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5th Sunday of Easter

Added May 15, 2017 •

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Fr. Tom Wilson, Pastor May 14, 2017

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for purposes of illustration just imagine a somebody coming in off the streets somebody of of of Goodwill who has no idea really no conception of live Christian faith or or Christianity or what Christianity teaches other than that you know that the Bible is as a book important to to belief and practice for for Christians and he's been playing a little bit of a little bit of Bible roulette and rolls rolls open the the book and comes to this passage which I hope sounds very very familiar and he reads you says Master we do not know where you are going how can we know the way Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me if you know me then you will also know my father from now on you do know him and have seen him and then that person sort of understandably with with no no freaking conceived conditions are Notions of what Christianity is asks you what that means what are you going to say what are you going to say it I suspect a lot of people particularly people who've been around for a while and have taken some of our our our Bible studies here would say you know what go talk to Mike fevering right go talk to go talk to my car Adult Ed guy he loves the scriptures he's tired of the lot if you knock on his office he's going to respond to you and he's going to give you a perfect answer alright a couple of you might say well I trust the priest enough he's study that maybe he can maybe maybe father Millis or father Wilson can can do it but the truth is I don't think he is that looking for an expert response he's looking for a live Faith response from somebody who believes it if we can answer it he's going to he might press a little bit further and say something like do you really believe that do you really believe that this Jesus is the way play the truth and the life and that he and his father his father in Heaven are one do you really believe that you might have to stammer and say Vallejo yeah we do we do we do believe that he's the way the truth and the life and what does that and what does that mean what is that what is me and then we have to we have to come up with it with an answer and it's not necessarily an easy thing in to talk about in a culture in which we live because then the response in the words from the words from Jesus mouth and the words from from our mouth might be might see in a little place a call to hear when we talk about Jesus as the way the truth and the life and that no one can go to the father except through him the ears the ears of someone format a culture that we live in is going to hear something that says that says that that's very exclusive that's very very exclusive you are excluding you are excluding what might be two-thirds of the world from this gift of eternal life how can you possibly do that that's one of the last two or three public sins available to us is it is the reality of of being exclusionary then of course we can respond but in the same context of Jesus reminding Us in teaching us that he is the way the truth and the life and then no one goes to the father except through him he also tells us at the father has created this mansion in heaven that has many rooms in it in fact enough rooms to include a single human being every single human being that God has created in His image and likeness has a place in that in that Heavenly mansion reserved for them if they choose to go through the person of Jesus Christ that can become very very difficult in a religious play pluralistic world that that we live in and what we will cut to the Chase and cut any tension that might live in in people's hearts that the church's understand ending of this is that every person will have an opportunity to say yes to Jesus the sooner the better of course so we can live in the fullest now and not I have to wait but everybody will have the opportunity to say yes to the Lord and have it have it out in front and to be able to make that make that commitment and honest yes but they still have to say yes they still have to say yes there is no way to heaven that does not include the person of Jesus Christ that is that is a 2000 year understanding and in teaching of of the Christian faith it's not our it's not are are are being a nice person that gets us to have in its Jesus it's it's Jesus that that gets us that that gets us to heaven and in the in the way that Jesus gets people to Heaven is through the truth of who he is being broadcast and brought to brought to the people of the world and how does it happen it happens only through his body the church and when we end when we hear that it's very very easy processed wait a minute wait a minute this is a very very imperfect reality this is very very imperfect reality how can that how can Napa Know How Can Jesus leave this important task of communicating the words in the message of Eternal salvation to us how can you do that we're very imperfect it was maybe way better in some some time passed and yet our scriptures today I think give us a beautiful image of how the development of the church and the creation of the church extends out it starts with that little encounter that the apostles and other disciples have with Jesus after his resurrection it starts out with Jesus telling them I am the way the truth and the life and even having people like Philip and Thomas you've been there for for 3 years with him still not quite get it and he now this is this is what you do you let people doll that there's a place in heaven and it comes through and it comes through me and then it extends out skin to Peter's