'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. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. John 14:1-17
We hear Jesus, gathered with his disciples, still trying to explain the intimacy and interconnectedness of his relationship to the Father, Creator, God. They accept that he is able to heal and feed and able to understand the depths of the human soul. And yet, they are struggling to understand. Today, we might say Jesus and the Father have identical or related DNA and explain that since we all came from one root, we are intimately connected and interdependent. Today we are invited to live beyond our need for exceptionalism and humbly embrace Jesus' promises to live on the love and power of the Creator.
Divine Creator, we are all your beloved children
in the myriads of beauties, cultures and music
and we are known in the depths of our humanity.
Despite being imprinted with your image and spirit
we doubt and fear and lose our way regularly
only to be gathered up again into your loving arms.
Surround us today, Lord, with your holy grace
so we might be peacemakers with our neighbors
and carry your imprinted love to our aching world. Amen.
