Tags
apostles, I am the way, Jesus, John, logical thought, Peter, surprise intuition, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Thomas
If we were matching names of apostles with defining qualities, Peter might be the easiest: Peter – impetuous. Maybe John would be beloved. That’s about as far as I would be willing to go except when I think of Thomas who is sometimes dismissed in the upper room for what we call “doubting” or faithlessness. I tend to say rather that he is concrete or logical. I usually smile in recognition when I read his question in John’s gospel (JN 14:1-6) to Jesus who says, “Where I am going you know the way.” Jesus is talking about many rooms in his Father’s house (and this isn’t even close to the post-resurrection time) so Thomas is (reasonably, I think) taking him literally so he asks, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” My smile comes from the fact that I probably would have reacted with the same question. By now I am clearly in the mindset that it’s impossible to interpret everything logically – especially when you’re in the company of Jesus! So now I’m much more open to surprise, intuition, etc. but I still appreciate logical thought.
The answer that Jesus gave to Thomas is my thought for the day. When we ponder our path and how to get where we’re going, the best answer, it seems to me, is to listen for the voice of Jesus saying, “I am the way…”
The Sophia Center for Spirituality 