Gospel Lesson: John: 14-1-14
Offered to the Highlands Presbyterian Church on November 7, 2021 by Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA
This morning is Reformation Sunday and perhaps a preacher with a stronger background in the Reformation and Martin Luther would be speaking to you today about the great history and theological meaning of the Reformation. Or perhaps, because of the secular calendar and today being Halloween, a more clever preacher might have developed an entertaining Ghost and Goblins message. I tried; it didn’t work for me.
This past Monday in our church calendar was All Saint’s Day. So, I have decided today to focus on it and its meaning to our collective church. On our church calendar, tomorrow is All Saint’s Day. Being raised Roman Catholic, our parish always made a big deal about it. It was a special day set aside to remember all the Saints that have gone before us. But after years of the RC experience oddly enough, it was a Presbyterian pastor that brought out some real meaning of the day for me and I hope that you all will enjoy what we have planned a bit later as we remember the Saints in our lives that have gone before us.
In the Gospel passage from John that we read today, Jesus discusses with his disciples where he is going and that they can’t go with him, but they will follow him there. It’s a bit confusing. Well, take a moment and put yourself in the shoes of Andrew, Thomas, Peter and John. They were more than confused. At the prospect of being separated from Jesus they were terrified.
In this passage, Jesus is talking with his disciples at a time of great uncertainty. Jesus has spent a great deal of time trying to explain to his core group what will be happening to him. He would be betrayed and handed over to the authorities, beaten and ultimately put to death. Their reaction was a stunned silence. A fear of abandonment struck them deep within their hearts. After all, they have invested three years of their lives in following the person they believed to be the Messiah. Now whether they thought he would reconquer Jerusalem and take it back from the Romans or in some other way, establish a kingdom, didn’t matter. They had invested time, heart and soul into him. But now, instead of riding on to great victory, they are being told that he will be leaving them; and not because he’s found a more worthy group; but because he is going to be put to death. Imagine their shock, their utter feeling of despair. Instead of being part of a glorious kingdom that would be established on the earth, they are being told that he would be leaving them. It must have caused a great feeling of anxiety and fear in them and left them looking out over an abyss of uncertainty.
Have we experienced this type of circumstance? Have we sat talking to a loved one; one who was not long for this world? Where we faced the abyss of uncertainty that death causes, of being left behind, alone? It is hard to have a rejoicing heart, celebrating with God that a child is joining God in heaven. For us who are left behind in this world, it is hard to have comfort in their glorious resurrection.
It is at times such as these that we need to know that we are safe and secure; that we are cared for. Who is it that holds us in his hands and guides us through the pain of loss? It is the Christ. It is our faith in him that gives us the assurance that he has gone to the Father and that he prepares a place for us and is waiting to receive us.
So, Jesus said to the disciples as he says to us, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me.” At times of great uncertainty, there is only one thing that we can do; that is, to stubbornly hold on to our trust in God. There are times when we have to believe what we cannot prove and we have to accept what we cannot understand. If in the darkest hour, we believe that somehow there is a purpose in life and that purpose is LOVE, then even the unbearable becomes bearable and even in the darkest hour there is a glimmer of light.
Here is where we find the disciples. They are being told that they are about to face their darkest hour. And what’s more, they will be facing it without Him. He is leaving them. And their response is to ask that he would take them with him. Jesus tells them, “No. Where I am going, you can not follow.” What Jesus means here is that on his path to reconciliation with God through his pain and death on the cross, there can be no surrogates. He has to walk that road alone. So, he tells them, he will be leaving them; but…But, … “do not be afraid. Believe in God and believe in me.” At the time when we do not understand what is happening, believe in God and believe in Jesus. When the hour is darkest, believe in God and believe in Jesus. When life is unbearable, believe in God and believe in Jesus.
In Psalm 141, the psalmist writes hundreds of years before the time of the Christ, “O Lord, God; in thee I seek refuge.” If the Psalmist could believe that, how much easier is it for us because we have Jesus. Jesus is proof that God is willing to give us everything that God has to give. Paul writes in Romans, the “God that did not spare his own Son … [God] gave him up for us all. If God did this, will not God give us all things in the Christ?” With that amazing Love to bolster us up, it may not be easy, but at least it is possible to accept what we may not understand and bear the storms of life.
