition
and how John reinterprets that tradition
- Jesus embodiment of God acting as the gate that protects and provides
2. The Way, Truth and Life? @@@
This week - well-known passage from John 14.
Too often read it on it’s own
- Divorced from the story and speech it is set in
- removed from its place in John’s story about Jesus
used clobber passage
- prove dogma about Jesus
- we can beat up all other religions as false
- we are the only proper ones
Like last week we need to note
- gospels are not biographies
o not history books
- but carefully constructed theologies about Jesus using story
Read any passage from bible we need to put them back
- cultural contexts
- whole story of scripture
- story of John’s gospel
we might be able to hear some of the hope and intent in Jesus’ words and how John presents them.
then ask “so what for us”
3. Putting It Back
let’s ignore that this is the beginning of a new chapter
This is John’s version of the last supper.
They know that some powerful people want Jesus dead.
This is a tense meal.
The end is coming and they are not sure what that will look like.
They are filled with uncertainty and fear.
As we read this passage we are invited to ask what causes us uncertainty and fear at the moment?
…..
Jesus welcomes them and washes their feet,
- which if we are honest, really confuses them.
Then he says that one of the them will betray him, and Judas goes out into the night.
- More confusion and disbelief.
When Judas was gone, Jesus tells them he is going somewhere they cannot come,
and that they are to “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
Not a rule,
- just how he is inviting them to respond to all that is about to happen.
- I am leaving you. Hold on to each other. Love each other.
Peter is having none of that and says “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I’ll give up my life for you.”
To which Jesus replies “Will you give up your life for me? I assure you that you will deny me three times before the rooster crows.
“Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me.
My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you?
When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too.
You know the way to the place I’m going.”[1]
Or to put it another way – even though you are going to deny me there is a place for you in the heart of God
- not physical place
- relational space in God
To which Thomas the Bold says, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
And the conversation continues ………
4. Well known words
So many well known words
So often read on their own
I wonder what difference it makes to hear them in the conversation they are part of.
Not as stand alone words of dogma establishing the belief system you need to get into heaven
But words of comfort to his struggling followers
Wonder if we can hear these as words of hope in the midst of darkness
- Darkness of those disciples gathering as the storm started to rage around them
- Darkness of John’s small community struggling as the storm raged around them.
I wonder what difference it makes to hear them in the context John gives them to us in.
- Broken relationships.
- Doubt.
- Confusion.
- Exasperation.
To which Jesus offers these words of comfort.
Last week we heard Jesus say of himself “I am the good shepherd.”
For this grieving and confused group of people lost in all that is happening around them,
- Jesus acts as the good shepherd, providing and protecting.
So when we read these words and the words that follow,
- we need to remember they are words of compassion,
- inviting those disciples and all who hear these words to trust all that they had experienced of Jesus.
Jesus is not establishing theological dogma about who is in and who is out.
He is offering reassurance that while they may feel like this is the end,
it is in fact the beginning.
- Even when all seems lost.
- Even when Judas betrays him
- Even when Peter denies Jesus three times.
- Even when they get it wrong,
ð even then there is a place in the heart of God for them,
Even when we get it wrong, and all seems lost
ð even then there is a place in the heart of God for us,
So, I wonder in our uncertainty and fear at the moment
What these words offer us?
5. Easter reading ###
But wait there is more
As we read these words in the Easter season we are invited to also ask
- how do the words of John 14 help us see the risen Christ among us,
- active in our world this Easter
When I drive places I use google maps
- how long
- best route
o never trust Tauranga traffic flows
And we often read Jesus’ response to Thomas as providing that kind of way
- through believing certain things about Jesus, you will get into heaven
- look online many pictures about this passage are exactly that.
One of my favourite programs on TV is the Mandalorian
Set in the Star Wars universe
About refugees from planet Mandalor
All fighters
Often speak the line
“This is the way”
“The way” are the rules and values that shape their identity as Mandalorian.
or as Māori priests I meet with for Bible study on Tuesday nights said
- it is their tikanga
Many commentators suggest this is what Jesus means when he says that “He is the way, the truth and the life.”
Just as the Mandalorian is living the way of Mandalor
Jesus in living the way of God
In living in the way described in gospels
Jesus shows us the truth of who God is
- nature and character of God
when we live this way we find Ife
“If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
Or as one of the commentators puts it
quoted in newsletter
The Way of Jesus in the embodiment of the dream and hope of God
When we live the way of Jesus we too live the dream and hope of God
- this world
- people of this world
And we will come to know the truth of God and participate in the abundant life God dreams and hopes for this world
When we live the way of Jesus we begin to experience resurrection for ourselves now
New life
Through the Spirit, the risen Christ is at work in us and through us
Joining others offering God’s hope
Knowing that when we have done what was ours to do we will be drawn into the heart of God
Abiding deeply in the compassion and love of God.
- that compassion and love will shape what we desire and pray for
When we see others living the way of Jesus we see the risen Christ at work in our world
6. Battle of Gate Pā – Taratoa
7. Heni living the way
8. Conclusion
Might want to have a conversation about
- what you have heard
- how these words help us see the risen Christ among us, active in our world this Easter
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