17 May, 2019. Friday, 4th Week of Easter

Friday of Week 4 of Easter

1st Reading: Acts 13:26-33

Jesus was put to death, but raised and exalted by God

[Paul went on to say]
“My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us the message of this salvation has been sent. Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him. Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed. When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second Psalm, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you.”

Responsorial: Psalm 2: 6-11

Response: You are my Son; this day I have begotten you

‘It is I who have set up my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.’
I will announce the decree of the Lord:
The Lord said to me: ‘You are my Son.
It is I who have begotten you this day.’ (R./)
‘Ask and I shall bequeath you the nations,
put the ends of the earth in your possession.
With a rod of iron you will break them,
shatter them like a potter’s jar.’ (R./)
Now, O kings, understand,
take warning rulers of the earth;
serve the Lord with awe
and trembling, pay him your homage. (R./)

Gospel: John 14:1-6

In my Father’s house there are many rooms

Jesus said,
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Many rooms in God’s House

“I rejoiced when I heard them say
Let us to to God’s house!”
Pope Francis urged us to focus on building bridges, not barriers. We do what we can to ensure that the doors of our church are warmly welcoming. This is the antidote to a narrow, legalistic ideal of a church for the perfect, that would grimly reiterate the strict barriers to eucharistic communion. If anyone sincerely seeks entry, they should not be denied. Remember those Last Supper words of Jesus so central to our faith: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” In some way, to be seeking him is already to be found by Him. Jesus draws us even before we feel inclined to look for him. The flower is touched by sunlight before it turns toward the sun.
In presenting the Gospel to a Jewish audience, Paul roamed through the Hebrew Bible, beginning with the patriarchs and Moses and ending with John the Baptist, who pointed to Jesus. Some of this was in yesterday’s reading. Now, in the second half of his sermon at Pisidian Antioch, Paul directly addresses the situation of his hearers. He turns from the written words of Scripture to words of the living God. Everything in Scripture, he maintains, can be read in the light of Jesus who gives those books their full meaning. He moves from the book to a person, calling us to move from merely formal doctrine to bear personal witness to Jesus.
We are “on the way” as we move from the creed to personal encounter with Jesus who speaks to our hearts. We are also on “the way,” strangely enough, when sin or misfortune forces us out into a desolate place. Even in times of turmoil for the church, we can be “on the way,” with Jesus. Just as there are many mansions in the Father’s house, so the ways that lead to those mansions are many and varied. The only absolute guideline Jesus gives about staying on the track with him is always couched in terms of love, that agapé which was the hallmark of Jesus’ whole life on earth.

Taking us to the Father

Today’s gospel is often read at funerals, and is easy to see why. Jesus assures them that while he is leaving them (by death), he is really going back to his Father, back to the one from whom he came. The journey he is about to make is one that they too will make. He promises to return to take his disciples with him to the Father’s house, so that they can be with him forever. Jesus promises the same to us also, that he will take us to the Father at the end of our lives. He came among us to show us the Father, to reveal God to us. The whole purpose of his mission was and is to bring God to us and to bring us to God.
The many rooms in his Father’s house suggests a place of great hospitality. Heaven is not a confined space for a select few, but an open space for the many, just as Jesus himself did not come for some elect few, but for all. Jesus is the Way to the Father for all who turn to him in faith. That is why he said, “when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” Let him be our Way in this life, so that at the end we can join him in his Father’s house.