5th Sunday of Easter

 

John 14:1-14

So we are back today in the Gospel of John.  And our lectionary timeline has gone a little wonky again.  So we spent the first 3 weeks of the Easter season hearing stories that all took place basically on Easter day, then we took a weird detour off into the sheepfold for Good Shepherd Sunday last week and now we are going to travel back in time to right before Easter, to Maundy Thursday if you will, to the night of the Last Supper.  Where this week we get to hear the beginning of this very long speech that Jesus gives to his disciples the night before he is crucified.  It is his instructions to his disciples as he prepares them and all who will come after them for life together once he ceases to be there in the flesh with them. 

And Jesus begins his long final talk with this disciples with a promise.  A very powerful promise.  Now Jesus doesn’t promise them what they might want or expect, he doesn’t promise them safety or security, riches, ease or a blessed life free from obstacles.  In fact, when you look at what happens to the disciple after this, quite the opposite turns out to be true.  But he does promise them something even more important.  That he is going on ahead of them, blazing the trail, that he will draw them along that path into ever closer relationship with him and that he has given them the power to accomplish all that he has set before them. 

And as usual, the disciples struggle to understand.  Thomas ever the pragmatist, always practical thinks he needs a physical destination, or at least a road map to get there.  And Philip well he just wants a short cut.  And to be fair, this night marks a big transition for disciples, up until now being a follower of Jesus primarily meant literally following Jesus, physically walking from place to place with him while he worked his signs and deeds of power and taught the people.  And well after tonight this method isn’t going to work anymore.  Thomas isn’t really wrong here.  They can’t just follow behind Jesus anymore, the path through the cross, the tomb, death and resurrection is one he alone can take.  Regardless of faith or desire they simply cannot follow him on this path.

And Jesus offers no easy answers.  Instead Jesus tells them “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to Father except though me.”  Its not about following a physical path anymore.  There is no set of rules to follow, no series of steps or prescriptive route that will lead you into the Father’s good graces.  No rituals or set of mental or spiritual gymnastics you can do earn your spot.  It all comes from Jesus.  From him, going ahead and preparing a place for you, and then coming back and bringing you there.  That is the way, the only way, through faith in Jesus. 

Now over the centuries this verse has been used to commit unspeakable acts of violence against people from other religions, it has been used to exclude, it has been used to fan the flames of hate.  But I think the people who do this miss the point entirely.  There are only believers, his closest disciples, present at this table when he says this. This statement is not to refute outsiders, but to teach those like Thomas who wish to earn their way by doggedly following a prescribed path or Philip who seeks a shortcut, irrefutable proof so he doesn’t have to take the risk of faith, about the truth of Christ.  That it is only by the activity of Jesus, the way, the truth, the life, drawing us into himself, taking us across the divide into himself, into the Father that we receive salvation.

Jesus is telling his disciples that they already know everything they need to know.  That he is sufficient, that there is no secret teaching, no special ritual, no set of works that will endear us to the Father.  They know him, so they already know the Father.

But the question then becomes, how then do those of us, everyone but those very first disciples who have not met Jesus in the flesh come to know Jesus?

And Jesus says it the works.  The Gospel of John presents this weird sort of system of interconnectivity where Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus, we abide in Jesus and he in us and we all in the father and so on round and round until everyone is dizzy.  But it is all tied together by the way the God works in the world.  The self-sacrificial acts of love that drive the relationship between Jesus and the Father.

So last week, I made you think about those people, those shepherds if you will that, that brought you here today.  Who brought you to church, first introduced you to Jesus, or who taught you what it means to believe or encouraged you and helped you grow in your faith.  All those wonderous and holy people.  And now this concept is back again this week because it is that important, to John and to the church throughout the ages.

So you have your people, your shepherds in mind.  But I am willing to bet they used a lot more than words to teach you about Jesus.  I willing to bet that their works were a lot more important to your story than their words.  The way they lived their faith.  The way they participated in the life of the church.  The way they loved you and their neighbors as an outgrowth of their faith.  The way they welcomed you into community and the way they cared for others. 

It is those works that really matter.  Not in making God love you or earning his favor but in the way that they become the vehicle for how we share this love and the good news of Jesus Christ with a hungry world. 

And we are currently living in a world where this truth matters more than ever.  Because we are living in a world where a lot of words simply can’t be trusted.  And honestly Christian sounding words have become some of the most dangerous of all.  Where people in positions of power are using the words of our faith to exclude, to discriminate, to fan the flames of hate, to justify heinous acts and to injure our brothers and sisters at home and around the world. 

But this is not way of Christ.  For he tells us plainly, “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,” And the works that Jesus did were works of self-sacrificial love not hate.  And this is what we are called to as well.

And at the same time we live in a world that is so hungry for hope.  We live in the world where people are begging us, “Show us the Father,” show me what it means to believe, help me find meaning and purpose and hope and real connection in this difficult time.  And so it is up to you good and faithful shepherds to do the works that you are called to do.  To speak and to love and to serve and to care and to welcome and invite.  And I know it feels hard and risky and sometimes hopeless to push against this tide, and we are only a small community in a small place.  But your shepherds probably didn’t do anything big or miraculous and they got you here today.  Their works were enough.  And Jesus tells us “you too will do greater works than these” and “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  So together dear faithful people, we are enough, we can do all that we are called to do, to bring hope to a hungry world.  Amen.