announcement of what the body of Christ is at her absolute Heights what is the body of Christ a people shows Adele a chosen race a royal priesthood a people set apart a people set apart precisely to make the Praises and the glory of God known to the world people been taking out of Darkness into the reality of the light that is there that is the image and that is what the church does at her absolute and then we know we know in our lives experienced it doesn't always happen that way sometimes I pray everybody's been able to see Jesus mad fast through our through our words in our in our Deeds but it doesn't always happen we think you know what maybe if it was just like when I was a kid 1950s it would be much better maybe if or when I was a kid in the 1970s it would be better maybe it would be just much better Church catches up to me right and then and then the gospel would be able to print people claim more clearly but the truth is even the scripture today in this in this lesson about who the person if Jesus is gives us a reminder of the reality of lived experience of the body of Christ as long as we're in it is going to struggle sound it just is it's the reality to Human Condition but even in the earliest days I've heard this since I was a kid if we just like the church in the Acts of the Apostles everything would be beautiful nobody be worried about stuff everybody would would sell their stuff and nobody would have too much and nobody would too little and in the end the whole bit but we're actually just today in the 6th chapter of acts right at the beginning and they're already arguing and what arguing about their arguing about stuff and money it's what they're arguing about there are you about stuff and money the Greeks and the and the Jews arguing with each other that their people aren't getting enough they're people aren't getting a fair distribution think about the world in which we live in some of the big arguments that we have the big argument that we have are almost all about material things Who's got what and who doesn't have what at the heart of of most of our arguments are things like that they were they were around 2,000 years ago they are around now put the church to the power of the Holy Spirit responded to that challenge that difficulty in that division by the Apostle saying you know what let's do these d let's get these deacons the opportunity to take care of these things and do as Equitable job as they can while we stay focused on the word of God and preaching the person of Jesus Christ because we can't let these other things which we have to do distract us from the most important thing and that is claiming Jesus Christ proclaiming Jesus as the way the truth and the life in a reminder that Jesus is who this is the way the truth and the life in the way to heaven has to be has to be reiterated constantly in the life of the church those of us who are already here have to what have to be reminded of it those who are not here yet have to be told of it and sometimes sometimes God in his goodness and his generosity frankly the need of the world will do something in a miraculous way in a in a phenomenal way to remind us of that truth are we celebrate a hundred years ago to this weekend that that happened small town of Fatima in Portugal where where God sends Blessed Mother Mary to three young children three young children right in the in in the heart of of of World War 1 really a disastrous time world's and he sends Mary with the message the same message has been broke playing from the very beginning sing to Jesus she reminds the children the world has turned away from God the world is turned away from God please remind them to back and you as the church pray for them to come back pray for them to take to come back to turn to turn to the back to the Lord that they have turned their back on or forgotten or whatever reason and shin and she showed them she showed them images of of going she showed them that the reality of of the world in which they lived in the reality and the the direction the world was going so you don't want if it doesn't get better if the world doesn't turn back to God right it's going to get worse it's going to get worse since you predicted that the end of World War I when did it happen but she also said you don't want it could get worse if we don't turn back and it did was called World War II it was it was worse so you know what and there's going to be this this country that's going to Spread spread evil throughout the world in in Russia but pray pray for its conversion and they did spread atheistic communism throughout the world and then through prayers through prayers and God's direct intercession intervention hit it dies it dies with a single shot being fired Mary and her goodness and her kindness or gentleness and her nurturing Hanz and reminds us of that which we already know that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and I think it's absolutely perfect that's perfect today as we celebrate Mother's Day in our country to take these things together the reality of the church is called to Proclaim Jesus the nurturing of the Blessed Mother the nurse thanks of our own mothers who who are always there to teach us to pretend to to nurture us to care for us but to also tell us true Mary 100 years ago came to us through through these children at Fatima to remind us that the world had turned away the world had turned away from God and needed to return Mary and her generosity her mother her mother hood and her nurturing reminds us all that we need to turn to Jesus we need to turn back to Jesus and as the church in the body of Christ we need to bring world to Jesus who is the way the truth and the life

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