Last week we heard how the Pharisees failed to understand Jesus when he talked about being the gate to the sheepfold. We mentioned the similarity to Jesus saying that he was “the Way”. Today we hear directly about the occasion when Jesus used that phrase. In this case he’s talking not to pharisees but to his disciples. So they’re on the right wavelength, yes?
It seems the disciples didn’t understand much more than the Pharisees. If anything they appear even more confused than the Pharisees. Thomas starts by saying that he doesn’t know where Jesus is going so how can he follow. Philip follows up by simply asking the obvious – well just show us the Father! Which leads Jesus about as close to exasperation as he gets – “Philip, really!!”
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the disciples didn’t really get it. After all it took the church about another 500 years to work through how to understand the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. Theologians are still refining the answer today.
But for most of us the theological nuances are irrelevant. We don’t bat an eyelid when Jesus says “If you know me, then you will also know my Father” or “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”.
However maybe we’re not quite so blasé about Jesus’ follow-up: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”
We will do greater work than Jesus himself! How can that be? And why does his going to the Father make that possible?
Jesus created a new relationship between God and people. That new relationship makes new things possible. We can now introduce other people to God and offer them this relationship. The disciples came to understand this quite quickly after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus didn’t leave behind many people in this new relationship with God – tens, maybe a few hundred at most. As we’ve been hearing over the last few weeks in the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples picked up that ball and within a few years had brought thousands into that new relationship. Within a few centuries the church included many millions of Christians, and eventually it spanned the globe.
Jesus left us and we carry on his work in every increasing numbers. To do that we’d better be really sure we do believe he is the incarnation of God and his Spirit is present with us. We need to have a better answer than Thomas and Philip did when Jesus says “Where I am going you know the way”. Because, yes we do.