John 14:1-14
The Rev. David Hall
Last week, I thought I was lost. Phyllis and I were in Champaign, Illinois visiting my mother for her 94th birthday. On Saturday, we went hiking on the Allerton Trails which wind through a beautiful wooded area and beside the Sangamon River near Monticello, Illinois. We were near the end of the Red Trail when we came to a fork in the road.
I like to think I have a good sense of direction. Usually, if I have been somewhere once, I can find my way back again. In the Air Force my call sign was RADAR because I could read a map and rarely got lost. Plus my first commander thought I looked like Radar O’Reilly. I generally know which way to go.
So at the fork on the Red Trail I confidently told Phyllis we needed to go to the left which would take us back to the road. But 200 yards later the road was not where it was supposed to be. The trail didn’t turn in the direction my map said it should. Doubt crept in! How could we be lost? I knew where I was going – I thought! But maybe I didn’t.
Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
This morning’s reading from John is part of what is known as Jesus’s Final Discourse. Soon Jesus and the disciples will enter Jerusalem where the Messiah will be crucified, buried in a tomb, and then rise again. Jesus knew what was coming. The disciples DID NOT.
And Jesus tells them “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. In my father’s house there are many dwelling places.”
When I was a child at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Alexandria, Louisiana, we used the King James Version of the Bible which said: “In my Father’s house there are many MANSIONS.” During many a long sermon, I would daydream about what KIND of MANSION Jesus was preparing for me. It would be big with a swimming pool, a basketball court, and my own movie theater. Heaven was going to be GREAT!. It would be a PLACE like none other in my young imagination. This might be what the disciples were THINKING when Jesus told them he was going to be with the Father.
But Jesus wasn’t talking about going SOME PLACE. It is easy to believe that God is out there or up there – somewhere else – and we are here.
When we are HERE and God is THERE – then we can divide LIFE into here and there. THERE God sits on HIS throne with Angels and Archangels all around and Jesus on his right with the Holy Spirit doing whatever it is that the Holy Spirit does. It’s like a scene from a movie and our idea of WHERE God is – is based PROBABLY more on Hollywood and popular fiction than scripture.
THEN there is HERE – and this life is pretty much what we expect. There is work and checklists and the house to take care of. It’s pretty predictable.
BACK when the press was telling us that the government was reading our emails and listening to our phone calls and even tapping into our TV sets, Phyllis and I decided that we really didn’t have anything to worry about. If they spent much time checking up on us – they were going to be very bored – very quickly.
So, why on earth would God be interested in ME and the life I live. From there it is a quick step to believing that God and our lives are separate and heaven is just SOME PLACE we will go to SOME DAY – but has little to do with life here and now.
Then we hear those words from Jesus in the Gospel of John we have heard before – I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
This is ONE of the SEVEN times in the Gospel of John that Jesus tells us WHO he is with the words “I AM” I am the BREAD of Life. I am the LIGHT of the world. I AM the DOOR, the GOOD SHEPHERD, and the VINE. And all of these are GOOD NEWS for us in times when it is easy to get lost. There is so much noise in our world trying to get us to follow the latest, greatest fad – read the #1 book – or VOTE this way or that. How can we know what to BELIEVE in?
And then Jesus calls us to FOLLOW. We are looking for a WAY to live. Love God and love your neighbor.
We are looking for a TRUTH to believe in – Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again TODAY.
And if you want to know how to live LIFE here and now – live in the Resurrection where love overcomes hate, joy replaces SORROW, and LIFE is ETERNAL beginning right now and right here.
And how do we live here and now in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus said to the disciples “Believe in me and do the works of God.” Read the E-Tower – don’t just glance at it – READ it! It’s that email we receive each week that lists many ways we can serve God and our neighbor through Ascension.
If you want NEW life – start with a NEW ministry. Remember there are NO failures in the Kingdom of Heaven and that still small voice in your heart and mind may just be the voice of God calling you.
When we feed the hungry or care for the person who is ill or reach out and invite our neighbors to come and join this community of faith – then we find the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. We gather on Sunday morning and God is here, Christ is made real in the bread and the wine, and the Holy Spirit inspires us to live in the Kingdom of Heaven Monday through Sunday.
AND don’t worry – you won’t get lost.. Loving your neighbor – all of our neighbors and reaching out with the Love of Christ is a heavenly act.
The world says to think about yourself first and Jesus says Believe. The world tells us that we are too small a parish to make a difference and Jesus says Believe In God and Believe also in Me. The world says there’s not enough time or money or one of a hundred other reasons and 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.
We know the WAY to follow – the TRUTH to believe – and the Life to LIVE. His name is Jesus.
Amen