I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Today’s Gospel passage is part of the Last Supper discourses given by Jesus. Jesus was aware of the feeling of sadness and fear that was sweeping through his camp owing to his impending departure. To lift their spirits, he assured them that all was going to be well, that they needed not to let their hearts be troubled for there was nothing that could happen to them that would be of surprise. “I have prepared you. I have taught you. You should be able to handle it,” Jesus told them, “There is only one end, only one truth. Everything else will come to naught except the truth. I have pointed out that truth to you and have shown you how to get to it.” Thomas once again did not hesitate to take one for the team. He didn’t know what Jesus was talking about. He didn’t know how to get to where Jesus was promising them. Jesus had to be more straightforward with them. Thomas’ insistence led to one of Jesus’ memorable and important statements: I am the way, the truth and the life. It is a statement that tells in a summary Jesus’ mission.
We have come to associate this statement with death, that Jesus is telling us that all roads lead to the cross (as a gateway to the other life). However, this is just part of what Jesus meant, and perhaps not the most important. Jesus is not only interested in that other life. He is interested in our present life too. He assumed our nature and lived as one of us so that he could teach us how to live our lives here to the full. He shared in our nature so that he could remind us of who we are. Unless we come to realize who we are in the here and now, we have no future and even that ‘other’ life that follows our physical death becomes unattainable. Unless we are with Jesus here and now, we cannot possibly be with him where he is going. Jesus is the life because he shows us how to live our lives to the full; he is the truth because he comes from the Father; he is the way because he shows us how to get to get to the Father (attain the fullness of life). Thomas and the others needed not to worry because they had been with Jesus and had (presumably) learnt from him. They possessed in themselves the means to the Father in whom is the fullness of life.