He is the Way, the Truth and the Life

Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A

Many modern day gurus of semi-religious motivational content will assure you that the journey of life is more important than the destination. Basically, this is implying that it doesn’t matter where you are heading as long as you are moving and making progress. As clever or profound as this may sound, it is pure hogwash. What’s the point of making a journey when it takes you nowhere or takes us in different directions where we will never get to meet? Even the yellow brick road led Dorothy of Kansas and her motley companions to the fabled Emerald City, and we all know that the Emerald City wasn’t her final destination. The truth is that getting to our destination and knowing which route we must take to get there are both equally important. We cannot discount one while elevating the other.

Unfortunately, this is what many modern folks have bought into and we have a name for it - “relativism.” It is basically arguing that everyone has chosen or should be given the freedom to choose their own path and way - that every idea, opinion or thought is as good as another. In this way, by not enforcing “one way,” we can avoid friction or conflict and maintain harmony. These cliched statements are some of the popular taglines we hear: “there is no right or wrong answer, it’s how you look at it,” or “let’s agree to disagree.” As innocent sounding and pragmatic as these statements appear to be, they actually violate the basic foundation of logic - the principle of non-contradiction: a thing cannot be both right or wrong at the same time. Either one is right, the other has to be wrong. And when we sacrifice this basic logical principle at the altar of niceties, we are actually rejecting Truth or claiming that truth is malleable and can be reshaped to fit our agenda or whenever it is convenient. Without a firm anchor in objective truth, modern man finds himself constantly toss by the waves of one opinion or idea after another. Without truth, everything would be a lie.

Relativism does not only obscure our destination but makes us regard our origins as irrelevant. Otto von Habsburg, the head of that imperial dynasty who died in 2011, rightly noted that “those who don’t know where they come from do not know where they are heading—because they don’t know where they stand.” Most people today would never acknowledge that they are God’s creature and that human life begins in the womb. Well, the first may require a faith confession, but the second should simply be an observable phenomenon from science. Yet, both are called into question these days because they do not fit within the larger secular humanistic narrative which promotes abortion.

Can Catholics accept relativism as a viable belief? Well, the gospel gives us this answer. Jesus, without mincing His words, says it as it is: “No one can come to the Father except through me.” This is an absolute claim that does not admit exceptions. “No one!” Our Lord tells us in no uncertain terms: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” Not just any way, or one among many equally valid ways. No! He is the Way, the Truth and the Life! If you find this troubling, well, be assured that non-Christians for centuries had found this equally troubling and many Christians were persecuted with some going to their graves defending this truth with their lives, unrelenting to the end. This is why persecution is the hallmark of Christianity because our beliefs are unpopular and fly against the mainstream penchant for relativistic ideas.

Christ is not just the Way, but as St Thomas Aquinas tells us, He is both the goal and the way - He is both the destination and the way to get to that destination. St Thomas Aquinas explains it this way: “In His human nature He is the way, and in His divine nature He is the goal. Therefore, speaking as man He says: I am the way; and speaking as God He adds: the truth and the life. These two words are an apt description of this goal.”

Other paths may seem more delightful, more attractive by appearance, easier to trod, less challenging, but there is only one Way that leads to the Father. It is Jesus who is both the Way and our goal because He and the Father are one. This is why the Church must proclaim and continues to proclaim that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. It is a subversive claim. It is a scandalous claim but it is a true claim, and for this reason, it is the only claim which can assure us of Eternal Life. Of course, the Church also recognises that those who do not know Christ or His Church through no fault of their own, will not be penalised. They too may be saved if they follow the dictates of their conscience as prompted by the Holy Spirit. But their salvation too comes from Christ and never apart from Him.

Though the world may appear to be a free market place of ideas, opinions, theologies and ideologies, we Christians have already made our choice. And so we turn to the great Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas, for his timeless words of advice: “Therefore hold fast to Christ if you wish to be safe. You will not be able to go astray, because He is the way. He who remains with Him does not wander in trackless places; he is on the right way. Moreover he cannot be deceived, because He is the truth, and He teaches every truth. And He says: ‘For this I was born and for this I have come, to bear witness to the truth.’ Nor can He be disturbed, because He is both life and the giver of life. For He says: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly’ (John 10:10).”