Fr Marco Lazzaron
he Gospel of this Sunday presents the disciples’ distress, their doubts, and their objections in response to the words of Jesus. Jesus has just announced His impending departure and the betrayal by one of the Twelve. Upon hearing these words, the disciples are overwhelmed with fear.
The preceding verses tell us that when Judas left the Upper Room, “it was night”. It was night not only externally, but also in their hearts; it was the time of the trial of faith. The disciples find themselves in a distressing solitude where it seems impossible to have trust. In response to their turmoil, Jesus speaks reassuring words to them: “Believe in God, and believe also in me. Let not your hearts be troubled. I am going to prepare a place for you”. “Here, Jesus reveals that in His Father’s house there are many rooms. The fatherhood of God is not only a fatherhood toward the Son, Jesus, but also toward His disciples and, therefore, toward us”. (Enzo Bianchi)
At this point, Thomas asks a question that resonates with all of us: “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?” This question challenges us, it puts us in a crisis. Jesus tells us that we have a purpose and shows us the path to follow, which is Himself.
Do we know the “way”? After all the journey we’ve made with and behind Jesus, have we really come to know Him, or at least begun to know Him? In response to this question, we are reminded of that gospel passage where many, left outside the banquet, plead with the Lord to open the door, claiming that they have eaten and drunk in His presence, that He taught in their streets. Jesus’s answer is clear: “I do not know you!” These words should disturb our peace; we must never think that what little we think we know about Jesus is enough. Jesus is never fully grasped, He is always before us, walking ahead of us. “Thomas, by saying, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, and how can we know the way?’, places himself at a rather low level of understanding. At the same time, his question also gives us the right, so to speak, to ask for explanations from Jesus. We need the courage to say: ‘I don’t understand you, Lord; help me understand’. In this way, with this honesty, which is the true way of praying and speaking with Jesus, we express the poverty of our ability to understand, while at the same time, we place ourselves in the trusting attitude of those who expect light and strength from the One who is capable of giving them”. (Benedict XVI)
Thomas’s words ultimately provide Jesus the opportunity to pronounce the famous definition: “I am the way, the truth, and the life”. “The early Christians were called ‘Those of the Way’ (cfr. At 9:2), those who walk the path that Jesus walked. And the ultimate path, the way the disciples still have in their minds, is the Master who washes the feet of His disciples. Jesus does not say He has the truth, but that He is the truth, that He is it with all of Himself. Truth is not about things to know or have, but about a way of living. The mystery of man is explained by the mystery of God, my life is explained only by God’s life”. (Fr Ermes Ronchi)