We are presented with a rather significant choice in today’s Gospel. Jesus starts by saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me” (John 14:1). He could be explaining that because the disciples have faith in God, they should therefore also have faith in Him. However, this could also be a sort of command; Jesus is once again emphasizing that He is God incarnate when He tells them to have faith both in God and Him. Think about it - if God is the one the people were supposed to follow, it would make no sense for Jesus to also want them to have no faith in Him unless He is God. We can also see from this verse that God has command over our hearts. He commands us to not let our hearts be troubled. He is telling us what to do; He does this out of love, and we ought to obey Him. At the same time, He is letting us know that we have a choice to make; though He has the authority to tell us how to conduct ourselves, we also have the choice to obey Him. If we want an eternity close to God, we must trust Him and not let fear take over. Orient your hearts towards Him today.
As Jesus tells us that the Father’s house has many dwelling places, we see a beautiful imagery of the marriage covenant (John 14:2-3). In this time period, part of a betrothal (which was similar to what we see as engagement today) consisted of the groom finding a dwelling place for his bride before they officially moved in together; he searched for a dwelling place so his bride could be where he also was. Christ is the bridegroom for the Church; He makes a place for us to dwell so we can be with Him forever.
When asked by Thomas where the way would be to get to these dwelling places, Jesus responds by saying “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And, this is precisely where we are particularly confronted with a profound choice to make. Regarding Jesus, C.S. Lewis expresses the idea of “aut Deus, aut malus homo” - either he is God or he’s a bad man. Jesus does not just claim to know the way, and he does not simply claim to want to share that way with his followers; rather, he claims that He is the way. He does not just claim he wants to spread the truth and guide His followers to life this way; He claims that He is the truth and that He is the life. Because of the nature of these statements of His, Lewis explains that Christ cannot just be a good moral teacher. He would either have to be who He says He is, or He would be guilty of making the most heinous claims of any historical figure - He was claiming to be the way to eternal life; He was claiming to be God. Therefore, He either really is God, or He is crazy. So, when we read these verses, we are called to make the choice to believe that Christ is who He says He is. The fact of the matter is this: Jesus doesn’t leave room for indecisiveness in today’s Gospel. He tells us plainly that He is the way to life; therefore, if we want life, we must follow Him.