Reflection on Jn 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Jesus says about Himself: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus said to the Jews: “Before Abraham was, I AM.” (Jn 8:58) They took up stones to throw at Him, for the name of God is “HE WHO IS”. Jesus says that He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the Truth. The devil is a liar and the father of lies. Jesus said to those who believed in Him: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (Jn 8:32) He does not speak about an abstract truth but about Divine Truth in the flesh, i.e. about Himself. Jesus also says that He is the Life. The contrary of life is death, both temporal and eternal. Jesus gives us eternal life, and He Himself is Eternal Life. He says: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (Jn 11:25) Jesus says that He is the Way. He says to all who have received Him: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” The apostles left everything and followed Him. Jesus is the spiritual way which unites us to Him and leads to unity with the Father: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) He is true God.
In verse 11, Jesus says: “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me.” In verse 20: “At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Verse 23: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” God, the Father and the Son, dwells in us. The condition is to love Jesus – that means, to keep His word (the Gospel). The Holy Spirit likewise dwells in us. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you? The temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1Cor 6:19; 3:17)
Jesus is the Way. He is united with the cross which He carries and on which, dying, He commits His spirit to the Father. His death is followed by resurrection, and then on the 40th day He ascends to eternal glory and full unity with the Father. This is the programme – the way for you too.
Short instructions on interior prayer, union with Christ and the following of Christ who is the Way:
Try to think for 5 minutes of the reality of the death of Christ and your death. In extreme suffering before His death, Jesus summoned all His strength and cried out: “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” His head declined on His breast lifelessly. Jesus died. We should enter into Christ’s death time and again (2Cor 4:10). It means that we should concentrate at a certain moment and surrender ourselves wholly to God in obedience. Whenever you are attacked by an evil, impure or hateful thought or feeling during the day, you must cut it off, and it hurts. In order to be in communion with Christ and to abide in Him and His word in prayer (Jn 15), you must put to death, i.e. renounce, all vain thoughts. You must concentrate only on the moment of total self-surrender to God. At the moment of death, Jesus said: “Father (Abba)”. Repeat slowly “Aaa-b-aaa” and realize within a second the death of Jesus at Calvary. When you say “Abba” for the second time, realize that Jesus is now uttering these words in you and opening your soul. Your soul is like prison which keeps your spirit in vanity and self-deceit. When you say “Abba” for the third time, realize that now you consciously commit your spirit together with Christ’s spirit into the Father’s hands. Think of the moment of your physical death. Repeat these three aspects of faith and commitment for 5 minutes. You can thus experience the reality of dying with Christ. You were buried into His death in baptism, and now you can actualize this truth by faith in prayer and later on in particular life situations or decision-making as well.
Jesus rose again on the third day and ascended into heaven on the fortieth day. God’s Word says: “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly places.” (Eph 2:6; cf. Col 2:12) Try to experience in 5 minutes unity with the risen Christ who is now in you. And then unity with Christ in the glory of heaven. You can imagine a column of light which penetrates your soul and the space above you and reaches the Father’s hands. Dying, Christ opened this way of communion for you too, He Himself being this Way. Try to concentrate and repeat for 5 minutes: “Jesus, You are in me, and I in You.” And then another 5 minutes: “Jesus, You are in the Father, and the Father is in You.” Try to perceive this truth. Then for another 5 minutes realize that now you are in the heavenly glory in spirit through Christ and that you are in the Father. Give gradually all your past and future into the Father’s hands and repeat: “Father, Your will be done!” At this moment you can do nothing more. Now you love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. Now peace which the world cannot give abides in you. Think of a concrete problem or pain, and repeat: “Father, Your will be done.” Realize that God hears you and that He is almighty. You are going to repeat for two weeks: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Find 20 minutes at least once and experience this unity in Christ and through Christ who is your Way. Then you will begin to understand the depth of God’s words in chapters 14-17 of the Gospel of John.
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