Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 31: 1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2: 2-10 John 14: 1-14
Grace and peace to you from God the Creator, and from Jesus Christ, God’s son and our Savior. Amen.
It is good to see you all this morning. No, I mean it’s really good to see you all this morning, since up until 6:01pm last night there was apparently some chance, according to Harold Camping and his followers, that the second coming of Christ was at hand. There’s been a very public media frenzy. News stories about this group of folks, who have spent millions….millions of dollars in donations to get the word out that the world was going to end, yesterday, have occupied all of the news outlets. A business was formed whose purpose was to take care of the pets of those taken up in the rapture. Cupcake Royale dedicated a special flavor to the day…called the Triple Threat. And a group of atheists raised funds to care for any children left behind….they have donated that money to a child centered charity. Which is, certainly more than we can say for Harold Camping, who is worth over seventy million dollars.
Today’s reading from John’s Gospel is one that is often chosen for readings at funerals and memorial services. Jesus offers words of comfort and hope. Jesus talks about going to his Father’s house, where there are many dwelling places. The King James Version promised many mansions, but that is not a good translation. The word Jesus uses does not describe a mansion at all. What it describes is a home, a place of belonging.
And so, this morning, I’d like for us to undertake an interactive sermon experience, together. Here’s what I invite you to do. I invite you to set aside anything you might be holding onto, get comfortable in your pew and close your eyes gently.
I’m going to invite you on to journey with me to some places in your mind’s eye. First, I invite you to remember the first image you can recall from your childhood home. Your first memory of that space. What do you see? Who else is there? What are you doing? What room are you in? Do you smell anything? Do you hear anything? Are you touching anything? How do you feel?
Next, I invite you to your home as it was when you left there this morning. But I invite you to see it with fresh eyes….eyes of one who loves you beyond your ability to imagine and is delighted to be in your home. What do you see? Can you see the loveliness there? Can you remember why you chose it for your home?
Next I invite you to travel in your hearts to that place where you feel the safest. It can be anyplace…but it is the place where you knew you were safe….loved….valued. Look around you. What do you see. Is anyone else there with you? Are there sounds? Are their smells? How old are you?
Finally, I invite you to imagine a new scene. Clear your mind of all of the places we’ve traveled and imagine that you are seated at a large table. The wood is worn to a warm patina. The remnants of a meal are left on the table in a satisfying state of after-feast. There are wine glasses only partially full. Plates are cleared by content companions. Look around you. Your closest friends in the faith are seated at the table with you. Do you see them there? Now, picture Jesus with you all, at that table. Picture him however you imagine that he looks.
Now, gently and slowly open your eyes.
Jesus had gathered at a table with his disciples shortly before he dies. He has likely eaten a meal with them that is like many meals before. The disciples were his beloved friends. And on this night it is his desire to help them understand all that is to come and all that is happening now. This text from John’s Gospel is not a teaching text and it is not a preaching text. It is Jesus speaking love to his disciples. It is his love language to them as he tries to comfort them and offer them guidance and hope.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled” he begins as he describes the place where he is going as being a place where there are many places for everyone. It is a place of great comfort, of amazing solace, a place prepared by Jesus himself. And the language, the choice of words here, describes a place that will exist in the future AND that already exists in the present, in this moment.
So often we spend so much time propelling ourselves ahead into the next phase and stage of our lives that we miss the present moment. We are imagining the next job, the next house, the next event, the next child, the next friend, the next season, the end of the world, and we are missing the now. And Jesus is clear that being his disciple does not have as its’ main goal getting into heaven. Jesus calls his disciples and us to ministry that is happening in this present moment and in this very place.
But when we feel that Jesus is not with us, it is unsettling. And Jesus knew that when he left the disciples, they would find it to be the case. So, in this after dinner conversation he attempts to stir their hope. Only they miss the point, again, as they so often did. We can almost hear the tone in Thomas’ voice “Lord, we do NOT KNOW where you are going! How can we know the way?” And Jesus says I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way, Thomas. And because the Holy Spirit had not yet been given to them, Jesus was the way to the Father because he was One with the Father. Know me, know the Father, he tells them.
The final verse, of this Gospel text is a tough one. Most of us preachers would rather ignore it. After all, who among us has not asked for something in prayer and it has not been given to us? But here it’s important to keep this in context. Jesus wasn’t saying “Let me work a little magic for you here” Jesus was asking them what they needed from him to bring comfort and hope when he went to be with the Father. Again, spoken from the deepest place of love in his heart, Jesus wants to do whatever he possibly can to offer his disciples, his friends, hope. And the hope that he offers them is not just a future hope. It is a hope for the present, for their present and for ours. It is hope that what our future holds, that place Jesus goes to prepare is filled with more peace, more joy, more love, more hope, than any of those places we imagined together this morning.
And wrapped within that hope is a reminder that a faithful response to the saving grace that is ours through Christ is to care for others. Jesus says “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do, and in fact will do greater works than these..”
Jesus believed in the goodness of his disciples. Jesus believed that although they and we may sometimes get things wrong, that we would be able to be imitators of Christ. That we would not forget the message to feed the hungry, to visit for those in prison, to care for those no one else cares for. Jesus said not only would we do what he did, but we would do greater things.
Greater things my friends does not include spending vast amounts of time and money trying to fortell the end of time. Jesus tells us specifically that no one but God knows the time or the day, not even the angels. Greater things does not include bilking thousands of people out of their life savings in order to fund your misguided ministry. We are not people of the prediction, we are people of the promise.[1] Promises made to us in our baptisms, promises made to us at the table. Promises that the place Jesus prepares for the future and for this day are prepared, not just with us in mind, but with every person in mind. This is the hope filled good news we have for this day and all days.
“Do not let your hearts be troubled“, Jesus said, “Believe in God, believe also in me.”
Thanks be to God. Amen.
0 Comments