So, the disciples are facing an abyss of uncertainty. Jesus is telling them that the Son of Man must be raised up on the Cross and that he will be going to the Father and they are stunned with the idea that they will be left behind and alone. Jesus speaks these words of assurance to them and us.
“There are many abiding places in my Father’s house. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and I will welcome you to myself, that where I am, there you may be, too.”
Now the words “abiding places” have differing theological meanings. The Jews believed in gradations of blessedness. The Greeks held that there were stages along the way and we could progress form one level of blessedness to the next. Early Church thinkers spoke of degrees of glory in heaven. There is something attractive about the notion that our souls do not stop growing in closeness to Jesus and in revelation in God but that after death we continue to grow, ever onward growing closer to God.
But, I would like to stay with the more simple explanation and that is in heaven, there is room for all. Jesus is telling his disciples that we are all living in a world where people close doors on us. Sometimes, those closings can be arbitrary with very little reason. But God’s love is from everlasting to everlasting. Heaven is as wide as the heart of God and there is room for us all. They [we] need not be worried and concerned about the uncertainties; for he will come again and take us all to himself as He has the Saints that have gone before. This is the ultimate triumph of Jesus. He will come again and take us to himself. He has prepared the way. He has blazoned the trail so that we may follow.
That is the way it would be for the disciples and so it is for the Saints that have gone before us; the ones whose memories we will celebrate today. Jesus has blazoned the trail and prepared a way for them to follow. And they are now growing closer to the Christ and to God in every moment of their everlasting. It is their resurrection to a closeness to God that we will be celebrating today.
Now for those of us who have doubts, there is Thomas. Thomas was never one to fear of having doubts or asking for explanations. Thomas says, “Lord, we do not know where you are going.” Then he asks, “How do we know the way?” We should thank God for Thomas as much as for any Saint in history. For Thomas asks the questions for us and his questions give Jesus the opportunity to respond.
Jesus says to them, “I am the Way, [I am] the Truth and [I am] the Life.
What better answer do we have for any of our doubts. But for a Jew of the time, it had an even greater meaning.
Jews talked about the “way” in which we must walk and the “ways” of God. God said to Moses, “You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord, your God, has commanded you.” Isaiah speaks to us, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’” The psalmist says, “Teach me your ways.”
You know when we are trying to get around in an unfamiliar town and get lost, we may stop someone to ask for directions. And they might say to us, “Well, you go down to your third left and make a right and proceed to the office building and then make two lefts to the next right.” That would not be very helpful. But if they were to say, “I’m going that way. Let me take your there.” That would be the more comforting response. So, it is with Jesus. He does not simply give us advice. He takes us by the hand to show us the way.
About Truth, the Psalmist says, “Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may walk in Truth.” Truth today has become very subjective. We are bombarded by media, social and otherwise, telling us that we can determine facts for ourselves and decide what is true or not. That we can be our own diviners, that truth is relative, and we can pick and choose what is true. But the Psalmist tells us otherwise. The Psalmist tells us the Truth comes in walking in the “Way” of the Lord. And Jesus tells us that He is the “Way,” so it follows that Truth is in Jesus. You know many a person can say to you, “I am speaking the truth to you.” I could say that I am teaching truth to you here today. But I can never say, no other person can ever say, “I am the Truth.” Jesus is not only the best teacher of truth; Jesus is the realization of Truth. In following Jesus in His Way, we learn Truth.
In Proverbs the writer says, “He who heeds instructions is on the path of life.” The Psalmist tells us, “Thou dost show me the path of life.” In the final analysis, what we are all seeking is life. You can say that we seek knowledge or love; but that is true only if those things make life worth living. And what is it that makes life worth living for a Christian? It is knowing that Jesus is the Way; that Jesus is Truth and from those we receive Life, a new Life in Christ.
And Jesus tells us, if you see these things in me, then you have seen the Father. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” What does this mean? Does it mean that anyone that does not confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is condemned to eternal damnation? No, I don’t think Jesus is explicitly saying that. What I believe He is saying is, if you want to know God, if you want to see the Father, then Jesus is your best and only way of doing that. Other prophets, mystics and teachers can lead exemplary lives but none of them can be the Way of God. They can tell you the truth but no one of them is the Truth. They can raise your spirits but none of them can give you new Life. That is what Jesus is for us and for anyone seeking to know God.
Therefore, do not be afraid. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus. Amen.
