May 2, 2026 "The Way"

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 7:55-60

Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16

1 Peter 2:2-10

John 14:1-14

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

grace and peace to you from the one who is the way, Amen.

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’”

Jesus has just told his disciples

that he will be leaving them.

 He says a lot of other things too

but I imagine it was hard for the disciples

 to really listen very carefully

after he told them he was going.

 The Messiah is leaving us?

 Is going to suffer?

 What’s going to happen to us?

All running through their heads,

 they tune in long enough

to hear Jesus say something about preparing a place for them

 and that they know the way. 

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’”

This isn’t a calm intellectual question,

 it is a practical one

 tinged with panic

at the suddenly unknown future.

And it is to this sense of panic

that Jesus is responding

when he says “I am the way and the truth and the life.” 

These are words of reassurance,

Jesus is saying “I might be physically going away

but I will still be with you,

keep walking the way I’ve taught you

 and we’ll be together

 because as long as you’re going toward God

you’ll be going through me,

that’s how close I am with God,

that’s how close I am with you.” (https://www.saltproject.org/progressive-christian-blog/2020/5/3/i-am-the-way-salts-lectionary-commentary-for-easter-5) 

This is important comforting stuff

but we might also wonder why are we bringing this up now?

Why is the lectionary taking us backward

to before Jesus’ death and resurrection?

We’ve just been through that,

isn’t it time to look forward?

And that is precisely why we are given these words today. 

Here at the fifth Sunday of Easter

 we’re deep enough into the season

 where the initial sparkle has worn off the celebration,

 the alleluias aren’t as fervent as they were five weeks ago,

 the lilies have wilted

 and we’re maybe wondering well, what comes next?

 What is beyond the celebration?

 Beyond the resurrection appearances? 

In the history of the church as told in the book of Acts

we are also at the point

where the honeymoon phase is ending,

yes the Holy Spirit rested on them at Pentecost

and Peter preached such a sermon that 3,000 people were baptized

 and the community continued to grow and live in harmony

 sharing what they had and praising God

but cracks have begun to appear,

 community members start holding things back

(See Acts 5 with Ananias and Sapphira),

 there is dispute in the community over the distribution of food,

 and the attention that has brought converts

 is also bringing detractors

those who wish to stop the movement

 even to the extent of arrest,

and as we see today execution.

 And where is Jesus?

 Jesus is with Stephen in the Holy Spirit

And Jesus is at the right hand of God

 right where he said he’d be.

Stephen, a leader in the early group of Christ followers,

 called to table service and a preacher of the gospel,

 is arrested and dragged out of the city and stoned to death.

 and yet Stephen on the verge of death

 sees the glory of God

and Jesus at the right hand of God,

and seeing that God has prepared a place for him,

just as Jesus promised,

dies in a way that witnesses to Christ,

with prayer and forgiveness (Dr. Satterlee).

 What comes next?

Suffering and death for the sake of the gospel, yes

(Jesus never promised that following him would be without suffering,

 in fact quite the opposite),

 and a place in the presence of the glory of God,

 the fulfillment of God’s promises.

 And the community continues on

in the way of Jesus,

in Jesus the way.

We hear Peter responding to a similar dilemma

 in our reading from his first letter.

 The gentile Christians to whom Peter is writing

 are facing persecution and wondering what is next?

They’ve heard the good news,

 that they’re sticking with it

 means that it is still good news for them

 despite the persecution

but…what’s next? What now?

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood…”

in other words,

continue following Jesus the way toward God

 because the response to ‘what’s next?’ is not actually a what,

 but a how,

because for Jesus the point is not an end goal

 but a way of life,

life with him and the father,

life that is intent on sharing life,

 life that continues through disputes and persecutions

 and even death,

 life that continues to grow and learn

 changing and expanding with nourishment and new experiences

even as Jesus continues with us

‘Grow into salvation’

‘Be living stones’

These are things that we tend to think of as static, unchanging,

and yet here they are presented as dynamic, alive,

 yes we are saved through Christ

but then we are to grow into our salvation,

this is the one-time baptism

and the lifetime baptismal life.

 We’re more used to stones staying put,

used for building,

a building that stands still when it is completed,

 that’s not what we’re building here Peter says,

we’re building a community,

one that is made up of people,

people that are called to live and grow,

adapt and expand as life calls for it,

 people that are to live the way of Jesus together,

 this is a way of life.

The tomb is empty,

what’s next?

Life is next,

life lived in and with Jesus,

 the way the truth and the life. Amen