I am the way, the truth, and the life.
We all know that one. Or do we?
Previously I have written about the word life, and the new and different life that we receive from Christ, the eternal life in the Spirit that we are supposed to live. But we should look at the other words as well.
Truth for example. The opposite of truth is a lie, right? Something is true or false. But not in Greek. The word St. John uses here is aletheia. A is the prefix that makes the opposite, but letheia comes from the word lanthano which is the verb to hide. Aletheia at its root means "not hidden."
In the Old Testament, God loved his people, but God remained hidden. Jesus is God unhidden, God made visible.
The first word in the list is of course way. It can also be translated road.
Jesus is the unhidden road to a new and eternal life. But if the road is now unhidden, uncovered, revealed, then what excuse do we have for not waking the road?
Today's gospel reminds us that God has shown us the way for human beings, creatures, to actually share in his divine life. It is not some complicated secret knowledge that only a few can ever hope to attain. It is a simple path open to all. Not only does he show us the road, but provides us with the food for the trip, the Eucharist. And if we fall or get sick along the way, we have the sacraments of reconciliation and anointing. God has provided us with everything we need.
All we have to do is take it one step at a time. And even that we do surrounded by the whole church. Once we are baptized we can never be alone. We are one small member of the vast Body of Christ, those still on earth and all those who have gone before us in faith.
Each morning when we rise we need to remind ourselves of that. We need to step out the door onto to the road and take it one step at a time.
