Easter 5 Year A

Acts 7:55-60 and Jn 14: 1-14

Shortly before Easter I was in Turkey, or for those of you who like precise national nomenclature Türkiye. I arrived late on the Wednesday evening. On the Friday there was a trip to Ephesus. Among the highlights were the terraced house. These are not to be confused with two-up two-down dwellings known from mining villages. Rather, these were mansions built on terraced levels of the hillside. According to some early church traditions, John the apostle and evangelist, settled in Ephesus. As I viewed these splendid homes, I could not help wondering if John’s promise of many dwelling places in the Father’s house was shaped by seeing these luxurious multi-room mansions, with their vast atria and spectacular mosaics and fountains.
However, John was not the only early believer to travel to Ephesus. According to the book of Acts, Paul spent an extended period of over two years in the city. He persuaded many to become followers of Christ. This enraged the silversmiths, who made the little model shrines to Artemis, which the visiting pilgrims could purchase. Tourism is always the same, always an opportunity to purchase souvenirs! While I was in Ephesus, I was offered a genuine fake Rolex. I politely declined. Back to the ancient silversmiths. One of their number, Dimetrius, was so upset with the loss of business that he led a mob to the theatre in Ephesus, which is still is a good state of preservation, and they chanted “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” Then they dragged Paul’s companions into the theatre. Paul was keen to go the theatre and address the mob. However, wiser heads prevailed, and stopped him going as he almost certainly would have been killed by the mob. On our tour, later that afternoon, we went to the Ephesus museum and among other things saw the nearly ten-foot-tall statue of Artemis. Certainly, it is an impressive statue, but no longer an object of veneration.

The main purpose of the trip occurred on the Saturday and Sunday. This was to mark the opening of the new Polycarp of Smyrna memorial. There were lectures on the Saturday, then on Sunday the group visited various sites associated with Polycarp. Ancient Smyrna, which is now known as Izmir, was an important centre of Christianity in the Roman Province of Asia, and is about 50 miles north of Ephesus. Polycarp was a long-standing leader of the Christian community in Smyrna during the first half of the second century. Around the year 156 certain people in the city of Smyrna were stirred up against the Christians. Then, after being arrested, Polycarp was transported to the stadium (which is no longer visible), and the proconsul pressed Polycarp to swear by the genius of Caesar and to recite the formula “Away with the atheists.” Acknowledging the genius of the emperor meant something different from saying somebody is a genius today. In the ancient world it meant acknowledging the Emperor to be a living god, and the strange formula “away with the atheists” was a rejection of fellow Christians who did not believe in the pantheon of Greek and Roman gods. In those days, it was Christians who were labelled as atheists. The proconsul pressed Polycarp further, telling him to have respect for his age (in my opinion, that is always a terrible argument) and told him to “swear the oath, revile Christ, and I will release you.” The aged Polycarp, who decided it was better to respect his God than his age, looked squarely at the proconsul and said, “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” As a result, the mob cried with one voice that Polycarp should be burnt alive. According to the story of his death, the fire burnt around him but would not touch him, so an executioner was ordered to draw a dagger and to stab him to death. As the story is recounted, even that act of killing Polycarp was accompanied with miraculous signs. Whether those details are entirely accurate, is perhaps unimportant. For me the greatest miracle is found in the words of a pious believer, who knew that Christ was his true king, and he stood firm in the face of all the rage of an angry mob.

Our first reading today is taken from the Book of Acts. Yet, the setting is not Turkey. At this stage, the followers of Christ were still based in Jerusalem. We pick up the end of the story of Stephen, one of the first seven deacons appointed to meet the needs of widows through the distribution of food. According to the story, Stephen was taken by angry men to face trial on charges of blasphemy. Having concluded his lengthy speech, the mob dragged Stephen outside where he was put to death by stoning. During this scene, Stephen is described as receiving a vision of the Son of Man standing at God’s right hand. He calmly commends his spirit to Jesus even as the stoning begins, and prays that his executioners might be forgiven. Obviously, the stories of the deaths of Polycarp and Stephen are somewhat compressed and stylized. Perhaps it is good that we focus on the calmness of the individual figures, rather than upon the rage and violent mob-actions of the majority. Those who have written down these stories seem to appreciate that the words and deeds of a single person can have more power than the collective hatred of a rampaging mob.

By contrast, our gospel reading takes us back to a character we met in our gospel reading a few weeks ago, the apostle Thomas. On that occasion we met Thomas shortly after the resurrection. He was absent when his fellow disciples encountered Jesus in a locked room on the day of resurrection, and he refused to believe their babbling tales of having seen Jesus alive. Today’s reading occurs prior to Easter day, although the disciples are already in Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Jesus breaks the news to his disciples that he would be leaving them to return to the Father. However, he assures them that this is to prepare a place for them. Jesus makes the enigmatic statement “you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas is bewildered by this. I suspect all of his fellow disciples were equally bewildered, but Thomas blurted out the obvious response. His exasperated words, “Lord we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way” (Jn 14:5). It is easy to admire Stephen and Polycarp, but in many ways, I respect Thomas for his human honesty. Jesus’ reply to Thomas’ straightforward enquiry is anything but straightforward. Thomas has asked for directions, for a roadmap, and Jesus simply points to himself. In response Jesus declares, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me” (Jn 14:6). Thomas asks for a simple set of directions. Yet Jesus does not give Thomas what he requested. Instead, he tells him what the whole journey is ultimately about. Thomas wants to know the way, but Jesus offers far more in return – he promised not only the way, but also truth and life. We have all heard people say things like “faith is not a destination, it is a journey.” It sounds profound and conveys the notion that there is an ongoing process in the path of discipleship. However, like all metaphors, the journey image can be inadequate if we just think of it as a series of way-points. What is of fundamental importance is how each of us takes the journey and what we come to understand along the way. Jesus can identify himself as the way that Thomas seeks. However, that alone is insufficient, the journey of faith, as believers travel to the Father through Jesus, in order to be truly meaningful must be both truth-imparting and life-affirming.

There are currently many different types of “ways” on offer in the world. The fragmentation of society, globally, locally, and even virtually, means that truth is often determined individualistically, or by drawing on an echo-chamber of extreme voices. It is not negotiated by listening to a range of opinions or considering the needs of all humanity. Rather, one’s own desires take centre stage. While I was at my meeting in Izmir, somebody from another country asked me how the UK was coping with being swamped with all the people from a certain socio-religious group. I looked at that person a little perplexed. However, I saw it was a genuine question from a place of concern. Together we looked up official demographic figures and found the group in question represented only about 5% of the total UK population and that we noted that many of those in question had been born in the UK. The person was genuinely shocked and spoke about the videos they had viewed online. That led to a very good conversation about the way information is presented and manipulated. For all of us, while the journey we take as followers of Jesus is important, it must be informed by the seeking of truth and affirming life for all of humanity. The voices of angry mobs still often drown out the quiet reason of individuals, but maybe that is only in the short term. I remain hopeful that the enduring value of being a disciple, by looking to the examples of Stephen and Polycarp, the world can be made a better place for all - especially by embracing the values of the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Last week, the Provost spoke about the “I am” sayings of Jesus in the Gospel of John, when Jesus said of himself “I am the gate of the sheep,” and a little later “I am the Good Shepherd.” Here we encounter another one or those sayings in our reading with the declaration of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Provost laid out the connections with Exodus story when Moses met God at the burning bush, and upon asking for God’ name. Moses was informed that he was to tell the children of Israel that “I Am has sent you” (Exod 3:14). The Hebrew word for “I am” is אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה. It is probably from that Hebrew word that the sacred name for God is derived. Out of respect I will not pronounce it. Also today, we remember our Jewish brothers and sisters and pray that God’s shalom would be with them as they journey on their way. Jesus’ introduction to the saying about being the way, the truth and the life commences with the Greek words ἐγώ εἰμι literally “I, I am.” In this way, Jesus declares himself to be intimately connected to God’s identity and reveals himself to be the source of truth and life, the one makes it clear what being and existence is ultimately all about.

Today we have journeyed around the eastern Mediterranean – from Ephesus to Symrna to Jerusalem and back to Ephesus. That journey is of little worth in itself, unless in following the way of Polycarp and Stephen, of Thomas and Jesus himself, we have actually discovered something of the truth and in the process what it means to possess human life. Polycarp, Stephen, and of course Jesus all took a journey of life that created opposition from those who reject deep truths and the proclamation of life for all God’s creation. But what of Thomas? Thomas the doubter and questioner. According to one tradition, as a follower of the one who was the way, Thomas’ journey of discipleship eventually took him further afield than all the others we have mentioned. Mar Thomas Christians of Kerala in India hold that Thomas journeyed to their land proclaiming truth and life in the name of Jesus. In the apocryphal Acts of Thomas maybe from around the year 200 CE, Thomas influenced both rich-rulers and yet also advocated for the poor and destitute of the land. The Acts of Thomas (at least in some forms) concludes with an account of Thomas being put to death with spears. Whether or not that is accurate, for me that is not what is important about Thomas. His doubting and questioning are part of who he was, part of his being a true disciple of Jesus. If faith is a journey, then there are different ways of travelling along the way. But in all of those journeys we seek not a simply road map, nor a list of directions, rather we follow the path of the one who is our way, our truth, and our life. Today we listen for the voice of Jesus, the one who shows what human existence can be in it fulness, not only for us but for the life of the whole world and for every human being equally made in the image of God, this day and always, Amen.